The word "overwhelming" in the passage is closest in meaning toREAD THE PASSAGE. THEN ANSW

By stating that the theories are "mutually exclusive" the author means that

READ THE PASSAG

E. THEN ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. GIVE YOURSELF 20 MINUTES TO COMPLETE THIS PRACTICE SET. THE ORIGIN OF THE PACIFIC ISLAND PEOPLE THE GREATER PACIFIC REGION, TRADITIONALLY CALLED OCEANIA, CONSISTS OF THREE CULTURAL AREAS: MELANESIA, MICRONESIA, AND POLYNESIA. MELANESIA, IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, CONTAINS THE LARGE ISLANDS OF NEW GUINEA, THE SOLOMONS, VANUATU, AND NEW CALEDONIA. MICRONESIA, THE AREA NORTH OF MELANESIA, CONSISTS PRIMARILY OF SMALL SCATTERED ISLANDS. POLYNESIA IS THE CENTRAL PACIFIC AREA IN THE GREAT TRIANGLE DEFINED BY HAWAII, EASTER ISLAND, AND NEW ZEALAN

D. BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS, THE ISLANDS IN THE TWO LARGEST CULTURAL AREAS, POLYNESIA AND MICRONESIA, TOGETHER CONTAINED A POPULATION ESTIMATED AT 700,000. SPECULATION ON THE ORIGIN OF THESE PACIFIC ISLANDERS BEGAN AS SOON AS OUTSIDERS ENCOUNTERED THEM; IN THE ABSENCE OF SOLID LINGUISTIC, ARCHAEOLOGICAL, AND BIOLOGICAL DATA, MANY FANCIFUL AND MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE THEORIES WERE DEVISE

D. PACIFIC ISLANDERS WERE VARIOUSLY THOUGHT TO HAVE COME FROM NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, EGYPT, ISRAEL, AND INDIA, AS WELL AS SOUTHEAST ASIA. MANY OLDER THEORIES IMPLICITLY DEPRECATED THE NAVIGATIONAL ABILITIES AND OVERALL CULTURAL CREATIVITY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDERS. FOR EXAMPLE, BRITISH ANTHROPOLOGISTS

G. ELLIOT SMITH AND W.

J. PERRY ASSUMED THAT ONLY EGYPTIANS WOULD HAVE BEEN SKILLED ENOUGH TO NAVIGATE AND COLONIZE THE PACIFI

C. THEY INFERRED THAT THE EGYPTIANS EVEN CROSSED THE PACIFIC TO FOUND THE GREAT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE NEW WORLD(NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA). IN 1947 NORWEGIAN ADVENTURER THOR HEYERDAHL DRIFTED ON A BALSA-LOG RAFT WESTWARD WITH THE WINDS AND CURRENTS ACROSS THE PACIFIC FROM SOUTH AMERICA TO PROVE HIS THEORY THAT PACIFIC ISLANDERS WERE NATIVE AMERICANS(ALSO CALLED AMERICAN INDIANS). LATER HEYERDAHL SUGGESTED THAT THE PACIFIC WAS PEOPLED BY THREE MIGRATIONS: BY NATIVE AMERICANS FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST OF NORTH AMERICA DRIFTING TO HAWAII, BY PERUVIANS DRIFTING TO EASTER ISLAND, AND BY MELANESIANS. IN 1969 HE CROSSED THE ATLANTIC IN AN EGYPTIAN-STYLE. REED BOAT TO PROVE EGYPTIAN INFLUENCES IN THE AMERICAS. CONTRARY TO THESE THEORISTS, THE OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, LINGUISTICS, AND ARCHAEOLOGY SHOWS THAT THE PACIFIC ISLANDERS CAME FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA AND WERE SKILLED ENOUGH AS NAVIGATORS TO SAIL AGAINST THE PREVAILING WINDS AND CURRENTS. THE BASIC CULTURAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SUCCESSFUL COLONIZATION OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS INCLUDE THE APPROPRIATE BOAT-BUILDING, SAILING, AND NAVIGATION SKILLS TO GET TO THE ISLANDS IN THE FIRST PLACE; DOMESTICATED PLANTS AND GARDENING SKILLS SUITED TO OFTEN MARGINAL CONDITIONS; AND A VARIED INVENTORY OF FISHING IMPLEMENTS AND TECHNIQUES. IT IS NOW GENERALLY BELIEVED THAT THESE PREREQUISITES ORIGINATED WITH PEOPLES SPEAKING AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES(A GROUP OF SEVERAL HUNDRED RELATED LANGUAGES)AND BEGAN TO EMERGE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA BY ABOUT 5000

B.

C.

E. THE CULTURE OF THAT TIME, BASED ON ARCHAEOLOGY AND LINGUISTIC RECONSTRUCTION, IS ASSUMED TO HAVE HAD A BROAD INVENTORY OF CULTIVATED PLANTS INCLUDING TARO, YAMS, BANANA, SUGARCANE, BREADFRUIT, COCONUT, SAGO, AND RIC

E. JUST AS IMPORTANT, THE CULTURE ALSO POSSESSED THE BASIC FOUNDATION FOR AN EFFECTIVE MARITIME ADAPTATION, INCLUDING OUTRIGGER CANOES AND A VARIETY OF FISHING TECHNIQUES THAT COULD BE EFFECTIVE FOR OVERSEAS VOYAGIN

G. CONTRARY TO THE ARGUMENTS OF SOME THAT MUCH OF THE PACIFIC WAS SETTLED BY POLYNESIANS ACCIDENTALLY MAROONED AFTER BEING LOST AND ADRIFT, IT SEEMS REASONABLE THAT THIS FEAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY DELIBERATE COLONIZATION EXPEDITIONS THAT SET OUT FULLY STOCKED WITH FOOD AND DOMESTICATED PLANTS AND ANIMALS. DETAILED STUDIES OF THE WINDS AND CURRENTS USING COMPUTER SIMULATIONS SUGGEST THAT DRIFTING CANOES WOULD HAVE BEEN A MOST UNLIKELY MEANS OF COLONIZING THE PACIFI

C. THESE EXPEDITIONS WERE LIKELY DRIVEN BY POPULATION GROWTH AND POLITICAL DYNAMICS ON THE HOME ISLANDS, AS WELL AS THE CHALLENGE AND EXCITEMENT OF EXPLORING UNKNOWN WATERS. BECAUSE ALL POLYNESIANS, MICRONESIANS, AND MANY MELANESIANS SPEAK AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES AND GROW CROPS DERIVED FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA, ALL THESE PEOPLES MOST CERTAINLY DERIVED FROM THAT REGION AND NOT THE NEW WORLD OR ELSEWHER

E. THE UNDISPUTED PRE-COLUMBIAN PRESENCE IN OCEANIA OF THE SWEET POTATO, WHICH IS A NEW WORLD DOMESTICATE, HAS SOMETIMES BEEN USED TO SUPPORT HEYERDAHL"S "AMERICAN INDIANS IN THE PACIFIC" THEORIES. HOWEVER, THIS IS ONE PLANT OUT OF A LONG LIST OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN DOMESTICATES. AS PATRICK KIRCH, AN AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, POINTS OUT, RATHER THAN BEING BROUGHT BY RAFTING SOUTH AMERICANS, SWEET POTATOES MIGHT JUST HAVE EASILY BEEN BROUGHT BACK BY RETURNING POLYNESIAN NAVIGATORS WHO COULD HAVE REACHED THE WEST COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA. DIRECTIONS: NOW ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. THE GREATER PACIFIC REGION, TRADITIONALLY CALLED OCEANIA, CONSISTS OF THREE CULTURAL AREAS: MELANESIA, MICRONESIA, AND POLYNESIA. MELANESIA, IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, CONTAINS THE LARGE ISLANDS OF NEW GUINEA, THE SOLOMONS, VANUATU, AND NEW CALEDONIA. MICRONESIA, THE AREA NORTH OF MELANESIA, CONSISTS PRIMARILY OF SMALL SCATTERED ISLANDS. POLYNESIA IS THE CENTRAL PACIFIC AREA IN THE GREAT TRIANGLE DEFINED BY HAWAII, EASTER ISLAND, AND NEW ZEALAN

D. BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS, THE ISLANDS IN THE TWO LARGEST CULTURAL AREAS, POLYNESIA AND MICRONESIA, TOGETHER CONTAINED A POPULATION ESTIMATED AT 700,000.

Why does the author mention "Indian mustard"?

A．To warn about possible risks involved in phytoremediation

B．To help illustrate the potential of phytoremediation

C．To show that hyperaccumulating plants grow in many regions of the world

D．To explain how zinc contamination can be reduced

of contaminated soils, phytoremediation

A．does not allow for the use of the removed minerals for industrial purposes

B．can be faster to implement

C．is equally friendly to the environment

D．is less suitable for soils that need to be used within a short period of time

sites that have been contaminated by toxic levels of heavy metals—an environmentally friendly approach known as phytoremediation. This scenario begins with the planting of hyperaccumulating species in the target area, such as an abandoned mine or an irrigation pond contaminated by runoff. Toxic minerals would first be absorbed by roots but later relocated to the stem and leaves. A harvest of the shoots would remove the toxic compounds off site to be burned or composted to recover the metal for industrial uses. After several years of cultivation and harvest, the site would be restored at a cost much lower than the price of excavation and reburial, the standard practice for remediation of contaminated soils. For example, in field trials, the plant alpine pennycress removed zinc and cadmium from soils near a zinc smelter, and Indian mustard, native to Pakistan and India, has been effective in reducing levels of selenium salts by 50 percent in contaminated soils.

Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in paragraph 6? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

A．Before considering phytoremediation, hyperaccumulating species of plants local to the target area must be identified.

B．The investigation begins with an evaluation of toxic sites in the target area to determine the extent of contamination.

C．The first step in phytoremediation is the planting of hyperaccumulating plants in the area to be cleaned up.

D．Mines and irrigation ponds can be kept from becoming contaminated by planting hyperaccumulating species in targeted areas.

The word "afford" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A．offer

B．prevent

C．increase

D．remove

ncentrate minerals at levels a hundredfold or greater than normal. A survey of known hyperaccumulators identified that 75 percent of them amassed nickel; cobalt, copper, zinc, manganese, lead, and cadmium are other minerals of choice. Hyperaccumulators run the entire range of the plant world. They may be herbs, shrubs, or trees. Many members of the mustard family, spurge family, legume family, and grass family are top hyperaccumulators. Many are found in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, where accumulation of high concentrations of metals may afford some protection against plant-eating insects and microbial pathogens.

Why does the author mention "herbs," "shrubs," and "trees"?

A．To provide examples of plant types that cannot tolerate high levels of harmful minerals

B．To show why so many plants are hyperaccumulators

C．To help explain why hyperaccumulators can be found in so many different places

D．To emphasize that hyperaccumulators occur in a wide range of plant types

The word "suspended" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A．grown

B．protected

C．spread out

D．hung

ficiencies in plants?

A．It allows researchers to control what nutrients a plant receives.

B．It allows researchers to observe the growth of a large number of plants simultaneously.

C．It is possible to directly observe the roots of plants.

D．It is unnecessary to keep misting plants with nutrient solutions.

that is, in soilless liquid nutrient solutions. This technique allows researchers to create solutions that selectively omit certain nutrients and then observe the resulting effects on the plants. Hydroponics has applications beyond basic research, since it facilitates the growing of greenhouse vegetables during winter. Aeroponics, a technique in which plants are suspended and the roots misted with a nutrient solution, is another method for growing plants without soil.

The word "facilitates" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A．slows down

B．affects

C．makes easier

D．focuses on

According to paragraph 2, a symptom of iron deficiency is the presence in young leaves of

A．deep red discoloration between the veins

B．white or yellow tissue between the veins

C．dead spots between the veins

D．characteristic dark green veins