Free Test Prep GRE-Verbal-Reasoning Exam Questions

The victory of the small Greek democracy of Athens over the mighty Persian empire in 490 B. C. is one of the most famous events in history. Darius, king of the Persian empire, was furious because Athens had interceded for the other Greek city-states in revolt against Persian domination. In anger the king sent an enormous army to defeat Athens. He thought it would take drastic steps to pacify the rebellious part of the empire. Persia was ruled by one man. In Athens, however, all citizens helped to rule. Ennobled by this participation, Athenians were prepared to die for their city-state. Perhaps this was the secret of the remarkable victory at Marathon, which freed them from Persian rule. On their way to Marathon, the Persians tried to fool some Greek city-states by claiming to have come in peace. The frightened citizens of Delos refused to believe this. Not wanting to abet the conquest of Greece, they filed from their city and did not return until the Persians had left. They were wise, for the Persians next conquered the city of Etria and captured its people. Tiny Athens stood alone against Persi deliverance. They asked their gods to expedite their victory. The Athenians refurbished their weapons and moved to the plain of Marathon, where their little band would meet the Persians. At the last moment, soldiers from Plataea reinforced the Athenian troops. The Athenian army attacked, and Greek citizens fought bravely. The power of the mighty Persians was offset by the love that the Athenians had for their city. Athenians defeated the Persians in archery and hand combat. Greek soldiers seized Persian ships and burned them, and the Persians filed in terror. Herodotus, a famous historian, reports that 6400 Persians died, compared with only 192 Athenians. The Athenians were _by some soldiers who arrived from Plataea.

TRAVESTY : RIDICULE ::

In 1892 the Sierra Club was formed. In 1908 an area of coastal redwood trees north of San Francisco was established as Muir Woods National Monument. In the Sierra Nevada mountains, a walking trail from Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney was dedicated in 1938. It is called John Muir Trail. John Muir was born in 1838 in Scotland. His family name means "moor," which is a meadow full of flowers and animals. John loved nature from the time he was small. He also liked to climb rocky cliffs and walls. When John was eleven, his family moved to the United States and settled in Wisconsin. John was good with tools and soon became an inventor. He first invented a model of a sawmill. Later he invented an alarm clock that would cause the sleeping person to be tipped out of bed when the timer sounded. Muir left home at an early age. He took a thousand-mile walk south to the Gulf of Mexico in 1867and 1868. Then he sailed for San Francisco. The city was too noisy and crowded for Muir, so he headed inland for the Sierra Nevadas. When Muir discovered the Yosemite Valley in the Sierra Nevadas, it was as if he had come home. He loved the mountains, the wildlife, and the trees. He climbed the mountains and even climbed trees during thunderstorms in order to get closer to the wind. He put forth the theory in the late 1860's that the Yosemite Valley had been formed through the action of glaciers. People ridiculed him. Not until 1930 was Muir's theory proven correct. Muir began to write articles about the Yosemite Valley to tell readers about its beauty. His writing also warned people that Yosemite was in danger from timber mining and sheep ranching interests. In 1901 Theodore Roosevelt became president of the United States. He was interested in conservation. Muir took the president through Yosemite, and Roosevelt helped get legislation passed to create Yosemite National Park in 1906. Although Muir won many conservation battles, he lost a major one. He fought to save the Hetch Valley, which people wanted to dam in order to provide water for San Francisco. In the late 1913 a bill was signed to dam the valley. Muir died in 1914. Some people say losing the fight to protect the valley killed Muir. When did Muir invent a unique form of alarm clock?

SWEAR : OATH ::

American history scholars generally attribute formation of the League of Indian Nations to Degandawida, who convinced the warring and fiercely autonomous Iroquois nations to embrace his radical idea for a league by tying it to familiar Iroquois customs and institutions. He associated the notion of peace and partnership with the Iroquois custom by which the families of slain warriors adopted war prisoners into the tribe. He invoked unquestioned social institutions as symbols, comparing the League to the traditional Iroquois clan in which several families share a "Longhouse" and Iikening the Great Council, comprised of representatives from each nation, to the Longhouse’s ever-burning Council Fire. And he assigned to each nation specific duties in order to assuage its fear of losing national identity. (For instance, he assigned to the Onondagas, who were centrally positioned geographically, the role of perpetual hosts.) Perhaps most persuasive, however, was how Degandawida’s League replicated the power structure of the traditional Iroquois clan. Each of the five Iroquois nations was comprised of matriarchal totemic clans in which the chiefs were men, the clan heads were women, and the chief’s children were considered members of his wife’s clan. Degandawida determined that the heads of each nation should select their League representatives, thereby effectively precluding the possibility of League representatives passing their power on to their sons, as well as decreasing the likelihood that a pro-war representative would be appointed. Iroquois unification under the League lasted about two centuries, when disagreement as to whether to become involved in the American Revolutionary war dMded the Iroquois. The revo|utionaries’ success and their subsequent encroachment upon Iroquois lands forced many Iroquois to resettle in Canada, while those who remained behind lost respect from other Indian nations. The introduction of distilled spirits led to widespread alcoholism and, in turn, to a rapid decline of the culture and population. The Quakers’ influence impeded, yet in another sense contributed, to this decline. By establishing schools for the Iroquois and by introducing them to modern technology for agriculture and husbandry, the Quakers instilled some hope for the future yet undermined their sense of national identity. Ironically, it was the alcoholic halfbrother of Seneca, Cornplanter, the most outspoken proponent among the Iroquois for assimilation of white customs and institutions, who revived the Iroquois culture. Around 1800, Handsome Lake, a former member of the Great Council, established a new religion among the Iroquois that tied the more useful aspects of Christianity to traditional Indian beliefs and customs. Lake’s teachings quickly became firmly entrenched among the Iroquois, sparking reunification and renewed confidence while also curbing rampant alcoholism. Lake’s influence is still evident today: many modern- day Iroquois belong both to his religion and to one or another Christian sect Assuming that the reasons asserted in the passage for the decline of the Iroquois culture are historically representative of the decline of cultural minorities, which of the following developments would most likely contribute to the demise of a modernday ethnic minority? and write in both their traditional language and the language prevalent in the present culture to improve efficiency active role