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

Section 21
Practice Test Eleven
935
Directions: The passages below are followed by questions based on their content; questions following a pair of related
passages may also be based on the relationship between the paired passages. Answer the questions on the basis of
what is stated or implied in the passages and in any introductory material that may be provided.
Questions 9-13 are based on the following passage.
The fo llowing is adapted from an encyclopedia of wartime
technology.
Flexible personal body armor made from interlocking
iron or steel rings existed as long ago as
the ancient Roman era. Used primarily as protec­
Line tion for elite, heavy cavalry troops, various forms
(5) of so-called chain mail-either as a complete
garment or combined with other forms of protection-were
relatively rare and expensive at that
time, and less practical than the lorica segmentata.
This was an iron cuirass* favored by the Roman
(10) infantry made from segmented steel plates hung
on a leather harness.
For centuries after the fall of imperial Rome, the
craft of fashioning mail fell into disuse. However,
it then reemerged in the medieval period with
(15) such vigor that, by the fourteenth century, entire
armies could feasibly be outfitted with practical
and effective linked metal armor suits. The type
of armor historians often call chain mail-usually
called simply mail by its contemporaries-had
(20) many advantages for the individual fighting man
in the age of steel weapons. It combined the flexibility
and suppleness of cloth with the impactabsorbing
mass and cut resistance of rigid metal
plates. Edged weapons, no matter how sharp, were
(25) incapable of slashing or sawing through a wellfashioned
mail suit. Moreover, when struck with a
blunt object, the links transfered the force through
the mass of the garment, absorbing a significant
amount of shock impact and inhibiting its transfer
(30) to the soft human tissues underneath.
The process of manufacturing a mail shirt was
enormously labor-intensive in pre-industrial
times. Each of the thousands of individual links
that made up a full suit, or harness, had to be
(35) individually cut from a coil of hand-drawn wire.
The ends of the links were flattened and drilled
with tiny holes, and the links were then looped
into the garment and riveted closed. By varying
the pattern of interlocking links, a master mailer
(40) was able to grow or shrink the metal garment
and to "knit" sleeves, mittens, hoods, and other
complex forms. Eventually the ascendancy of
improved stabbing and piercing weapons accelerated
the obsolescence of linked mail, and
( 45) the need for greater protection spurred the development
of armor made with cleverly articulated
rigid steel plates instead. Today only a few examples
of medieval linked metal armor suits remain.
*cuirass: a piece of protective armor that protects
the upper body
9. Which of the following can be inferred about
ancient Roman armor from the passage?
(A) The lorica segmentata fell into disuse and then
had a resurgence in the medieval period.
(B) Ancient Roman linked mail was less effective
than the armor made in the 14th century.
( C) The improved stabbing and piercing weapons
used by Rome's military opponents
made flexible mail impractical for Roman
troops.
(D) Armor made from segmented steel plates was
unsuitable for wear by cavalry troops.
(E) The lorica segmentata was a more practical
form of protection for the infantry than
flexible mail.
10. As used in line 13, "fashioning" most nearly means
(A) creating
(B) purchasing
(C) dressing
(D) locating
(E) sewing
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