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SAT Reading: Why Does Thoreau Use the Phrase "Mechanical Aids" in this Passage?
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Thoreau was all about simplicity; anything that took away from his vision was the enemy. Mechanical aids were one of them. Guess he had to train a...

SAT Reading: Suggesting a Reason for Thoreau's Word Choice
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Thoreau wants our lives to be simplified. He claims that we gain less from life when we over-complicate things.

How Does Thoreau Feel about Commerce?
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How does Thoreau feel about commerce? He writes, "We don't ride upon the railroad; it rides upon us." He wants and end to the war fighting for the...

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SAT Reading 2.2 Long Passages 178 Views


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Description:

SAT Reading: Long Passages Drill 2, Problem 2

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

So many questions, so little time... Here's the passage, comin' back at ya!

00:10

Just pause it if you need to read it again...

00:33

The mood of the second paragraph is best described as...what?

00:36

And here are the potential answers...

00:41

In the second paragraph, the narrator is thinking

00:43

about his past, when he was a lot younger.

00:46

He concludes that "Past Him" wouldn't have felt at all comfortable in his current situation.

00:52

"Present Him" would probably be a little uncomfortable in the past as well.

00:56

Therefore... we're sure he's not particularly enamored, or in love, with his past, making

01:02

(E) a no-go.

01:03

"Enthusiastic" sounds like enthusiasm, so we know it has to do with being mega-excited

01:08

about something.

01:10

As nice as it would be for he narrator to be enthusiastic about his childhood, however,

01:14

that's isn't the case.

01:15

We can cross out (D) as well. "Apathetic" sounds like "apathy,"

01:19

which means being, like... "whatevs" to pretty much everything.

01:23

Hint: the word deals with the root word "pathos" which has to do with feeling sympathy for

01:29

something.

01:31

When "a" is put in front of some words it can mean "no."

01:35

So, in this case we have "no-pathos," or "a-pathetic."

01:41

The narrator spends too long reminiscing about the old days for this to be true though, so

01:45

we can nix (C).

01:47

"Anxious" comes from "anxiety" so we know it refers to when a person feels extremely

01:52

nervous.

01:53

Though the narrator does feel suddenly uncomfortable with the life he left behind, he doesn't

01:57

show any signs of being outright "anxious" about it.

02:00

This leaves choice (B), "nostalgic," which describes a person who's feeling--you guessed it--

02:06

"nostalgia."

02:07

Not only is this the right answer, it's also one of our favorite words, because it

02:11

describes when a person is thinking about their past and feeling both pleasure and sadness

02:16

at the same time.

02:18

Hey, we love it when reading material is complex....

02:21

Even when it's about corn.

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