Step 2: Read the following selection from a college humanities textbook, and then answer the questions that follow it.

1     Leonardo goes far beyond realism in another masterpiece, the Mona Lisa of 1503–1505. The work is so famous that it still attracts huge numbers of visitors to the Louvre Museum in Paris, even though it is encased in bullet-proof glass behind a railing.

2     What is all the fuss about? How do we account for the incredible stature of this relatively small canvas in the world of humanities? One reason, of course, may be that widely discussed mysterious smile. One does not find many smiles in portrait paintings, because the artist has customarily been hired to render both a realistic likeness and an idealization in the classic mode. The David of Michelangelo is a good example of a Renaissance work that is both an imitation of a real human being and a perfected version of what a human being should look like. The famous smile particularizes Mona Lisa Giaconda, whom Leonardo was commissioned to paint. She is not only idealized in the traditional manner of portraiture, but she is also an individual woman captured in a particular inner action at a particular time.

3     A closer look at the painting, however, reveals that the mouth is shown with only the faintest trace of smile. Just as interesting is that Signora Giaconda is looking at something not shown in the painting-just what we can never know-which adds to the mystery. (Hint: If you'd like to leave behind a painting or a poem that people will still be talking about centuries from now, be sure there is an unsolvable mystery about it.)

4     The following experiment, suggested by one art critic, can be performed right this moment. Cover the left side of the face, using your hand or an index card. Presumably, you will see a warm, sensuous woman, gazing provocatively, at you! Now cover the right side, and presumably you will see an aristocrat who finds something (not you, of course) mildly amusing. Many have said that Leonardo in this work has revealed the essential ambiguity of all human faces and personalities. If we agree, we could say that the Mona Lisa accomplishes a goal many artists seek but rarely achieve: its creator has both particularized and generalized. What should, however, stand out in our mind is that the portrait is a supreme example of the Renaissance movement toward individualism or, rather, the support given by all the arts to a rebellion against the medieval emphasis on an afterlife rather than in the rich diversity found in this life.

5     Later in the same century Shakespeare would create monumental and decidedly individual characters like Hamlet, Othello, Lear, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Cleopatra. Yes, they offer insights into many universal human traits and weaknesses, but they are also three-dimensional beings firmly rooted in their unique situations and speaking in a language so specific to each that lovers of Shakespeare can usually identify major characters even when all names are omitted from the text.

—Adapted from Janaro and Altshuler, The Art of Being Human, 7th ed., pp. 159–60

		3. Which of the items listed would not be necessary prior information to understand paragraphs 1 and 2?    a. What the Mona Lisa looks like   b. What Michelangelo's sculpture David looks like   c. The architect of the Louvre   d. Speculation about the mysteries surrounding the Mona Lisa
		4. To better understand the passage, what prior information about the Renaissance would be helpful?    a. The word renaissance means "rebirth."   b. Prior to the Renaissance, Medieval art stressed the afterlife, but Renaissance art focused on leading a good life in the present world.   c. The center of Renaissance art was in or around Florence, Italy, and the artists presented new ways of seeing life.   d. All of the above.
		5. "Presumably, you will see a warm, sensuous woman, gazing provocatively, at you!" The word provocatively means     a. in a serious manner.   b. in a sad and gloomy manner.   c. in an enticing and teasing manner.   d. in an anxious and fearful manner.
		6. To better understand the results of the experiment suggested by the art critic, a reader needs to know that an aristocrat is     a. a peasant who works for a landowner.   b. a wealthy person with family connections and land holdings.   c. a painter who traveled the countryside seeking mysterious subject.   d. a sculptor who emphasized realism.
		7. "What should, however, stand out in our mind is that the portrait is a supreme example of the Renaissance movement toward individualism or, rather, the support given by all the arts to a rebellion against the medieval emphasis on an afterlife rather than in the rich diversity found in this life." Diversity means     a. variety.   b. commonplace.   c. ordinary.   d. heavenly.
		8. "Later in the same century Shakespeare would create monumental and decidedly individual characters like Hamlet, Othello, Lear, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Cleopatra." Monumental means     a. suitable for praise.   b. cast in marble.   c. small symbols.   d. unrecognizable
		9. "Yes, they offer insights into many universal human traits and weaknesses, but they are also three-dimensional beings firmly rooted in their unique situations and speaking in a language so specific to each that lovers of Shakespeare can usually identify major characters even when all names are omitted from the text." Three-dimensional implies the characters are     a. only a dot on the page.   b. flat drawings by the playwright.   c. dynamic characters with good and bad attributes.   d. shadows of the real people they represent.
		10. "Later in the same century Shakespeare would create monumental and decidedly individual characters like Hamlet, Othello, Lear, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Cleopatra. Yes, they offer insights into many universal human traits and weaknesses, but they are also three-dimensional being firmly rooted in their unique situations and speaking in a language so specific to each that lovers of Shakespeare can usually identify major characters even when all names are omitted from the text." By this paragraph, the authors imply that     a. Shakespeare, like Renaissance painters and sculptors, aimed for realism and idealization in his characters.   b. Shakespeare should have taken note of the works of Da Vinci.   c. Shakespeare should have used Florence, Italy, as a setting for all of his plays.   d. Shakespeare was heavily influenced by the medieval period.