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08 Jan 2014, 15:07
Kudos
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In 1901, an assortment of artifacts was recovered from a 2,000-year-old shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea. Among them were calcified clumps of corroded bronze that proved to be fragments of an ancient astronomical device, a device now referred to as the Antikythera mechanism. When archaeologists removed the corroded material, they uncovered not only gears and dials but also an inscription that allowed them to date the mechanism to the first century B.C. At first this inscription appeared unsurprising, given the historical timeline of Greek navigation as well as the site of the artifact's discovery. Had it not been for the complexity of the artifact's gear system, archaeologists would have had every reason to misjudge the significance of this find. However, there was clear physical indication that a gear tooth was missing from one part of the device and that the mechanism had been mended in another place; the mechanical knowledge required to create and maintain such an instrument far exceeded what had been credited to the Greeks, based on ancient Greek texts, at the time of the shipwreck.
Over a century later, archaeologists used X-ray tomography to aid their analysis. This technique enabled them to penetrate the corrosion and expose more of the inscriptions, to create digital images of the device, and ultimately to reconstruct a three-dimensional model that showed the position of the gears. The analysis appeared to confirm not only the original hypothesis that the Antikythera mechanism was some sort of astronomical device but also that the ancient Greeks had knowledge of clock-making techniques and had used the mechanism as a rudimentary computer to make eclipse predictions and record an anomaly of the moon's motion.
Q1 The passage suggests that the Antikythera mechanism is significant because it
(A) indicated that scholars may have misinterpreted other information in Greek texts
(B) confirmed that the dating of other shipwreck artifacts may be imprecise
(C) suggested that the timeline of ancient Greek technological innovation needed revision
(D) exposed the sophistication of ancient Greek navigational techniques
(E) raised the question of whether the artifact was produced by the Greeks or acquired by them
OA OE
Q2 The author most likely mentions the mending of the Antikythera mechanism in order to
(A) accuse archeologists of fabricating evidence
(B) explain why archeologists were able to deduce the state of ancient Greek technology
(C) stress the effectiveness of the technology used to reconstruct the artefact
(D) explain why archaeologists initially failed to recognize the importance of the discovery
(E) suggest that further analysis of the artifact may yield important results
OA OE
Q3 According to the passage, which of the following proved most vital to uncovering the function of the Antikythera mechanism?
(A) Realizing that the mechanism had been mended
(B) Reconstructing missing parts
(C) Making the mechanism operational
(D) Reinterpreting ancient texts about mechanics
(E) Interpreting the inscriptions
OA OE
Topic/Scope/Purpose
Hi,
For Q1 and Q3, I can not find the corresponding text to the answer choice (correct answer only).
I want to know where I can find it in the passage, please.
Over a century later, archaeologists used X-ray tomography to aid their analysis. This technique enabled them to penetrate the corrosion and expose more of the inscriptions, to create digital images of the device, and ultimately to reconstruct a three-dimensional model that showed the position of the gears. The analysis appeared to confirm not only the original hypothesis that the Antikythera mechanism was some sort of astronomical device but also that the ancient Greeks had knowledge of clock-making techniques and had used the mechanism as a rudimentary computer to make eclipse predictions and record an anomaly of the moon's motion.
Q1 The passage suggests that the Antikythera mechanism is significant because it
(A) indicated that scholars may have misinterpreted other information in Greek texts
(B) confirmed that the dating of other shipwreck artifacts may be imprecise
(C) suggested that the timeline of ancient Greek technological innovation needed revision
(D) exposed the sophistication of ancient Greek navigational techniques
(E) raised the question of whether the artifact was produced by the Greeks or acquired by them
OA OE
The right answer will refer to the Greeks' having greater technical knowledge than was believed.
Evaluate the Answer Choices:
Choice (C) matches our prediction and is correct.
Choice (A) is a distortion. It is appealing because it indirectly refers to the discrepancy between the previous and revised timelines of ancient Greek technology, but it presumes that the information in ancient texts was misinterpreted rather than missing or inadequate. The passage makes no such claim.
Choice (B) is out of scope. Nothing in the passage suggests that this artifact or any other was incorrectly dated. In fact, the passage strongly implies that the dating of this mechanism was correct.
Choice (D) is too narrow. The Antikythera mechanism may well have been used for navigation, but the second paragraph says that the findings reveal the state of the Greeks' clock-making, computational, and astronomical technology as well.
Choice (E) is out of scope. The passage does not question the attribution of the Antikythera mechanism to the Greeks.
Evaluate the Answer Choices:
Choice (C) matches our prediction and is correct.
Choice (A) is a distortion. It is appealing because it indirectly refers to the discrepancy between the previous and revised timelines of ancient Greek technology, but it presumes that the information in ancient texts was misinterpreted rather than missing or inadequate. The passage makes no such claim.
Choice (B) is out of scope. Nothing in the passage suggests that this artifact or any other was incorrectly dated. In fact, the passage strongly implies that the dating of this mechanism was correct.
Choice (D) is too narrow. The Antikythera mechanism may well have been used for navigation, but the second paragraph says that the findings reveal the state of the Greeks' clock-making, computational, and astronomical technology as well.
Choice (E) is out of scope. The passage does not question the attribution of the Antikythera mechanism to the Greeks.
Q2 The author most likely mentions the mending of the Antikythera mechanism in order to
(A) accuse archeologists of fabricating evidence
(B) explain why archeologists were able to deduce the state of ancient Greek technology
(C) stress the effectiveness of the technology used to reconstruct the artefact
(D) explain why archaeologists initially failed to recognize the importance of the discovery
(E) suggest that further analysis of the artifact may yield important results
OA OE
Choice (B) matches our prediction and is correct. The fact that the mechanism had been mended implied that ancient Greek technology had reached the ability to maintain complicated equipment.
Choice (A) distorts the meaning of the passage's details, which do not claim that the archeologists themselves mended the mechanism. Rather, they found that it had already been mended.
Choice (C) is incorrect because the effectiveness of the visual reconstruction process was not discussed until the second paragraph and was not linked to the mending of the mechanism.
Choice (D) is a 180, as the fact that the mechanism had been mended is given as one of the reasons that archaeologists knew the find to be significant.
Choice (E) is out of scope because the author does not call for or speculate upon future analyses.
Choice (A) distorts the meaning of the passage's details, which do not claim that the archeologists themselves mended the mechanism. Rather, they found that it had already been mended.
Choice (C) is incorrect because the effectiveness of the visual reconstruction process was not discussed until the second paragraph and was not linked to the mending of the mechanism.
Choice (D) is a 180, as the fact that the mechanism had been mended is given as one of the reasons that archaeologists knew the find to be significant.
Choice (E) is out of scope because the author does not call for or speculate upon future analyses.
Q3 According to the passage, which of the following proved most vital to uncovering the function of the Antikythera mechanism?
(A) Realizing that the mechanism had been mended
(B) Reconstructing missing parts
(C) Making the mechanism operational
(D) Reinterpreting ancient texts about mechanics
(E) Interpreting the inscriptions
OA OE
Choice (E) matches our prediction and is correct.
Choice (A) is a tempting distortion. The fact that the mechanism had been mended was a vital piece of evidence, but one that pertained to the state of ancient Greek technology, not to the mechanism’s function.
Choice (B) is also incorrect because it was not done; the archaeologists reconstructed the mechanism using the parts they had, which enabled them to discover and digitally image that parts were missing.
Choice (C) is out of scope. The author does not indicate that archaeologists attempted to physically rebuild or operate the mechanism.
Choice (D) distorts the details about how the complexity of the Antikythera gearing seemed to contradict information in ancient Greek texts. Although the discrepancy emphasizes the significance of the find, nothing in the passage indicates that the archaeologists attempted to reinterpret the texts to confirm their hypothesis.
Choice (A) is a tempting distortion. The fact that the mechanism had been mended was a vital piece of evidence, but one that pertained to the state of ancient Greek technology, not to the mechanism’s function.
Choice (B) is also incorrect because it was not done; the archaeologists reconstructed the mechanism using the parts they had, which enabled them to discover and digitally image that parts were missing.
Choice (C) is out of scope. The author does not indicate that archaeologists attempted to physically rebuild or operate the mechanism.
Choice (D) distorts the details about how the complexity of the Antikythera gearing seemed to contradict information in ancient Greek texts. Although the discrepancy emphasizes the significance of the find, nothing in the passage indicates that the archaeologists attempted to reinterpret the texts to confirm their hypothesis.
Topic/Scope/Purpose
Topic: Antikythera mechanism
Scope: What Antikythera mechanism reveals about ancient Greek technology
Purpose: To describe the Antikythera mechanism and that it reveals ancient Greek technology to be more advanced than was thought
Paragraph 1: 1901 discovery of the Antikythera mechanism shows ancient Greeks to be more advanced than had been thought,
Paragraph 2: Modern analysis confirms 1901 hypothesis and shows Greeks to have had clock-making and computing abilities.
Scope: What Antikythera mechanism reveals about ancient Greek technology
Purpose: To describe the Antikythera mechanism and that it reveals ancient Greek technology to be more advanced than was thought
Paragraph 1: 1901 discovery of the Antikythera mechanism shows ancient Greeks to be more advanced than had been thought,
Paragraph 2: Modern analysis confirms 1901 hypothesis and shows Greeks to have had clock-making and computing abilities.
Hi,
For Q1 and Q3, I can not find the corresponding text to the answer choice (correct answer only).
I want to know where I can find it in the passage, please.
Archived Topic
Hi there,
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