1. Even under these favorable circumstances there was a “fly in the ointment.” On counting noses I made the discovery that the entire ship's company amounted to thirteen (an unlucky number, as every “salt” will testify). A ship’s crew of eleven, counting myself, and two passengers, my wife and little daughter. When I called this fact to my wife’s attention she laughed at me, saying that was “old sailor’s tommyrot” and that we were living in the twentieth century and should have outgrown such silly superstitions.
From the context of the passage, you can determine that “tommyrot” is

2. A culture lasts, although individual men in the group die off. On the other hand, a culture changes as the different conventions and understandings change. You could almost say that a culture lives in the minds of the men who have it. But people are not born with it; they get it as they grow up. Suppose a day-old Hungarian baby is adopted by a family in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and the child is not told that he is Hungarian. He will grow up with no more idea of Hungarian culture than anyone else in Oshkosh.
The main theme of this passage is

3. Of all the writers of fiction, Jane Austen is most thoroughly English. She never went abroad, and though her native good sense and shrewd gift of observation saved her from becoming insular, yet she cannot be conceived as writing of any but the sweet villages and the provincial towns of her native country. Even the Brontës, deeply secluded as their lives were, crossed the German Ocean, and saw something of Continental life from their school at Brussels.
According to the passage, Jane Austen

4. We found to our surprise that we were not the first human beings who had sought a shelter in this desolate spot. A few ruined walls here and there showed that it had once been the seat of a rude settlement; and in the little knoll which we cleared away to cover in our storehouse of valuables, we found the mortal remains of their former inhabitants.
What did the people in the passage find?

5. Drugs that treat and prevent bacterial infections are called antibiotics, and the first — penicillin — was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming. Unfortunately, the overuse of antibiotics has led to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (bacteria that antibiotics can’t kill). However, medical researchers are always searching for new cures and treatments.
According to the passage, antibiotic-resistant bacteria

6. In the present stage of educational development, there are today millions of young men and women who find in the public library the only open door through which they catch glimpses of opportunity beyond their own immediate domain. With all the limitations involved, this is a hopeful circumstance, for instances are plentiful where “the chance encounter with a book has marked the awakening of a life.”
A good title for this passage might be

7. The ruins of Brough Castle in Cumbria still stand today. Built by William Rufus in about 1092, the castle was designed to protect an important route through the Pennine Mountains. The castle was originally destroyed during an 1174 battle, but it was rebuilt; a fire destroyed it again in 1521. After its restoration, another fire in 1666 destroyed it, and its masonry finally began to collapse in about 1800.
According to the passage, Brough Castle

8. The Acheulean core-biface type of tool is worked on two faces so as to give a cutting edge all around. The outline of its front view may be oval, or egg-shaped, or a quite pointed pear shape. The large chip-scars of the Acheulean core-bifaces are shallow and flat. It is suspected that this resulted from the removal of the chips with a wooden club; the deep chip-scars of the earlier Abbevillian core-biface came from beating the tool against a stone anvil. These tools are really the best and also the final products of the core-biface tradition.
According to the passage,

9. Toward the end of prehistoric time there was a general settling down with the coming of agriculture, and all sorts of new things began to be made. Archeologists soon got a general notion of what ought to appear with what. Thus, it would upset a French prehistorian digging at the bottom of a very early cave if he found a fine bronze sword, just as much as it would upset him if he found a beer bottle. The people of his very early cave layer simply could not have made bronze swords, which came later, just as do beer bottles. Some accidental disturbance of the layers of his cave must have happened.
According to the passage, why would an archaeologist studying a very early cave be upset at finding a bronze sword?

10. Martha Slawson sat at her sewing machine, stitching away for dear life. About her, billowed yards upon yards of white cotton cloth, which, in its uncut length, shifted, as she worked, almost imperceptibly piling up a snowy drift in front of her, drawn from the snowy drift behind. This gradual ebb and flow was all that marked any progress in her labor, and her husband, coming in after some hours of absence and finding her, apparently, precisely where he had left her, was moved to ask what manner of garment she was making.
According to the passage, Martha

11. When the Continental war was going on, the news from the field of battle was generally eight or nine days old. But this, of course, was nothing to the time which elapsed in the case of India, for events which had happened there in February were given to the public as news in August! Then, indeed, to send a boy to the East was to part with him in reality. There was a long voyage round the Cape, prolonged indefinitely by wind and weather, to encounter. It would be a year from his setting out before the news of his arrival could reach his relations in England.
According to the passage, how long did it take for battlefield news to travel to the public?

12. When you think of the practice of law, you might picture a courtroom, a judge, and a pair of lawyers arguing on behalf of their clients — but the reality is that there’s much more to it than that. Attorneys study laws and regulations, looking for loopholes that help their clients; they also question witnesses before trials, stick to legal rules, and maintain current knowledge of precedents and case law. For the most part, a trial lawyer needs experience in court to claim professional expertise. Would you trust an attorney who’d never been to court? Natural talent is one thing, but experience is what separates good lawyers from great lawyers.
According to the passage,

13. Peking Man had fire. He probably cooked his meat, or used the fire to keep dangerous animals away from his den. In the cave were bones of dangerous animals, members of the wolf, bear, and cat families. Some of the cat bones belonged to beasts larger than tigers. There were also bones of other wild animals: buffalo, camel, deer, elephants, horses, sheep, and even ostriches. Seventy per cent of the animals Peking Man killed were fallow deer. It’s much too cold and dry in north China for all these animals to live there today.
After reading this passage, you can assume that

14. The emperor, as the ally of Russia, declared war against Turkey on the 10th of February, 1788. Operations were carried on by the Austrians around Belgrade and on the Danube. The Russians, bent on extending their power on the Black Sea, invested Oczakow at the mouth and on the right bank of the Dnieper, Kinburn on the left side having already been ceded to them by the treaty of Kainardji. The czarina also decided to renew in the Mediterranean the diversion of 1770, again sending ships from the Baltic.
According to the passage, the Russians wanted to

15. Magnolia is one of the best-known trees in the eastern part of the state. No other tree excels it in the combined beauty of leaves and flowers. Occurring naturally in rich moist soil on the borders of river swamps and nearby uplands in the Coastal Plain to the valley of the Brazos River, it has been widely cultivated for its ornamental value.
According to the passage, magnolia trees are cultivated because they are

16. Using the self-cleaning feature on your oven may be dangerous. Temperatures reach as high as 1,000 degrees F during the self-cleaning process, which means food particles, chemicals and debris are being charred. The resulting fumes can cause respiratory problems for people and pets, the buildup of carbon monoxide, or other dangerous health hazards.
According to this passage, what is one of the possible negative effects of using an oven’s self-cleaning feature?

17. The Texas Forestry Association is a statewide, nonprofit agency concerned primarily with the educational phase of forest conservation. Organized in 1914, the Association was largely responsible for the passage of the law which created the Department of Forestry at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, and from which the Texas Forest Service emerged.
According to the passage, the Texas Forestry Association is now concerned with

18. This transition was rather unpleasant; for when the children who had all along been kept at home in a secluded, pure, refined, yet strict manner, were thrown among a rude mass of young creatures, they were compelled unexpectedly to suffer everything from the vulgar, bad, and even base, since they lacked both weapons and skill to protect themselves.
The author of this passage would probably agree that children

19. Olfactory receptors — also known as odorant receptors — are responsible for detecting smell. They start a cascade of chemical reactions in our bodies that create a nerve impulse; the nerve impulse travels to our brains, and from there, we’re able to detect smells. While many scientists haven’t been able to study them extensively (they’re extremely small), Linda B. Buck and Richard Axel won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on olfactory receptors in 2004.
According to the passage, olfactory receptors

20. Used for detecting the obstruction of a light beam, an electric eye is a type of photodetector in wide use. One of the electric eye’s primary uses is in the safety systems of garage doors. They’re also used as highway vehicle counters, alarm systems and more.
According to the passage, the electric eye is

21. Usually, only a few of these objects are pretty to look at; but each of them has some sort of story to tell. Making the interpretation of his finds is the most important part of the archeologist’s job. It is the way he gets at the “sort of history of human activity” which is expected of archeology.
This passage is about

22. Not all anxiety is bad for you! Low levels of anxiety signal to us that we need to get ready for an upcoming event that produces some tension, such as final exams, a wedding, a major presentation, or an audition. Some people call this positive anxiety, as it gives you an added energy boost. Anxiety becomes detrimental and crippling when it is too high, thus harming concentration and performance.
A good title for this passage might be

23. Dogs that suffer from degenerative myelopathy, arthritis, or paralysis can often use custom or adjustable wheelchairs designed to help pets with mobility problems. Typically, the wheelchair’s frame is attached to wheels that replace the rear legs’ functions, and a harness holds the whole contraption in place.
According to the passage,

24. Neither of them much over eighteen years of age, they had, during their short career in the Navy, each made his mark in no uncertain fashion. In his chosen branch of the service, Ned Strong was admired by the officers and adored by the men. His advance had been rapid, and some of his more enthusiastic friends were already hinting at a commission in sight for him in the time to come. As for the merry, light-hearted Herc Taylor, that befreckled youth had as many friends among officers and men as Ned, and was one of the youngest bos’un’s mates in the Navy.
According to the passage, Ned Strong was

25. As you know, primitive peoples tend to marry and have children rather early in life. So suppose we say that twenty years will make an average generation. At this rate there would be 25,000 generations in a half-million years.
According to the passage, what is an average generation?