Text C
Prices determine how resources are to be used. They are also the means by which products and services that are in limited supply are rationed among buyers. The price system of the United States is a very complex network composed of the prices of all the products bought and sold in the economy as well as those of a myriad of services, including labor, professional transportation, and public-utility services. The interrelationships of all these prices make up the "system" of prices. The price of any particular product of service is linked to a broad, complicated system of prices in which everything seems to depend more or less upon everything else.
If one were to ask a group of randomly selected individuals to define "price", many would reply that price is an amount of money paid by the buyer to the seller of a product or service or, in other words, that price is the money value of a product or service as agreed upon in a market transaction. This definition is, of course, valid as far as it goes. For a complete understanding of a price in any particular transaction, much more than the amount of money involved must be known. Both the buyer and the seller should be familiar with not only the money amount, but with the amount and quality of the product or service to be exchanged, the time and place at which the exchange will take place and payment will be made, the form of money to be used, the credit terms and discounts that supply to the transaction, guarantees on the product or service, delivery terms return privileges, and other factors. In other words, both buyer and seller should be fully aware of all the factors that comprise the total "package" being exchanged for the asked-- for amount of money in order that they may evaluate a given price.
71. According to the passage, the price system is related primarily to _______.
A. labor and education
B. transportation and insurance
C. utilities and repairs
D. products and services
72. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT a factor in complete understanding of price?
A. Instructions that come with a product.
B. The quantity of a product.
C. The quality of a product.
D. Warranties that cover a product.
73. In the last sentence of the passage, the "they" refers to ________.
A. return privileges
B. all the factors
C. buyer and seller
D. money
74. The paragraph following the passage most likely discusses _______.
A. unusual ways to advertise products
B. types of payment plans for service
C. theories about how products affect different levels of society
D. how certain elements of price "package" influence its market value
Text D
Napoleon Bonaparte's ambition to control all the area around the Mediterranean sealed him and his French soldiers to Egypt. After losing a naval battle, they were forced to remain there for three years. In 1799, while constructing a fort, a soldier discovered a piece of stele (stone pillar bearing an inscription) known as the Rosetta stone: This famous stone, which would eventually lead to the deciphering of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics dating to 3100 B.C., was written in three languages: hieroglyphics (picture writing), demotic (a shorthand version of hieroglyphics), and Greek. Scientists discovered that the characters, unlike those in English, could be written from right to left and in other directions as well.
Twenty-three years after discovery of the Rosetta stone, Jean Francois Champollion, a French philologist, fluent in several languages, was able to decipher the first word -- ptolemy -- name of an Egyptian ruler. This name was written inside an oval called a "cartouche",. Further investigation revealed that cartouches contained names of important people of that period. Champollion painstakingly continued his search and was able to increase his growing list of known phonetic signs. He and an Englishmen, Thomas Young, worked independently of each other to unravel the deeply hidden mysteries of this strange language. Young believed that sound values could be assigned to the symbols, while Champollion insisted that the pictures represented words.
75. Which of the following languages was NOT written on the Rosetta stone?
A. French.
B. Demotic.
C. Greek.
D. Hieroglyphics.
76. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Cartounches contained names of prominent people of the period.
B. Champlllion and Young worked together in an attempt to decipher the hieroglyphics.
C. One of Napoleon's soldiers discovered the Rosetta stone.
D. Thomas Young believed that sound values could be assigned to the symbols.
77. When was the first word from the Rosetta stone deciphered?
A. 3100 B.C.
B. 1766.
C. 1799.
D. 1822.
78. What was the first word that was deciphered from the Rosetta stone?
A. Cartouche.
B. Ptolemy.
C. Demotic.
D. Champollion.
79. Why were Napoleon's soldiers in Egypt in 1799?
A. They were celebrating a naval victory.
B. They were looking for the Rosetta stone.
C. They were waiting to continue their campaign.
D. They were trying to decipher the hiseroglyphics.
80. Who was responsible for deciphering the first word?
A. Champollion.
B. Young.
C. Ptolemy.
D. Napoleon.