BARRON’S PRACTICE EXERCISES FOR THE TOEFL (READING) EXERCISE 60: Narration/Sequence – Humanities/Business

BARRON’S PRACTICE EXERCISES FOR THE TOEFL (READING)

EXERCISE 60: Narration/Sequence – Humanities/Business

In some questions in the Reading Section on the Internet-Based TOEFL, you will be asked to recall and relate information and content from narration or sequence passages found in college textbooks. Choose the best answer for multiple-choice questions. For computer assisted questions, follow the directions on the screen.

The Print Revolution

For more than five thousand years, from the dawn of civilization in Mesopotamia and Egypt, people in the West wrote by hand. Imperial decrees, sacred scriptures, commercial transactions, private letters-all required the skills of a select group of scribes, clerks, or monks. In Korea and China, however, mechanical printing using carved wooden blocks had been introduced by A.D. 750. Moveable type, using characters made of baked clay, was invented in China in the eleventh century. But the Chinese continued to prefer block printing well into the modern period. Written Chinese consists of thousands of ideographic characters. The labor of creating, organizing, and setting so many different bits of type made it much simpler to cut individual pages from a single wooden block. European languages, which can be written with fewer than a hundred characters, were much better adapted to printing with moveable, reusable type. It appears that the Mongol armies brought examples of Chinese printing-the Venetian Marco Polo described seeing paper money during his travels-to western Asia and Europe at the end of the thirteenth century. In the early fourteenth century, Europeans began using block printing techniques to produce religious images, short prayers, and even decks of playing cards. As with Chinese printing, European block printing was a slow and expensive process for printing large numbers of varied texts. The print revolution had to wait another century, until the innovations of the German goldsmith Johann Gutenberg (ca. 1399-1468). Gutenberg drew on his knowledge of metallurgy to devise a lead— tin-copper alloy that could be cast into durable, reusable type. His crucial invention was a type mold consisting of a flat strip of metal-stamped in the same way a coin is minted, leaving the impression of a single letter- inserted in the bottom of a rectangular brass box held together by screws. Molten metal was poured into it, producing a single piece of type. An experienced type founder could produce up to six hundred pieces of type a day. No wooden-block carver could have approached that rate (A). To solve the remaining problems, Gutenberg adapted the screw press commonly used to produce linen, paper, and wine to make a printing press (B). He followed the example of Flemish painters by adding linseed oil to the ink to make it thick enough to adhere uniformly to the metal type. In 1455, the Gutenberg Bible was published in Mainz, Germany- but not by Gutenberg. After years of costly experimentation, Gutenberg was forced to turn over his equipment and newly printed Bibles to his partner and creditor, the wealthy merchant and moneylender Johann Fust (C). The new technology, which enabled printers to create a thousand or more copies in a single print run, was highly efficient. Simple printed school texts cost only a quarter of the price of hand-copied texts. The leading bookseller in the university town of Bologna managed to stock ten thousand copies of texts, treatises, and commentaries. By 1500, even street singers sold printed copies of their songs (D). Gutenberg's invention was revolutionary because, for the first time, the same information and ideas were available throughout Europe at virtually the same time. The great Venetian printer Aldus Manutius (1450-1515) produced over 120,000 volumes, many in the new, smaller, easily portable "octavo" format-about 6 by 9 inches. Books from the Aldine Press and other humanistic publishers played a decisive role in spreading humanism to parts of Europe where manuscript books were difficult to acquire. Moreover, book owning was no longer the exclusive preserve of scholars. This was all the more true because printers included on their lists works in vernacular languages, not just the ancient classics. The very popularity of printed vernacular texts affected language. William Caxton (1422-1492), for example, began printing books in English in 1472. His pioneering work helped standardize modem English, just as the publication of Martin Luther's German translation of the Bible in 1522 would standardize modem German. The advent of printing had other far-reaching consequences: it promoted the increase of literacy throughout Europe. By the eighteenth century, printed books had changed the nature of popular culture. Myths, folk songs, and popular histories were traditionally passed by word of mouth, often changing in the telling to fit the time and place. Once they appeared in print, they could no longer be performed and refashioned, only recited. Printing not only changed the way information was transmitted but also changed the character of the information itself.

1	With which of the following topics is the passage primarily concerned? A.      A comparison of religious and humanistic publications B.       A history of the printing process worldwide C.      An account of Gutenberg's inventions D.      The effects of books on the history of Europe	7	Which of the sentences below best expresses the information in the highlighted statement in the passage? The other choices change the meaning or leave out important information. A.       Scholars owned more books than other people. B.       Scholars were not the only people who could own books. C.       Scholars preserved books for use by other people. D.       Scholars owned some exclusive books.
2	How was popular culture affected by printing? A.      The oral tradition required editing of printed documents B.       Stories and songs changed less often. C.       More folk histories were preserved. D.      Traditional performers became more popular.	8	The author mentions all of the following advantages of the print revolution EXCEPT A.        the standardization of English B.        the advancement of literacy C.        the dissemination of humanism D.        the restoration of manuscripts
3	The word crucial in the passage is closest in meaning to A.      totally new B.       very significant C.       greatly debated D.      highly complex	9	It can be inferred that Gutenberg A.       had probably traveled to China and western Asia B.       did not live to see his invention succeed C.       was a painter before he became an inventor D.       worked for a long time to perfect his printing process
4	The word character in the passage is closest in meaning to A.      popularity B.       nature C.       truth D.      difficulty	10	Four squares (0) indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage. Although he did. not receive the financial remuneration that he deserved, history has recorded his name among the most influential inventors of all time. Where would the sentence best fit into the passage? A.       (A) B.       (B) C.       (C) D.       (D)
5	The word it in the passage refers to A.      box B.       letter C.       impression D.      coin	11	Complete the table below by matching each of the places with the important event that corresponds to it. One of the answer choices will NOT be used. A.    Germany B.     Egypt C.     Italy D.    China E.     France F.      England G.    Korea Scribes began to copy manuscripts Block printing was devised The Gutenberg Bible was published Smaller books were popularized Native-language books appeared
6	According to paragraph 6, how did Europeans learn about block printing? A.      They saw examples that were brought from China by explorers and soldiers. B.       A German goldsmith invented it at the beginning of the fifteenth century. C.       It was first devised in Europe in order to print paper money. D.      The Egyptians used the blocks for documents that the Europeans received.	12	Complete a summary of the passage by selecting THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas. The other three sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not in the passage or they do not refer to the major ideas. This question is worth 2 points Printing not only changed the way information was transmitted but also changed the character of the information itself. A.         Gutenberg devised reusable type for European languages to replace the block printing that was more appropriate for Asian languages B.         Information and ideas were made available throughout Europe to a large number of people at virtually the same time. C.         A new format for books made them more portable and easier for people to handle. D.         Block printing continued to be used to print paper money in most of the European countries. E.         Many changes in literacy and vernacular languages occurred as a result of the printing press. F.        Gutenberg did not realize much from his invention because he had accumulated debts in order to pay for his experiments.

ANSWER KEY

1	B
2	B
3	B
4	B
5	A
6	A
7	B
8	D
9	D
10	C
11	B is the place where scribes began to copy manuscripts. D.G China and Korea are the places where block printing was devised. A Germany is the place where the Gutenberg Bible was published. C Italy is the place where smaller “octavo” books were popularized F England is the place where native-language books appeared Choice (E) is not mentioned in the passage
12	A, B, E

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