Question 6 of 65What Did the Speaker Learn from Alfonso?
Alfonso - I am not the first poet born to my family. We have painters and singers, actors and carpenters. I inherited my trade from my zio, Alfonso. Zio maybe was the tallest man in the village, he certainly was the widest. He lost his voice to cigarettes before I was born, but still he roared with his hands, his eyes, with his brow, and his deafening smile. He worked the sea with my nonno fishing in silence among the grottoes so my father could learn to write and read and not speak like the guaglione, filled with curses and empty pockets. He would watch me write with wonder, I could hear him on the couch, he looked at the lines over my shoulder, tried to teach himself to read late in the soft Adriatic darkness. Wine-stained pages gave him away. But I learned to write from Zio He didnt need words, still he taught me the language of silence, the way the sun can describe a shadow, a gesture can paint a moment, a scent could fill an entire village with words and color and sound, a perfect little grape tomato can be the most beautiful thing in the world, seen through the right eyes. Marco A. Annunziata (2002) Reprinted by permission of the author. In lines 11–13, the speaker says that Alfonso "roared / with his hands, his eyes, / with his brow, and his deafening smile." These lines suggest that Alfonso
Correct Answer: E
Question 7 of 65What Did the Speaker Learn from Alfonso?
Alfonso - I am not the first poet born to my family. We have painters and singers, actors and carpenters. I inherited my trade from my zio, Alfonso. Zio maybe was the tallest man in the village, he certainly was the widest. He lost his voice to cigarettes before I was born, but still he roared with his hands, his eyes, with his brow, and his deafening smile. He worked the sea with my nonno fishing in silence among the grottoes so my father could learn to write and read and not speak like the guaglione, filled with curses and empty pockets. He would watch me write with wonder, I could hear him on the couch, he looked at the lines over my shoulder, tried to teach himself to read late in the soft Adriatic darkness. Wine-stained pages gave him away. But I learned to write from Zio He didnt need words, still he taught me the language of silence, the way the sun can describe a shadow, a gesture can paint a moment, a scent could fill an entire village with words and color and sound, a perfect little grape tomato can be the most beautiful thing in the world, seen through the right eyes. Marco A. Annunziata (2002) Reprinted by permission of the author. Which of the following best sums up what the speaker has learned from Alfonso?
Correct Answer: A
Question 8 of 65How Are Robots Different from Humans? [Helena is talking to Domain, the general manager of Rossums Universal Robots factory.] DOMAIN: Well, any one whos looked into anatomy will have seen at once that man is too complicated, and that a good engineer could make him more simply. So young Rossum began to overhaul anatomy and tried to see what could be left out or simplified. In short but this isnt boring you, Miss Glory? HELENA: No; on the contrary, its awfully interesting. DOMAIN: So young Rossum said to himself: A man is something that, for instance, feels happy, plays the fiddle, likes going for walks, and, in fact, wants to do a whole lot of things that are really unnecessary. HELENA: Oh! DOMAIN:Wait a bit. That are unnecessary when hes wanted, let us say, to weave or to count. Do you play the fiddle? HELENA: No. DOMAIN: Thats a pity. But a working machine must not want to play the fiddle, must not feel happy, must not do a whole lot of other things. A petrol motor must not have tassels or ornaments, Miss Glory. And to manufacture artificial workers is the same thing as to manufacture motors. The process must be of the simplest, and the product of the best from a practical point of view. What sort of worker do you think is the best from a practical point of view? HELENA: The best? Perhaps the one who is most honest and hard-working. DOMAIN: No, the cheapest. The one whose needs are the smallest. Young Rossum invented a worker with the minimum amount of requirements. He had to simplify him. He rejected everything that did not contribute directly to the progress of work. In this way he rejected everything that made man more expensive. In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot. My dear Miss Glory, the Robots are not people. Mechanically they are more perfect than we are, they have an enormously developed intelligence, but they have no soul. Have you ever seen what a Robot looks like inside? HELENA: Good gracious, no! DOMAIN: Very neat, very simple. Really a beautiful piece of work. Not much in it, but everything in flawless order. The product of an engineer is technically at a higher pitch of perfection than a product of nature. HELENA: Man is supposed to be the product of nature. DOMAIN: So much the worse. Karel C apek, from R.U.R. (1923, translated by P. Selver) According to the passage, why are robots better workers than humans?
Correct Answer: D
Question 9 of 65How Are Robots Different from Humans? [Helena is talking to Domain, the general manager of Rossums Universal Robots factory.] DOMAIN: Well, any one whos looked into anatomy will have seen at once that man is too complicated, and that a good engineer could make him more simply. So young Rossum began to overhaul anatomy and tried to see what could be left out or simplified. In short but this isnt boring you, Miss Glory? HELENA: No; on the contrary, its awfully interesting. DOMAIN: So young Rossum said to himself: A man is something that, for instance, feels happy, plays the fiddle, likes going for walks, and, in fact, wants to do a whole lot of things that are really unnecessary. HELENA: Oh! DOMAIN: Wait a bit. That are unnecessary when hes wanted, let us say, to weave or to count. Do you play the fiddle? HELENA: No. DOMAIN: Thats a pity. But a working machine must not want to play the fiddle, must not feel happy, must not do a whole lot of other things. A petrol motor must not have tassels or ornaments, Miss Glory. And to manufacture artificial workers is the same thing as to manufacture motors. The process must be of the simplest, and the product of the best from a practical point of view. What sort of worker do you think is the best from a practical point of view? HELENA: The best? Perhaps the one who is most honest and hard-working. DOMAIN: No, the cheapest. The one whose needs are the smallest. Young Rossum invented a worker with the minimum amount of requirements. He had to simplify him. He rejected everything that did not contribute directly to the progress of work. In this way he rejected everything that made man more expensive. In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot. My dear Miss Glory, the Robots are not people. Mechanically they are more perfect than we are, they have an enormously developed intelligence, but they have no soul. Have you ever seen what a Robot looks like inside? HELENA: Good gracious, no! DOMAIN: Very neat, very simple. Really a beautiful piece of work. Not much in it, but everything in flawless order. The product of an engineer is technically at a higher pitch of perfection than a product of nature. HELENA: Man is supposed to be the product of nature. DOMAIN: So much the worse. Karel C apek, from R.U.R. (1923, translated by P. Selver)
Rossum created robots because -
Correct Answer: A
Question 10 of 65How Are Robots Different from Humans? [Helena is talking to Domain, the general manager of Rossums Universal Robots factory.] DOMAIN: Well, any one whos looked into anatomy will have seen at once that man is too complicated, and that a good engineer could make him more simply. So young Rossum began to overhaul anatomy and tried to see what could be left out or simplified. In short but this isnt boring you, Miss Glory? HELENA: No; on the contrary, its awfully interesting. DOMAIN: So young Rossum said to himself: A man is something that, for instance, feels happy, plays the fiddle, likes going for walks, and, in fact, wants to do a whole lot of things that are really unnecessary. HELENA: Oh! DOMAIN:Wait a bit. That are unnecessary when hes wanted, let us say, to weave or to count. Do you play the fiddle? HELENA: No. DOMAIN: Thats a pity. But a working machine must not want to play the fiddle,must not feel happy,must not do a whole lot of other things. A petrol motor must not have tassels or ornaments, Miss Glory. And to manufacture artificial workers is the same thing as to manufacture motors. The process must be of the simplest, and the product of the best from a practical point of view.What sort of worker do you think is the best from a practical point of view? HELENA: The best? Perhaps the one who is most honest and hard-working. DOMAIN: No, the cheapest. The one whose needs are the smallest. Young Rossum invented a worker with the minimum amount of requirements. He had to simplify him. He rejected everything that did not contribute directly to the progress of work. In this way he rejected everything that made man more expensive. In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot. My dear Miss Glory, the Robots are not people. Mechanically they are more perfect than we are, they have an enormously developed intelligence, but they have no soul. Have you ever seen what a Robot looks like inside? HELENA: Good gracious, no! DOMAIN: Very neat, very simple. Really a beautiful piece of work. Not much in it, but everything in flawless order. The product of an engineer is technically at a higher pitch of perfection than a product of nature. HELENA: Man is supposed to be the product of nature. DOMAIN: So much the worse. Karel C apek, from R.U.R. (1923, translated by P. Selver) Which of the following best expresses Rossums view of nature?