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GED-Test – General Educational Development Test: Social Studies, Language Arts - Writing, Science, Language Arts - Reading, Mathematics

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Showing 10–12 of 13 questions

Question 10 (Language Arts, Reading - Reading Literature)

What Has Happened to Gregor?

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was lying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes.

What has happened to me? he thought. It was no dream. His room, a regular human bedroom, only rather too small, lay quiet between the four familiar walls. Above the table on which a collection of cloth samples was unpacked and spread out ‒ Samsa was a commercial traveler ‒ hung the picture which he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and put into a pretty gilt frame. It showed a lady, with a fur cap on and a fur stole, sitting upright and holding out to the spectator a huge fur muff into which the whole of her forearm had vanished!

....

He slid down again into his former position. This getting up early, he thought, makes one quite stupid. A man needs his sleep. Other commercials live like harem women. For instance, when I come back to the hotel of a morning to write up the orders I’ve got, these others are only sitting down to breakfast. Let me just try that with my chief; I’d be sacked on the spot. Anyhow, that might be quite a good thing for me, who can tell? If I didn’t have to hold my hand because of my parents I’d have given notice long ago, I’d have gone to the chief and told him exactly what I think of him. That would knock him endways from his desk! It’s a queer way of doing, too, this sitting on high at a desk and talking down to employees, especially when they have to come quite near because the chief is hard of hearing. Well, there’s still hope; once I’ve saved enough money to pay back my parents’ debts to him ‒ that should take another five or six years ‒ I’ll do it without fail. I’ll cut myself completely loose then. For the moment, though, I’d better get up, since my train goes at five.

‒ Franz Kafka, from The Metamorphosis (1912)

In paragraph 3, Gregor tells himself, “I’d better get up, since my train goes at five”. This suggests that:

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    Gregor has woken up as a bug before and is used to it.
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    The other characters in the story are also bugs.
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    Gregor is still dreaming.
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    Gregor is going to be late.
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    Gregor does not yet realize how serious his condition is.
Question 11 (Social Studies - World History)

About the time of World War I, sharp-eyed entrepreneurs began ... to see ways to profit from the motorist’s freedom ... Shops could be set up almost anywhere the law allowed, and a wide variety of products and services could be counted on to sell briskly in the roadside marketplace. A certain number of cars passing by would always be in need of gas. Travelers eventually grew hungry, tired, and restless for diversions. Soon gas stations, produce booths, hot dog stands, and tourist camps sprouted up along the nation’s roadsides to capitalize on these needs. As competition increased, merchants looked for new ways to snag the new market a wheel. Each sign and building had to visually shout: “Slow down, pull in, and buy”. Still more businesses moved to the highway supermarkets, motor courts, restaurants, miniature golf courses, drive-in theaters. By the early 1950s, almost anything could be bought along the roadside.

What is the main idea of the passage?

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    Miniature golf was a very popular sport in the 1950s.
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    Travelers were looking for sources of entertainment.
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    Some highway businesses were more successful than others.
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    Flashy commercial enterprises sprouted along highways, eager to profit from travelers.
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    The first businesses to flourish along the highways were gas stations and hot dog stands.
Question 12 (Social Studies - Development of Modern Liberties and Democracy)

The U.S. Constitution gives the president the power to veto, or reject, a bill passed by Congress. The president sends the proposed law back to Congress and states his objections. Because it takes a two-thirds vote from both the House of Representatives and the Senate to override a veto, Congress often changes the bill to make it more acceptable to the president. Sometimes, Congress adds provisions to a bill that the president strongly favors. The president does not have the power of line-item veto, in which lines or parts of a bill can be rejected individually. The president must accept or reject the bill as Congress has written it.

Which of the following conclusions can you make based on the passage?

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    It is easier to rewrite and make a bill more acceptable to the president than it is to override a veto.
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    It is easier to override a veto than it is to rewrite and make a bill more acceptable to the president.
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    The U.S. Constitution gives the president the power to edit the bills he receives from Congress.
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    The system of checks and balances ensures that president has no influence over the lawmaking branch of government.
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    Presidents rarely use their power to veto.