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In the passage, Descartes' description of Earth's interior is presented as
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A primary value in early twentieth-century Modernist architectural theory was that of "truth to materials"; that is, it was essential that a buildings design express the "natural" character of the building materials. This emphasis would have puzzled the architects of the Italian Renaissance (sixteenth century) a period widely regarded as the apex of architectural achievement, for Renaissance architects' designs were determined only minimally by the materials employed.
The diversity of Italy's natural resources provided Renaissance architects with a wide variety of building materials. The builders of the Pitti Palace (1558-1570) used great blocks of Tuscan stone, just as Etruscans living in the same part of Italy had done some twenty centuries earlier. Had the Florentine Renaissance builders aped the Etruscan style, it might be said that their materials determined their style, since Etruscan style matched the massive, stark, solid character of the stone. But these same materials, which so suited the massive Etruscan style, were effectively used by the Florentine Renaissance to create the most delicate and graceful of styles.
A similar example of identical materials used in contrasting styles characterizes the treatment of Roman travertine marble. When Baroque architects of seventeenth-century Rome desired a massive and solid monumental effect, they turned to travertine marble, whose "natural effect" is, indeed, that of spacious breadth and lofty smoothly rounded surfaces. Yet during the Renaissance. this same material had been used against its "nature, " in the Florentine tradition of sharply carved detail.
Italian Renaissance architecture was shaped less by the "nature" of the materials at hand than by the artistic milieu of Renaissance Italy, which included painting and sculpture as well as architecture. While roman travertine marble may have lent itself to fine carving, the Florentine passion for fine detail is no less marked in Florentine Renaissance painting than in Florentine Renaissance architecture. Similarly, in the next century, the emphasis on shading and corporeal density in Baroque painting mirrored the use of Roman travertine marble in Baroque architecture to create broad shadow and powerful masses.
The ingenuity of Renaissance architects extended beyond merely using a material in a way not suggested by its outward natural appearance. If they conceived a design that called for a certain material either too expensive or difficult to work with, they made no scruple about imitating that material. Their marbles and their stones are often actually painted stucco. When the blocks of masonry with which they built were not in scale with the projected scheme, the real joints were concealed and false ones introduced. Nor were these practices confined, as some scholars insist, to the later and supposedly decadent phases of the art. Material, then, was utterly subservient to style.
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The passage is primarily concerned with
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The author's mention of Florentine painting serves in the context of the passage to support which of the following assertions?
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The passage suggests which of the following about the cited "scholars"?
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Use of conventional flu medications remains common. However, in recent years, use of Sabocin, a nonconventional herbal remedy for the flu has increased. Sabocin's effectiveness relative to conventional medications is unproven, but it is clear Sabocin is less likely to cause unpleasant side effects: Only 35 percent of people who have used Sabocin recall an unpleasant side effect, whereas 55 percent of those people recall having experienced an unpleasant side effect when they took conventional flu medication.
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Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
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Eleanor Roosevelt made it her business to reaffirm by word and deed her belief in equality of opportunity for all. But she was more than a symbol of the New Deal's conscience, she was also able to influence her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She sparked his conscience when necessary, and it was useful for the President to have his wife absorb some of the criticism from those who wished to maintain discriminatory policies.
Because his wife publicly advocated equal opportunity, President Roosevelt rarely felt the need, before 1935, to mention Black Americans in his public statements. Between 1935 and 1941, his references to Black Americans increased in frequency and directness, but his eye was on the balance of political forces, and he did not come out forthrightly for equal rights. Roosevelt did not directly commit himself, as his wife did, until June 1941, when he established the Fair Employment Practices Commission to supervise all defense-contract industries.
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The author is primarily concerned with
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The passage suggests that it is most likely that Eleanor Roosevelt was useful to the President in which of the following ways?
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It can be inferred that the "political forces" included which of the following?
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Conspicuous structural inconsistencies distinguish the Ephesiaka of Xenophon from other ancient Greek novels. Its narrative texture is uneven, the story's pace varies erratically, and compared with other novels, it is inferior in composition. The quality of the Ephesiaka was first questioned by Burger, who maintained that much of the work is an epitome (summary) This idea was used to account for the work's narrative shortcomings: the choppy pace, the lack of motivation for certain events, the abrupt introduction of characters. However, it is doubtful that Ephesiaka is an epitome because, as an epitome, it is a worse job than it is as a novel. Even in passages Burger thinks are epitomized, inconsequential details such as Anthia feeding her dogs are retained, but potential significant actions of gods are excised.
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The author mentions "Anthia feeding her dogs " primarily in order to support
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It can be inferred that the author of the passage disagrees with Burger about which of the following?
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It can be inferred from the passage that the findings from the "field experiments "shed new light on which of the following issues related to hermit crabs?
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Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about gastropod carrion?
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Sensationalism--the purveyance of emotionally charged content focused mainly on violent crime, to a broad public--has often been decried, but the full history of the phenomenon has yet to be written. Scholars have tended to dismiss sensationalism as unworthy of serious study, based on two pervasive though somewhat incompatible assumptions: first, that sensationalism is essentially a commercial product, built on the exploitation of modern mass media, and second, that it appeals almost entirely to a simple, basic emotion and thus has little history apart from the changing technological means of spreading it. An exploration of sensationalism early history, however, challenges both assumptions and suggests that they have tended to obscure the complexity and historicity of the genre.
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According to the passage, scholars have not given sensationalism serious consideration because they believe sensationalism
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In the context in which it appears, "charged" most nearly means
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Calculating hydroelectric plants' environmental impact is not simple. Dam building requires steel and cement, the manufacture of which entails greenhouse gas emissions. Estimates for these emissions are relatively straightforward to make and show that the consequences are small compared to the benefits of generating greenhouse gas-free hydroelectric power. But more difficult-to-estimate greenhouse gas contributions occur during the plants operation. The submerging of large areas behind dams results in the microbial decomposition of vegetation, which produces substantial quantities of methane-a potent greenhouse gas. Furthermore, eradicating vegetation eliminates the consumption of the greenhouse gas $$CO_2$$ by that vegetation. Estimating amounts of these gases is difficult, and amounts vary depending upon the specific location, terrain, and power intensity of the dam with its associated lake.
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