Passage F

Practice Tests
Practice Tests for the Texas Academic Skills Program Reading Test
Passage F

Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

28. Which sentence best states the main idea of this passage?

A. The role of the media.

B. The media played a major role in the prodemocracy uprisings of the 1980s.

C. The camcorder helped the Solidarity movement gain control in Poland.

D. Radio broadcasts helped reveal the facts behind student uprisings in the People's Republic of China.

29. According to the article, Chinese students were ready for a change in government because of

A. ideas they had learned from Western radio and their travels and studies abroad.

B. events that had occurred in Poland and Iran.

C. the popularity of Western music.

D. the economic deprivations they had endured.

30. The primary purpose of this passage is to

A. give the history of telecommunications.

B. describe the role of telecommunications in political uprisings.

C. explain the positive and negative aspects of the telecommunications industry.

D. analyze the causes of the uprisings in foreign countries.

31. As used in the second paragraph, the word clandestinely most nearly means

A. angrily

B. contemptuously

C. secretly

D. openly

32. The organization of paragraphs 2 and 3 is

A. cause and effect.

B. sequence.

C. contrast.

D. problem and solution.

33. The tone of this passage is

A. humorous

B. factual

C. contemptuous

D. opinionated

34. Which of the following sets of notes best organizes the information from the selection?

A. The Role of Telecommunications in Political Uprisings During the 1980s

Former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc nations

Munich, West Germany

Uprisings in Poland

Students occupied Tiananmen Square

Broadcasts in China

B. The Role of Telecommunications in Political Uprisings During the 1980s

Voice of America British Broadcasting Corporation (BBS)

Voice of America (VOA)

Transmission of programs from Munich, West Germany

Programming in Mandarin, Cantonese and Chinese

C. The Role of Telecommunications in Political Uprisings During the 1980s

Decades of Western-style news and values spread by radio, videocassettes, videos and camcorders to Communist countries

Radio programs helped provide a climate of acceptance in the Soviet Union

The use of camcorders contributed to uprisings in Poland and Iran

Chinese students killed during uprising in Tiananmen Square

Radio programming and fax machines spread the truth to China

D. The Role of Telecommunications in Political Uprisings During the 1980s

Mikhail Gorbachev gained control with his perestroika and glasnost campaigns in the former Soviet Union

Lech Walesa led the Solidarity movement in Poland

Shiite Muslims undercut the Shah of Iran in 1979

Gorbachev visited Beijing in June 1989

Chinese students led the rebellion in Tiananmen Square