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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 potentially 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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In his 2005 book, America's Constitution: A Biography, Akhil Reed Amar offers a radically democratic rationale for the legitimacy of the United States Constitution as the country's paramount legal authority. In Amar's eyes, the legitimacy of law is a function of its process of enactment: the more democratic the process, the more authoritative the law. Thus he contends that if a federal statute in the United States conflicts with the provisions of a treaty between the United States and a foreign country, the statute should prevail because, while treaties are made by the assent of the president and the United States Senate alone, statutes also require the concurrence of the House of Representatives, a larger legislative body closer to the people themselves. By the same logic, the greatest of all authorities in the United States is the Constitution which was enacted more democratically than any other law. Unlike laws, which are passed by the people's elected representatives, the Constitution-so the story goes-was adopted directly by the people themselves.
It would be naive, of course, to imagine that the process by which the United States Constitution was written and ratified in the 1780s was democratic as we understand democracy. The restriction of the vote almost exclusively to White men, to say nothing of the existence of slavery, would mock such a claim. Amar is keenly aware of these deficiencies. and he does not minimize them. In fact, throughout his discussion of the original Constitution, Amar exposes the corrosive influence of slavery at almost every turn. And unlike many writers before him, Amar does not protest that at least the Constitution laid the seeds of slavery's eventual destruction in the United States: it would be comforting, he says, to believe that it did, but it didn`t. Yet alongside his relentless exposition of slavery's role, he describes little-noticed ways in which the adoption of the Constitution was a remarkably democratic act. Amar notes that many states that ordinarily limited voting to propertied citizens relaxed their property qualifications when it came to constitutional ratification, thus allowing a broader-than-usual electorate to decide the country's most fundamental question. This piece of history is not part of the common knowledge of constitutional lawyers, and Amar deserves credit for bringing it to the foreground.
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The author notes that "treaties are made by the assent of the president and the United States Senate alone" in order to help
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The passage indicates which of the following about the "relaxation of property qualifications"?
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According to the passage, the idea that the Constitution "laid the seeds of slavery's eventual destruction" represents
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In Amar's argument, the fact that many states "relaxed their property qualifications" serves primarily as
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Many criminologists argue that the chances that first-time offenders will be rehabilitated can be improved by giving them sentences that promote their reintegration into society rather than by sentencing them to jail. In support of this hypothesis, it is often pointed out that whereas 10 percent of first-time offenders sentenced to community service go on to commit further crimes fully 60 percent of first-time offenders who are imprisoned do so. The hypothesis thus seems strongly confirmed. In actual fact, however, the statistics cited do little to prove it, since judges tend to impose jail sentences on those first-time offenders they consider likely to commit further crimes.
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In the argument given, the two highlighted portions play which of the following roles?
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One characteristic of terrestrial cratering is the presence of doublet craters: 3 of the 28 large impact craters on Earth (greater than 20 kilometers diameter) have partner craters. For example, the Kamensk crater in Russia, 25 kilometers in diameter, is partnered by the Gusev crater, 3 kilometers wide and of identical age. Since such doublets form when two well-separated asteroids impact Earth nearly simultaneously, their relatively frequent occurrence serves as evidence for the existence of a substantial population of co-orbiting asteroids.
Are other rocky planets subject to impacts from co-orbiting asteroids? Venus is a promising planet to search for doublets because its surface is young, erosion is nearly nonexistent, and its rater population is significantly larger than Earth's, but not so large that there is a high probability of chance associations. Researchers found that the proportion of doublet craters on Venus is significantly smaller than on Earth. However, Venus` denser atmosphere may screen out the smaller member of some asteroid pairs. If Earth had a similar screening effect, only one of its three known doublets would have formed, making the proportion of doublet craters on Earth(3.6%) identical to Venus'(2.2%) within uncertainties. The researchers concluded that co-orbiting asteroids must be common among both the near-Earth and near-Venus asteroid populations.
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The primary purpose of the passage is to
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It can be inferred from the passage that one result of establishing the age of impact craters is that it enables researchers to
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Select the sentence that proposes a possible explanation for a surprising discovery
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New Zealands lesser short-tailed bat, Mystacina tuberculata, is one of only two bat species to use a true walking gait when maneuvering on the ground. It has been assumed that the specialized terrestrial habits of mystacinids evolved in New Zealand following their isolation there. Absence of native terrestrial mammalian predators in New Zealand has been hypothesized to have facilitated evolution of terrestriality. However, although it is likely that terrestrial foraging by extant Mystacina tuberculate makes it vulnerable to introduced mammalian predators, there is as yet limited available data on the actual risk of terrestriality. Indeed, Lloyd argues that although some individuals may be caught on the ground, generally they would not be easy prey: they are cryptic, fast-moving, with acute hearing and olfaction, and can quickly take flight.
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The passage is primarily concerned with
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Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about Mystacina tuberculate?
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The manuscripts of the eight extant Latin tragedies identify the lays as the Marci Lucii Annei Senecae Tragoediae. Since nobody of that name is known. modern scholars believe the dramas to be the work of Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger, the well-known philosopher, orator, and politician. Clearly, the tragedies were written during Seneca's lifetime: internal references to earlier poets, most notably Ovid, indicate that the dramas cannot have been composed prior to the second decade C E, and the plays must have been written by 96 C.E., when Quintilian quotes Medea, one of the tragedies.
It is remarkable, however that Seneca himself never mentions the plays, since there are certainly passages in them that could be used to illustrate points of his philosophy. There are at least two possible explanations In the early Roman Empire, playwrights were sometimes exiled or executed for lines construed as directed against the emperor; thus, Seneca's silence may be simple prudence. But if anyone could safely attach his name to dramas surely it would be Seneca, the emperor's tutor. And although Herrmann offers Seneca's modesty as an explanation, Seneca is not averse to referring to his other writings. The evidence for equating Seneca with the author of the tragedies seems circumstantial.
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The author of the passage makes which of the following claims about the eight extant Latin tragedies?
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Each of the following assertions consistent with Seneca's authorship of the plays appears in the passage EXCEPT:
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