Questions 41 - 50

Magicians are, first and foremost, artists of attention and awareness.

They manipulate the focus
and intensity of human attention, controlling, at any given instant, what
we are aware of and what we
are not. They do so in part by employing bewildering combinations of
visual illusions, optical illusions,
Line special effects, sleight of hand, secret devices and mechanical
artifacts. But the most versatile
(5) instrument in their bag of tricks may be the ability to create cognitive
illusions. Like visual illusions,
cognitive illusions mask the perception of physical reality yet unlike visual
illusions, cognitive illusions
are not sensory in nature. Rather they involve high-level functions such
as attention, memory and
causal inference. With all those tools at their disposal, well-practiced
magicians make it virtually
impossible to follow the physics of what is actually happeningleaving
the impression that the only
(10) explanation for the events is magic.
Neuroscientists are just beginning to catch up with the magicians facility
in manipulating
attention and cognition. Of course, the aims of neuroscience are different
from those of magic; the
neuroscientist seeks to understand the brain and neuron underpinnings of
cognitive functions,
whereas the magician wants mainly to exploit cognitive weaknesses. Yet
the techniques developed by
(15) magicians over centuries of stage magic could also be subtle and
powerful probes in the hands of
neuroscientists, supplementing and perhaps expanding the instruments
already in experimental use.
Neuroscience is becoming familiar with the methods of magic by
subjecting magic itself to scientific
studyin some cases showing for the first time how some of its methods
work in the brain.
Many studies of magic conducted so far confirm what is known about
cognition and attention from

(20) earlier work in experimental psychology. A cynic might dismiss such

efforts: Why do yet another
study that simply confirms what is already well known? But such criticism
misses the importance and
purpose of the studies. By investigating the techniques of magic,
neuroscientists can familiarize
themselves with methods that they can adapt to their own purposes.
Indeed, we believe that cognitive
neuroscience could have advanced faster had investigators probed
magicians intuition earlier. Even
(25) today, magicians may have a few tricks up their sleeves that
neuroscientists have not yet adopted.
By applying the tools of magic, neuroscientists can hope to learn how to
design more robust
experiments and to create more effective cognitive and visual il usions for
exploring the neural bases
of attention and awareness. Such techniques could not only make
experimental studies of cognition
possible with clever and highly attentive subjects; they could also lead to
diagnostic and treatment
(30) methods for patients suffering from specific cognitive deficits, such
as attention deficits resulting from
brain trauma, Alzheimers disease, and the like. The methods of magic
might also be put to work in
tricking patients to focus on the most important parts of their therapy,
while suppressing distractions
that cause confusion and disorientation.

41. Which of the following is NOT a reason the

author calls magicians artists of attention and
awareness?
(A) Magicians can control our awareness.
(B) Magicians can create illusions to trick us.
(C) Magicians can make impossible things
possible.
(D) Magicians can combine various tricks to
manipulate our attention.
42. Which of the following does the author NOT
list as characteristic of visual and cognitive

illusions?
(A) Visual illusions mask the perception of
physical reality.
(B) Visual illusions involve attention, memory
and causal inference.
(C) Cognitive illusions are unrelated to our
physical senses.
(D) Cognitive illusions are the most
sophisticated type of tricks created by
magicians.
43. All of the following are instruments used by
magicians to create illusions EXCEPT
(A) human attention.
(B) optical illusions.
(C) special effects.
(D) skilful hand movements.
44. The term versatile in line 4 is closest in
meaning to
(A) adaptable.
(B) unique.
(C) complicated.
(D) satisfactory.
45. It can be inferred from the passage that
neuroscientists
(A) have been outsmarted by magicians in the
study of the brain.
(B) have similar aims as magicians in their
study of the brain.
(C) should borrow magicians methods to
study the brain.
(D) should learn to be magicians to better
study the brain.
46. According to the passage, the methods of
magic can help neuroscientists
(A) design better experiments.
(B) exploit cognitive weaknesses.
(C) enrich their instruments for understanding

the brain.
(D) be more familiar with the tools of magic.
47. The term cynic inline 20 is closest in
meaning to
(A) pessimist.
(B) agnostic.
(C) skeptic.
(D) enemy.
48. The word their in line 32 refers to
(A) neuroscientists.
(B) tricks.
(C) magicians.
(D) magicians sleeves.
49. The main idea of the passage is
(A) neuroscience should adopt the methods
of magic to advance its own purpose.
(B) neuroscience should be familiar with the
methods of magic to prevent its
abuse by magicians.
(C) neuroscience should be wary of the
interference of the methods of magic in
the study of the brain.
(D) neuroscience should incorporate magic as
parts of its discipline.
50. All of the following are given in the passage as
ways in which the tools of magic can be useful
to neuroscientists EXCEPT
(A) They help neuroscientists design better
experiments.
(B) They help neuroscientists create
confusion and disorientation to trick
their patients.
(C) They help neuroscientists find better
diagnostic and treatment methods.
(D) They help neuroscientists keep their
patients focus on the important
aspects of therapy.

Questions 51 - 60
To appreciate just how distinctive bats are, consider one of their trademark traits:
wings. A few
mammals, such as flying squirrels, can glide from tree to tree, thanks to a flap of skin
that connects
their front and hind limbs. And in fact, experts generally agree that bats probably
evolved from an
Line arboreal, gliding ancestor. But among mammals, bats alone are capable of powered
flight, which is a
(5) much more complex affair than gliding. They owe this ability to the construction of
their wings. The
bones of a bats wings consist of greatly elongated forearm and finger bones that
support and spread
the thin, elastic wing membranes. The membranes extend backward to encompass hind
limbs that
are quite a bit smaller than those of a terrestrial mammal of comparable body size.
Many bats also
have a tail membrane between their hind legs.
(10) Most bats can also echolocate. By producing high-pitched sounds and then
analyzing the
returning echoes, these nocturnal animals can detect obstacles and prey much better
than by using
vision alone. More than 85 percent of living bat species use echolocation to navigate.
The rest belong
to a single familythe Old World fruit bats, sometimes called flying foxes, which
apparently lost the
ability and instead rely strictly on sight and smell to find the fruit and flowers they feed
on. Echo(15) locating bats have a distinctive set of anatomical, neurological and behavioral
characteristics that
enable them to send and receive high-frequency sounds.
The revelation more than 60 years ago that most of the worlds bats can see with
sound made
clear that echolocation contributes significantly to the great evolutionary success and
diversity of
bats. But which of the two key bat adaptationsflight and echolocationcame first, and
how and why
(20) did they evolve? The flight-first hypothesis holds that bat ancestors evolved
powered flight as a way of
improving mobility and reducing the amount of time and energy required for foraging.
Under this
scenario, echolocation evolved subsequently to make it easier for early bats to detect
and track prey
that they were already chasing in flight.
In contrast, the echolocation-first model proposes that gliding protobats hunted aerial
prey from
(25) their perches in the trees using echolocation, which evolved to help them track

their quarry a greater

distances. Powered flight evolved later to increase maneuverability and to simplify
returning to the
hunting perch. The tandem-development hypothesis, for its part, suggests that flight
and echolocation
evolved simultaneously. This idea is based on experimental evidence showing that it is
energetically
very costly for bats to produce echolocation calls when they are stationary. During flight,
however, the
(30) cost becomes nearly negligible because contraction of the flight muscles helps to
pump the lungs,
producing the airflow that is required for intense, high-frequency vocalizations.
The only way to test these hypotheses about the origins of flight and echolocation is by
mapping
the distribution of relevant traitswings and enlarged cochlea in the skull, for example
onto a family
tree of bats to determine the point at which they evolved. Back in the 1990s, we simply
did not have
(35) any fossils of bats that had some of these signature characteristics but not others.
Just about the
only way a bat can become fossilized is if it dies in a place where it is swiftly covered
with sediment
that protects it from scavengers and microorganisms alike.
51. According to the passage which of the
following is NOT true about bats?
(A) Bats fly rather than glide like flying
squirrels.
(B) Bats detect prey and obstacles by
analyzing echoes.
(C) Bats rely on sight and smell to find fruit
and flowers to eat.
(D) Bats are the only mammals with the
powered flight ability.
52. Bats are capable of powered flight because of
(A) their wings distinct construction.
(B) their ability to echolocate.
(C) their evolution from a gliding ancestor.
(D) their tail membrane located between their
hind legs.
53. The word evolve in line 20 could be best
replaced by
(A) advance
(B) regress
(C) transgress
(D) develop
54. The word prey in line 24 is closest in meaning

to
(A) obstacles.
(B) quarry.
(C) foraging.
(D) echolocation.
55. According to the passage, which of the two key
bat adaptations came first: flight or
echolocation?
(A) The passage does not provide sufficient
information about this.
(B) Flight evolved first, followed by
echolocation.
(C) Echolocation evolved first, followed by
flight.
(D) Both evolved simultaneously.
56. It can be inferred from the passage that
scientists who study bats
(A) are sure that bats ability to fly predates
their ability to echolocate.
(B) did not find out that bats can fly until 6o
years ago.
(C) are not sure that bats really have the
capability to echolocate.
(D) still wonder if bats ability to fly and
echolocate came simultaneously.

57. The word them in line 25 refers to

(A) perches.
(B) trees.
(C) protobats.
(D) prey.
58. Which of the following best expresses the
opposite meaning of the term negligible in
line 30?
(A) Significant.
(B) Unimportant.
(C) Minor.
(D) Adequate.
59. According to the passage, fossils of bats are
important because
(A) they help us determine the origin of bats.
(B) they help us test the three hypotheses
about bats.
(C) they protect bats from scavengers and
microorganisms.

(D) they provide maps of the distribution of

bats traits.
60. The word they in line 34 refers to
(A) hypotheses
(B) fossils
(C) traits
(D) bats