BME Reading Test

BME Reading Test Sample

1 pt Standard: 7.3
1.

Directions: Read all directions carefully. Read each question, and then choose the best answer.

Read the following passages, and answer the questions about each one.

Medicine: The Healing Science
 In no other field of study are the observer and the observed able to understand each other so well. The story of medicine is a never-ending tale of mankind’s journey of self-discovery. On the walls of the Temple of Delphi is the Greek precept, "Know thyself "—and no more exciting or worthwhile pursuit is available to man. From its beginnings, medicine sought not only to ameliorate the hurt or to cure the disease, but, more significantly, to attain a real understanding of its most mysterious and complex subject—the human animal.  The astronomer is not a planet; the geologist treads upon the earth yet is separate from it. But the physician who gazes upon and studies his patient looks at himself. After all, what doctor has never felt ill or has always been free of pain or guilt? Both doctor and patient are essentially living laboratories, separated only by the knowledge and the social role of the former.
1. The best summary of this passage is that

1 pt Standard: 7.5
2.

From Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
 At last, when his wits were gone beyond repair, he came to conceive the strangest idea that ever occurred to any madman in the world. It now appeared to him fitting and necessary, in order to win a greater amount of honor for himself and serve his country at the same time, to become a knight adventurer and roam the world on horseback, in a suit of armor. He would go in quest of adventures, by way of putting into practice all that he had read in his books; he would right every manner of wrong, placing himself in situations of the greatest peril such as would make him famous to the eternal glory of his name. As a reward for his valor and the might of his arm, the poor fellow could already see himself crowned Emperor…and so, carried away by the strange pleasure that he found in such thoughts as these, he at once set about putting his plan into effect.
2. After reading the passage, one could conclude that

1 pt Standard: 5.4
3.

Suppose a test question about this passage asked how the madman, Don Quixote, got the idea to roam the world. What would be the best way to find this information?

1 pt Standard: 7.5
4.

Population Density
 What about the assertion that as the world population grows, poverty is the inevitable result?  Actually, the amount of poverty in a country has little to do with its population density or even its supply of resources. It does have a lot to do with the structure of each country’s economic system.  For example, booming Singapore has a population density of more than 18,000 people per square mile. Yet Singapore’s per capita income is over five times that of communist Cuba, which has approximately 260 people per square mile.  It is no accident that the world’s most prosperous countries are those with free economies. Thriving Asian economies like those of Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea are classic examples of these.
4. Based on the passage, one could infer that the author believes

1 pt Standard: 7.3
5.

Which of the following is an accurate summary of the passage?

1 pt Standard: 7.5
6.

Tons of Toads
 In June 1935, Australia’s sugar industry imported 101 cane toads from Hawaii in the hope that they would eat the cane beetles threatening the sugar crop. The toad, described by one person as "ugly even by toad standards," did not have any interest in eating cane beetles. But it made itself at home. It now exists throughout half of Queensland and is spreading into New South Wales and the Northern Territory. A single female has been known to lay 54,000 eggs in a clutch, and females may lay eggs twice a year. Australia’s toad population is now in the millions—and growing.  And the cane toad, which can grow to more than eight inches long, is dangerous. When other animals try to eat it, it secretes a poison that can kill a dog in fifteen minutes. Even humans can die from ingesting the poison. Biologists have suggested introducing a parasite or disease to control the pests.
6. If the cane toad population is not controlled, what is most likely to occur?

1 pt Standard: 7.3
7.

What is the best summary of this passage?