Passage A
The Tree
1. It was 390 feet tall. Nothing on earth could match it. It had stood as a slender sapling in the cool coastal air, perhaps moving slightly in a light breeze, on the very day Caesar (100 BCdash44 BC) finally decided to move against Britain. But all that happened a long way from the area that would be called California. Great leaders were born as the tree grew. And they died as the tree became stronger and taller. Wars came and went, as well as plagues and famine. There were great celebrations and deep mourning here and there over the earth. The tree lived through it all.
long dashWallace, Robert A. Biology: The World of Life. 7th ed., Pearson Education, 1997.
Passage B
One Solitary Life
2. He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never had a family or owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never wrote a book, or held an office. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness.
3. While He was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was turned over to His enemies, and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He haddashHis coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave.
4. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that ever marched and all the navies that ever sailed and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as this open double quoteOne Solitary Life.close double quote
long dashPirozzi, Richard. Critical Reading, Critical Thinking: A Contemporary Issues Approach. Pearson Education, 2000.
You can infer that the tree in Passage A is what kind?
A.
elm
B.
pine
C.
mesquite
D.
giant redwood
