12.Practice.Tests.for.the.SAT_2015-2016_1128p

Section 8
184 Practice Test Two
Directions: The passages below are followed by questions based on their content; questions follong a pair of rel
_
ated
passages may also be based on the relationship between the paired pasages. Answer the q
_
uestlons on the basis of
what is stated or implied in the passages and in any introductory matenal that may be proVlded.
Questions 7-18 are based on the following passage.
Jn the fo llowing excerpt from an article, the author considers
the new possibilities for information transfer made
available by new communications technology, along with
the accompanying notion that the more "virtual" interactions
one has, the better.
In a culture in which email, cell phones, pagers,
and Internet chat rooms have become everyday
modes of communication, we are on the verge of
Line breaking down all barriers to the complete and
(5) constant transfer of information. But if we seem
to be moving toward unfettered union, we could
also be seen as being more isolated as individuals
than we have ever been before. As we entered
what has come to be known as the "Information
(10) Age," every new technological advance was touted
as the solution to a myriad of problems. With
more ways to pass along all types of information,
the communications industry reasons, we will
become more efficient at work, more in touch
(15) with distant family, and more likely to meet new
people. With such expanded access to the world
at large, we can only become more adept social
animals.
Communications technology has now contrib-
(20) uted, paradoxically but predictably (for to communicate
across a distance at all first requires that
there be a distance), to an actual lessening
of live human contact in favor of interaction via
electronics and satellite beams. Gradually but
(25) surely, a technology that was intended to bring
people closer together is instead helping them
drift apart, as shopping from home becomes
easier than driving to the store and speaking with
a clerk, as meeting people online in a chat room
(30) eliminates the need to be honest about one's
physical and social flaws, and as faxing someone
a blueprint gets rid of the necessity of meeting to
discuss a plan. In place of real human interaction,
we now have what might be called "virtual
(35) relationships." In place of daily, neighborly
community building, we now have solitary convenience
from the comfort-and isolation-of
home.
"The right partner is waiting for you; what are
( 40) you waiting for?" inquire the ads for a bumper
crop of online dating services. "You state your
requirements for the perfect mate, and we'll dig
through our database of thousands [or hundreds
of thousands] of singles to find you the ideal
(45) match." The ritual of dating, once relegated to
awkward or uncertain meetings, blind dates,
and vulnerable situations, is now simplified and
sterilized for anyone with a high-speed Internet
connection. On the platonic front, services such
(50) as the widespread Facebook promise effortless
ways to meet new friends by making electronic
connections with friends of friends and friends
of friends of friends after viewing their picture
and bare-bones biography online and reading
(55) testimonials from other friends eager to promote
the people they like. It is a process not dissimilar
to purchasing equipment from a catalogue-a
picture, a brief description of the product, and
quoted statements from happy customers who
(60) have found the product satisfactory.
Prevailing Internet culture shows no signs of
slowing this trend toward the endless quest for
human contact in a place where real human contact
is actually impossible. As some people on
(65) their computers at home become more alienated
from face-to-face human contact, they reach out
more desperately for friendship in the only place
they feel comfortable--online. Completely virtual
communities gather at imaginary meeting places
(70) and have passionate debates and volatile relationships,
and bits of information displayed on a
screen acquire the significance necessary to elevate
people to heights of emotion. Unfortunately, the
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