Questions 1-10

The word laser was coined as an acronym for Light
Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Ordinary
light, from the Sun or a light bulb, is emitted spontaneously,
when atoms or molecules get rid of excess energy by themselves,
without any outside intervention. Stimulated emission
is different because it occurs when an atom or molecule holding
onto excess energy has been stimulated to emit it as light.

Albert Einstein was the first to suggest the existence of
stimulated emission in a paper published in 1917. However ,
for many years physicists thought that atoms and molecules
always were much more likely to emit light spontaneously and
that stimulated emission thus always would be much weaker.
It was not until after the Second World War that physicists
began trying to make stimulated emission dominate. They
sought ways by which one atom or molecule could stimulate
many other to emit light , amplifying it to much higher
powers.

The first to succeed was Charles H.Townes, then at
Colombia University in New York . Instead of working with
light , however, he worked with microwaves, which have a
much longer wavelength, and built a device he called a
"maser" for Microwave Amplification by the Stimulated
Emission of Radiation. Although he thought of the key idea in
1951, the first maser was not completed until a couple of years
later. Before long, many other physicists were building masers
and trying to discover how to produce stimulated emission at
even shorter wavelength.

The key concepts emerged about 1957. Townes and
Arthur Schawlow, then at Bell Telephone Laboratories, wrote
a long paper outlining the conditions needed to amplify
stimulated emission of visible light waves. At about the same time,
similar ideas crystallized in the mind of Gordon Gould, then a
37- year-old graduate student at Columbia, who wrote them
down in a series of notebooks. Townes and Schawlow
published their ideas in a scientific journal, Physical Review
Letter, but Gould filed a patent application. Three decades later,
people still argue about who deserves the credit for the concept
of the laser.

1.The word "coined" in line 1 could best be replaced by

(A) created
(B) mentioned
(C) understood
(D) discovered

2.The word "intervention" in line 5 can best be replaced by

(A) need
(B) device
(C) influence
(D) source

3.The word "it" in line 6 refers to

(A) light bulb
(B) energy
(C) molecule
(D) atom

4.Which of the following statements best describes a laser?

(A) A device for stimulating atoms and molecules to emit light.
(B) An atom in a high-energy state.
(C) A technique for destroying atoms or molecules.
(D) An instrument for measuring light waves.

5.Why was Towne's early work with stimulated emission done with microwaves?

(A) He was not concerned with light amplification.
(B) It was easier to work with longer wavelengths.
(C) His partner Schawlow had already begun work on the laser.
(D) The laser had already been developed.

6.In his research at Columbia University, Charles Townes worked with all of the following EXCEPT

(A) stimulated emission
(B) microwaves
(C) light amplification
(D) a maser

7.In approximately what year was the first maser built?

(A) 1917
(B) 1951
(C) 1953
(D) 1957

8.The word "emerged" in line 28 is closest in meaning to

(A) increased
(B) concluded
(C) succeeded
(D) appeared

9.The word "outlining" in line 30 is closest in meaning to

(A) assigning
(B) studying
(C) checking
(D) summarizing

10.Why do people still argue about who deserves the credit for the concept of the laser?

(A) The researchers' notebooks were lost.
(B) Several people were developing the idea at the same time.
(C) No one claimed credit for the development until recently.
(D) The work is still incomplete.

Questions 11-21

Panel painting, common in thirteenth -and fourteenth
-century Europe , involved a painstaking , laborious process.
Wooden planks were joined, covered with gesso to prepare the
surface for painting , and then polished smooth with special
tools. On this perfect surface, the artist would sketch a
composition with chalk, refine it with inks, and then begin the
deliberate process of applying thin layers of egg tempera paint
(egg yolk in which pigments are suspended) with small brushes.
The successive layering of these meticulously applied paints
produced the final, translucent colors.

Backgrounds of gold were made by carefully applying
sheets of gold leaf, and then embellishing of decorating the
gold leaf by punching it with a metal rod on which a pattern
had been embossed. Every step in the process was slow and
deliberate . The quick-drying tempera demanded that the artist
know exactly where each stroke be placed before the brush met
the panel, and it required the use of fine brushes. It was,
therefore , an ideal technique for emphasizing the hard linear
edges and pure, fine areas of color that were so much a part of
the overall aesthetic of the time. The notion that an artist
could or would dash off an idea in a fit of spontaneous
inspiration was completely alien to these deliberately produced works.

Furthermore, making these paintings was so time-consuming
that it demanded assistance. All such work was done
by collective enterprise in the workshops. The painter or
master who is credited with having created painting may have
designed the work and overseen its production, but it is highly
unlikely that the artist's hand applied every stroke of the
brush. More likely, numerous assistants, who had been
trained to imitate the artist's style, applied the paint. The carpenter's shop probably provided the frame and perhaps supplied
the panel, and yet another shop supplied the gold. Thus,
not only many hands , but also many shops were involved in
the final product.

In spite of problems with their condition, restoration,
and preservation many panel paintings have survived, and
today many of them are housed in museum collections.

11.What aspect of panel paintings does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) Famous examples
(B) Different styles
(C) Restoration
(D) Production

12.According to the passage, what was the first step in making a panel painting?

(A) Mixing the paint
(B) Preparing the panel
(C) Buying the gold leaf
(D) Making ink drawings

13.The word "it" in line 6 refers to

(A) chalk
(B) composition
(C) artist
(D) surface

14.The word "deliberate" in line 7 is closest in meaning to

(A) decisive
(B) careful
(C) natural
(D) unusual

15.Which of the following processes produced the translucent colors found on panel paintings?

(A) Joining wooden planks to form large sheets.
(B) Polishing the gesso.
(C) Applying many layers of paint.
(D) Covering the background with gold leaf.

16.Whar characteristic of tempera paint is mentioned in the passage?

(A) It dries quickly.
(B) It is difficult to make.
(C) It dissolves easily.
(D) It has to be applied directly to wood.

17.The word "demanded" in line 24 is closest in meaning to

(A) ordered
(B) reported
(C) required
(D) questioned

18.The "collective enterprise" mentioned in line 25 includes all of the following EXCEPT

(A) supplying the gold leaf
(B) building the panels
(C) applying the paint
(D) selling the painting

19.The word "imitate" in line 30 is closest in