California Basic Educational Skills Test - Reading: CBEST-SECTION-2

(1)

Produced in 1959, Lorraine Hansberrys play, A Raisin in the Sun, was a quietly revolutionary work that depicted African-American life in a fresh, new, and realistic way. The play made her the youngest American, the first African-American,

and the fifth woman to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best

Play of the Year. In 1961, it was produced as a film starring Sydney Poitier and has since become a classic, providing inspiration for an entire generation of

African-American writers.

(2)

Hansberry was not only an artist but also a political activist and the daughter of activists. Born in Chicago in 1930, she was a member of a prominent family devoted to civil rights.Her father was a successful real-estate broker, who won an

anti-segregation case before the Illinois Supreme Court in the mid-1930s, and her uncle was a Harvard professor. In her home, Hansberry was privileged to meet many influential cultural and intellectual leaders. Among them were artists and

activists such as Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, and Langston Hughes.

(3)

The success of A Raisin in the Sun helped gain an audience for her passionate views on social justice. It mirrors one of Hansberrys central artistic efforts, that of freeing many people from the smothering effects of stereotyping by depicting

the wide array of personality types and aspirations that exist within one Southside

Chicago family. A Raisin in the Sun was followed by another play, produced in 1964, The Sign in Sidney Brusteins Window. This play is about an intellectual in

Greenwich Village, New York City, a man who is open-minded and generous of spirit who, as Hansberry wrote, "cares about it all. It takes too much energy not to care."

(4)

Lorraine Hansberry died on the final day of the plays run on Broadway. Her early death, at the age of 34, was unfortunate, as it cut short a brilliant and promising career, one that, even in its short span, changed the face of American

theater. After her death, however, her influence continued to be felt. A dramatic adaptation of her autobiography, To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, consisted of vignettes based on Hansberrys plays, poems, and other writings. It was produced

Off-Broadway in 1969 and appeared in book form the following year.Her play, Les Blancs, a drama set in Africa, was produced in 1970; and A Raisin in the Sun was adapted as a musical, Raisin, and won a Tony award in 1973.

(5)

Even after her death, her dramatic works have helped gain an audience for her essays and speeches on wide-ranging topics, from world peace to the evils of the mistreatment of minorities, no matter what their race, and especially for her

works on the civil-rights struggle and on the effort by Africans to be free of colonial rule. She was a woman,much like the characters in her best-known play, who was determined to be free of racial, cultural, or genderbased constraints.

On the basis of above passage please answer the following question.

The writer of the passage suggests that Hansberrys political beliefs had their origins in her experience as

A.

the daughter of politically active parents.

B.

a successful playwright in New York.

C.

a resident of Southside Chicago.

D.

an intellectual in Greenwich Village.

E.

a civil rights activist.

A government report addressing concerns about the many implications of prenatal and newborn genetic testing outlined policy guidelines and legislative recommendations intended to avoid involuntary and ineffective testing and to protect

confidentiality. The report recommended that all such screening be voluntary.

Citing results of two different voluntary newborn screening programs, the report said these programs can achieve compliance rates equal to or better than those of mandatory programs. State health departments might be wise to eventually

mandate the offering of tests for diagnosing treatable conditions in newborns; however, careful pilot studies for conditions diagnosable at birth need to be done first. Although the report asserted that it would prefer that all screening be

voluntary, it did note that if a state elects to mandate newborn screening for a particular condition, the state should do so only if there is strong evidence that a newborn would benefit from effective treatment at the earliest possible age.

Newborn screening is the most common type of genetic screening today. More than four million newborns are tested annually so that effective treatment can be started in a few hundred infants. Obtaining informed consenta process that

would include educating participants, not just processing documentswould enhance voluntary participation. When offered testing, parents should receive comprehensive counseling, which should be nondirective. Relevant medical advice,

however, is recommended for treatable or preventable conditions.

On the basis of above passage please answer the following question

According to the passage, how many infants are treated for genetic disorders as a result of newborn screening?

A. dozens

B. hundreds

C. thousands

D. millions

E. It is not possible to tell from the information in the passage.

In Ralph Waldo Emersons view, although individual consciousness will eventually be lost, every living thing is part of the blessed Unity, part of the transcendent "over-soul" which is the universe.And so, in the main body of his philosophy, Emerson accepts the indifference of Nature to the individual life, and does not struggle against it. His acceptance of Nature as tending toward overall unity and good in spite of her indifference to the individual is curiously and ironically akin to the Puritan acceptance of the doctrine of Divine Election. In his "Personal Narrative" Jonathan Edwards writes that he finally has "a delightful conviction" of the doctrine of God's sovereignty, of God's choosing according to His divine and arbitrary will, "whom he would to eternal life, and rejecting whom he pleased . . . ."He writes that the doctrine had formerly seemed ___________ to him; however, it had finally come to seem "exceedingly pleasant, bright, and sweet." In "Fate," Emerson writes that "Nature will not mind drowning a man or a woman, but swallows your ship like a grain of dust," but that "the central intention of Nature [is] harmony and joy. Let us build altars to the Beautiful Necessity. . . ." On the basis of above passage please answer the following question In the context of the passage, which of the following words would best fit in the blank?

A. loving

B. just

C. horrible

D. imperious

E. satisfying