Module I: Reading and Writing

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With its basis in casual interviews, Jean Rouch's film Summer of 1960 yields unexpected insights. Posing a simple question—"Are you happy?"—Rouch succeeds in gleaning much personal information from the film's participants. The initial scenes feature quick sound bites of pedestrians whose names we do not learn. However, they represent a good cross section of French culture: a policeman, an elderly man, and a mechanic and his wife. Because neither the camera nor Rouch himself is intrusive, ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
1
Mark for Review
the participants frequently interact with one another while Rouch is filming.
several participants decline to provide personal information.
some of the commentary on happiness is incoherent.
the reactions of the various participants do not seem coaxed.
The Jewish Museum designed its 2016–2017 exhibition Take Me (I'm Yours) to function somewhat like a gift shop—except that, here, all the gifts were free. Visitors were encouraged to take plastic bags from the entryway to the exhibition and take home all sorts of small mementos. Many of the artworks in Take Me (I'm Yours) are made up of repeated units, as in the expanse of red, white, and blue candies that comprises Felix Gonzalez-Torres's entry Untitled (USA Today). The expectation, for this one work, was that attendees would ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
2
Mark for Review
appreciate Gonzalez-Torres's work from a distance.
recognize the symbolic value of Gonzalez-Torres's color choices.
pick up and take home a few of the candies that Gonzalez-Torres had supplied.
form their own interpretations of a work most easily understood as a critique of gift-giving.
Gary Soto has spent his career creating meticulously detailed narratives of life in the American Southwest. His intensely visceral poetry for adults to his plainspoken short fiction for younger readers have earned him a devoted following, even though his online presence is minimal. At present, his own webpage features little more than a mailing address, a few photos, and a link to Soto's Instagram account—which itself features only two or three images. Soto's limited digital media presence is apparently ______.
Which choice most logically completes the text?
3
Mark for Review
a barrier to gaining readers outside of his core demographic.
no obstacle to his having a diverse and dedicated readership.
a conscious choice made to focus on writing rather than marketing.
consistent with his tendency to focus on the American Southwest.
In organizing the anthology American Musicals: 1927–1969 for the Library of America, editor Laurence Maslon prioritized musicals that would reveal their merits in a printed script format. His central criterion was that a musical could delight readers "stripped of its music, its dancing, and its performance component," as explained in the anthology's introduction. Maslon tellingly excluded the 1957 classic West Side Story from his compilation, in an indication that this American musical ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
4
Mark for Review
is already so popular that Maslon sees republication of its script as unnecessary.
in Maslon's opinion relies on live performance for its appeal.
fails to fulfill Maslon's standards of excellence in music and dance.
is not in Maslon's view a formative work of American musical theater.
One common element of rites of passage is the use of separation as a way to initiate the members of the group. An individual is secluded from family members for the sake of completion of a ritual—a process used in many cases to create an understanding of the community itself. Ironically, a separation of people often creates some sort of communitas: a sense of community created by people who are present. Because the participants are all undergoing the ritual, they feel ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
5
Mark for Review
feelings of loneliness that are gradually replaced by a renewed sense of purpose.
a common drive and need, as societal and emotional forces bind them together.
a spirit of cooperation that helps to integrate distant communities.
an urge to form a new community instead of returning to their earlier lifestyle.
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