Multiple Choice
Identify the
letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
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Critical Reading
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1.
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Choose the statement that most accurately describes the following
sentence.
When I was a kid,
The Ed Sullivan Show came on at eight o’clock on Sunday nights.
a. | It is a personal
detail that Gates includes to add interest. | b. | It is a fact
that Gates uses to illustrate the popularity of television. | c. | It is part of a
point that Gates makes about changes in family entertainment. | d. | It is a detail
showing that Gates has always been interested in technology. | | |
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2.
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According to Gates, what is a disadvantage of conventional
television? a. | Television has
been too large an influence in our lives. | b. | Viewers must watch the program at the time the network runs
it. | c. | Television is an
asynchronous communication medium. | d. | Family viewing patterns haven’t changed in thirty
years. | | |
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3.
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What
does Gates say you’re doing when you tape a television show or have an answering machine take a
message? a. | Converting
synchronous communication to asynchronous | b. | Giving control of your schedule to
technology | c. | Making use of the midband capacity of your “information
appliance” | d. | Increasing the number of television shows or messages you can
process | | |
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4.
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What
question should a critical reader ask to test the accuracy of this opinion?
One of the benefits the communications revolution will bring to all of
us is more control over our schedules.
a. | Would most people agree with this? | b. | How will the
communications revolution provide control over our personal schedules? | c. | What are the
other benefits of the communications revolution? | d. | Where do we
purchase the technology to make this happen? | | |
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5.
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Why
should a critical reader question the following statement carefully?
In some ways, though, television was just an enhancement of commercial
radio, which had been bringing electronic entertainment into homes for twenty
years.
a. | Gates reveals a
misunderstanding of the technology. | b. | Gates reveals an unfavorable bias toward
radio. | c. | Gates hides his opinion by following it with a related but
nonsupporting fact. | d. | Gates states an opinion about television without supporting
it. | | |
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6.
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What
has to happen before video-on-demand can become readily available? a. | Television
networks must agree to send programs. | b. | Affordable new technology to send videos must be
developed. | c. | Existing television sets must be modified to receive the
signals. | d. | Servers and networks on the Internet have to be
developed. | | |
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7.
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Why
does Gates say that video-on-demand is an “obvious development”? a. | Gates believes
television is losing its influence. | b. | The technology for broadband networks is ready at an affordable
price. | c. | He believes videocassette recorders are an unreliable
technology. | d. | Consumers already rent videocassettes to watch films whenever
they want. | | |
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8.
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When
video-on-demand is available, Gates says that countless movies and television shows will be stored on
“servers.” What are servers? a. | Directories that users can dial
up | c. | Distribution
centers | b. | Ways to gain access to a large
network | d. | Computers with
capacious disks | | | | |
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9.
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Choose the statement that most accurately describes the following sentence from The
Road Ahead.
The digitized
data will be retrieved from the server and routed by switches back to your television, personal
computer, or telephone—your “information appliance.”
a. | It is an opinion
based on Gates’s estimate of future technology. | b. | It is a personal
detail about how Gates’s company can send data to your home. | c. | It is a
prediction Gates makes based on his knowledge of the technology. | d. | It is a biased
statement intended to persuade people to buy into the supposed convenience of the
technology. | | |
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10.
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According to Gates, what is a “killer application”? a. | A program
designed to destroy data on computers, commonly called a “virus” | b. | The ownership of
a successful technology by only one company | c. | A technology so
successful that it makes the invention using the technology nearly
indispensable | d. | An advanced network of computers and
servers. | | |
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11.
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Why
might Bill Gates be biased about the benefits of the technologies he describes? a. | Because he owns
a technology company that will profit from the development and sale of these
technologies | b. | Because people who understand a technology are not critical of
it | c. | Because he has
been correct in all his predictions | d. | Because he is the inventor of video-on-demand
technology | | |
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12.
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Which
question should a critical reader ask about the following passage?
But no broadcast medium we have right now is comparable to the
communications media we’ll have once the Internet evolves to the point at which it has the
broadband capacity necessary to carry high-quality video.
a. | Is this a
logical statement? | b. | Does this statement hold my interest? | c. | Is Gates biased
with respect to evolving technologies? | d. | Where did Gates get this fact? | | |
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13.
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In
expository writing, writers a. | support facts with opinions. | b. | reveal private
information about people’s lives. | c. | provide information or explain a
process. | d. | express their opinions to persuade
readers. | | |
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14.
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Which
of the following is an example of expository writing? a. | An advertising
brochure describing the benefits of Gate’s software products | b. | A short story
realistically set on Mars in 2132 | c. | A play dramatizing personal incidents of a tycoon’s
life | d. | An article in a
magazine about the way computer networks change society | | |
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Vocabulary and Grammar
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15.
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Radio
programs were precursors of television shows because a. | they occured at
the same time. | b. | they came beforehand and paved the way for
television. | c. | they predicted the future. | d. | they were analog
devices. | | |
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16.
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Instead of saying “computer parlance,” Gates could have said
“computer ____.” a. | science | c. | dimensions | b. | development | d. | language | | | | |
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17.
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A
computer disk could be described as capacious because a. | it holds a lot
of information. | c. | people can use
it easily. | b. | it is a popular computer game. | d. | it can be reused. | | | | |
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18.
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Choose the sentence containing a singular, gender-neutral pronoun and its singular
indefinite pronoun antecedent used correctly. a. | Anyone who has used the Internet can offer their opinion as to
its function. | b. | No one thought to bring his or her Internet
report. | c. | All of the students wrote his or her Internet report on the
computer. | d. | Not everyone views themselves as being a computer
expert. | | |
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19.
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Which
of the sentences below is not an acceptable revision of the following
sentence?
Every doctor
cared for their own patients.
a. | Each doctor cared for his or her own
patients. | b. | All the doctors cared for their own
patients. | c. | All the doctors cared for the
patients. | d. | Every doctor cared for her or his own
patients. | | |
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20.
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Choose the sentence in which the pronoun and its indefinite pronoun antecedent agree
in number and gender. a. | Anyone who needs their computer checked should let me
know. | b. | Neither of the computers has been removed from their boxes
yet. | c. | Except for
Angela, everyone has completed his or her survey. | d. | Each of the
students was ready for their lesson well ahead of time. | | |
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