Title VSTEP-Reading test 9.docx ✅

Code 9 - Page 1 of 14 READING PAPER 9 Time permitted: 60 minutes Number of questions: 40 _______________________________________________________________________ Directions: In this section you will read FOUR different passages. Each one is followed by 10 questions about it. For questions 1-40, you are to choose the best answer A, B, C or D, to each question. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter of the answer you have chosen. Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage. You have 60 minutes to answer all the questions, including the time to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. PASSAGE 1 - Questions 1-10 Hydrogen Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe and was perhaps the first to form. It is among the ten most common elements on Earth as well and one of the most useful for industrial purposes. Under normal conditions of temperature, hydrogen is a gas. Designated as H, hydrogen is the first element in the periodic table because it contains only one proton. Hydrogen can combine with a large number of other elements, forming more compounds than any of the others. Pure hydrogen seldom occurs naturally, but it exists in most organic compounds, that is, compounds that contain carbon, which account for a very large number of compounds. Moreover, hydrogen is found in inorganic compounds. For example, when hydrogen bums in the presence of oxygen, it forms water. The lightest and simplest of the elements, hydrogen has several properties that make it valuable for many industries. It releases more heat per unit of weight than any other fuel. In rocket engines, tons of hydrogen and oxygen are burned, and hydrogen is used with oxygen for welding torches that produce temperatures as high as 4,000 degrees F and can be used in cutting steel. Fuel cells to generate electricity operate on hydrogen and oxygen.
Code 9 - Page 2 of 14 Hydrogen also serves to prevent metals from tarnishing during heat treatments by removing the oxygen from them. Although it would be difficult to remove the oxygen by itself, hydrogen readily combines with oxygen to form water, which can be heated to steam and easily removed. Furthermore, hydrogen is one of the coolest refrigerants. It does not become a liquid until it reaches temperatures of -425 degrees F. Pure hydrogen gas is used in large electric generators to cool the coils. Future uses of hydrogen include fuel for cars, boats, planes, and other forms of transportation that currently require petroleum products. These fuels would be lighter, a distinct advantage in the aerospace industry, and they would also be cleaner, thereby reducing pollution in the atmosphere. Hydrogen is also useful in the food industry for a process known as hydrogenation. Products such as margarine and cooking oils are changed from liquids to semisolids by combining hydrogen with their molecules. Soap manufacturers also use hydrogen for this purpose. In addition, in the chemical industry, hydrogen is used to produceammonia, gasoline, methyl alcohol, and many other important products. 1. What is the author’s main purpose in the passage? A. To explain the industrial uses of hydrogen B. To describe the origin of hydrogen in the universe C. To discuss the process of hydrogenation D. To give examples of how hydrogen and oxygen combine 2. How does hydrogen generally occur? A. It is freely available in nature. B. It is contained in many compounds. C. It is often found in pure form. D. It is released during hydrogenation. 3. How can hydrogen be used to cut steel? A. By cooling the steel to a very lowtemperature B. By cooling the hydrogen with oxygen to a very low temperature C. By heating the steel to a very high temperature D. By heating the hydrogen with oxygen to a very high temperature
Code 9 - Page 3 of 14 4. The word “them” in paragraph 4 refers to_______. A. fuel cells B. metals C. treatments D. products 5. Where in the passage does the author explain why hydrogen is used as a refrigerant? A. Paragraph 1 B. Paragraph 2 C. Paragraph 3 D. Paragraph 4 6. The word “readily” in paragraph 4 could best be replaced by_______. A. completely B. slowly C.easily D. usually 7. What does the author mean by the statement underlined in paragraph 4? A. Oxygen is removed by combining it with hydrogen and heating it. B. Water can be made by combining hydrogen and oxygen. C. Hydrogen cannot be separated from oxygen because it is too difficult. D. It is easy to form steam by heating water. 8. The word “combining” in paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to_______. A. trying B. changing C. finding D. adding 9. The author mentions all of the following as uses for hydrogen EXCEPT_______. A.to remove tarnish from metals. B. to produce fuels such as gasoline and methyl alcohol. C. to operate fuel cells that generate electricity. D. to change solid foods to liquids.
Code 9 - Page 4 of 14 10. It can be inferred from the passage that hydrogen_______. A. is too dangerous to be used for industrial purposes. B. has many purposes in a variety of industries. C.has limited industrial uses because of its dangerous properties. D. is used in many industries for basically the same purpose. PASSAGE 2 - Questions 11 – 20 The work of the railroad pioneers in America became the basis for a great surge of railroad building halfway through the nineteenth century that linked the nation together as never before. Railroads eventually became the nation’s number one transportation system, and remained so until the construction of the interstate highway system halfway through the twentieth century. They were of crucial importance in stimulating economic expansion, but their influence reached beyond the economy and was pervasive in American society at large. By 1804, English as well as American inventors had experimented with steam engines for moving land vehicles. In 1820, John Stevens ran a locomotive and cars around in a circular track on his New Jersey estate, which the public saw as an amusing toy. And in 1825, after opening a short length of track, the Stockton to Darlington Railroad in England became the first line to carry general traffic. American businesspeople, especially those in the Atlantic coastal region who looked for better communication with the West, quickly became interested in the English experiment. The first company in America to begin actual operations was the Baltimore and Ohio, which opened a thirteen- mile length of track in 1830. It used a team of horses to pull a train of passenger carriages and freight wagons along the track. Steam locomotive power didn’t come into regular service until two years later. However, for the first decade or more, there was not yet a true railroad system. Even the longest of the lines was relatively short in the 1830’s, and most of them served simply to connect water routes to each other, not to link one railroad to another. Even when two lines did connect, the tracks often differed in width, so cars from one line couldn’t fit onto tracks Line 2 Line 11 Line 22 Line 15