EST I – Literacy Test I I – practice I

The following passage is an excerpt
from Pride and Prejudice by Jane
Austen about the Mr. Bingley and his entourage’s visit to the Bennet home.

In a few days Mr. Bingley returned Mr.Bennet’s visit, and sat about ten minutes with him in his library. He had entertained hopes of being admitted to a

5 sight of the young ladies, of whose beauty he had heard much; but he saw only the father. The

ladies were somewhat more fortunate, for they had the advantage of ascertaining from an

10 upper window that he wore a blue coat, and rode a black horse.

An invitation to dinner was soon afterwards dispatched; and already had Mrs. Bennet planned the courses that

15 were to do credit to her housekeeping, when an answer arrived which deferred it all. Mr. Bingley

was obliged to be in town the following day, and, consequently, unable to accept the

20 honour of their invitation, etc. Mrs. Bennet was quite disconcerted. She could not imagine what

business he could have in town so soon after his arrival in Hertfordshire; and she began

25 to fear that he might be always flying about from one place to another, and never settled at

Netherfield as he ought to be. Lady Lucas quieted her fears a little by starting the idea of his being

30 gone to London only to get a large party for the ball; and a report soon followed that Mr. Bingley

was to bring twelve ladies and seven gentlemen with him to the assembly. The girls grieved over

35 such a number of ladies, but were comforted the day before the ball by hearing, that instead of

twelve he brought only six with him from London—his five sisters and a cousin.

40 And when the party entered the assembly room it consisted of only five altogether—Mr. Bingley,

his two sisters, the husband of the eldest, and another young man.

45 Mr. Bingley was good-looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant countenance, and easy,

unaffected manners. His sisters were fine women, with an air of decided fashion. His

50 brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, merely looked the gentleman; but his friend Mr. Darcy soon drew the

attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report

55 which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand

a year. The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he

60 was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half

the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he

65 was discovered to be proud; to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his

large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance,

70 and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.

Mr. Bingley had soon made himself acquainted with all the principal people in the room; he was lively and

75 unreserved, danced every dance, was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one

himself at Netherfield. Such amiable qualities must speak for themselves. What a contrast

80 between him and his friend! Mr. Darcy danced only once with Mrs. Hurst and once with Miss

Bingley, declined being introduced to any other lady, and spent the rest of the evening in walking about

85 the room, speaking occasionally to one of his own party. His character was decided. He was the

proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never

90 come there again. Amongst the most violent against him was Mrs. Bennet, whose dislike of his

general behaviour was sharpened into particular resentment by his having slighted one of her daughters.

The following passage is taken from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. on discussing the history of contracts.

The doctrine of contract has been so thoroughly remodeled to meet the needs of modern times, that here is less here than elsewhere for historical research. It

5        has been so ably discussed that there is less room here elsewhere for essentially new analysis. But a short of the growth of modern doctrines, whether necessary or not, will at least be interesting, while an

10   analysis of their main characteristics cannot be omitted, and may present some new features.

It is popularly supposed that the oldest forms of contract known to our law are

15   covenant and debt, and they are of early date, no doubt. But there are other contracts still in use which, although they have in some degree put on modern forms, at least suggest the question

20   whether they were not of equally early appearance.

One of these, the promissory oath, is no longer the foundation of any rights in private law. It is used, but mainly as a

25   solemnity connected with entering upon a public office. The judge swears that he will execute justice according to law, the juryman that he will find his verdict according to law and the evidence, the

30   newly adopted citizen that he will bear true faith and allegiance to the government of his choice.

But there is another contract which plays a more important part. It may, perhaps,

35   sound paradoxical to mention the contract of suretyship. Suretyship, nowadays, is only an accessory obligation, which presupposes a principal undertaking, and which, so far as the nature of the contract

40   goes, is just like any other. But, as has been pointed out by Laferriere, and very likely by earlier writers, the surety of ancient law was the hostage, and the giving of hostages was by no means

45   confined to international dealings. In the old metrical romance of Huon of Bordeaux, Huon, having killed the son of Charlemagne, is required by the Emperor to perform various seeming

50   impossibilities as the price of forgiveness. Huon starts upon the task, leaving twelve of his knights as hostages. He returns successful, but at first the Emperor is made to believe that his orders have been

55   disobeyed. Thereupon Charlemagne cries out, “I summon hither the pledges for Huon. I will hang them, and they shall have no ransom.” So, when Huon is to fight a duel, by way of establishing the

60   truth or falsehood of a charge against him, each party begins by producing some of his friends as hostages.

When hostages are given for a duel which is to determine the truth or falsehood of

65   an accusation, the transaction is very near to the giving of similar security in the trial of a cause in court. This was in fact the usual course of the Germanic procedure. It will be remembered that the

70   earliest appearance of law was as a substitute for the private feuds between families or clans. But while a defendant who did not peaceably submit to the jurisdiction of the court might be put

75   outside the protection of the law, so that any man might kill him at sight, there was at first no way of securing the indemnity to which the plaintiff was entitled unless the defendant chose to give such security.

76   English customs which have been preserved to us are somewhat more advanced, but one of the noticeable features in their procedure is the giving of security at every step. All lawyers will

85   remember a trace of this in the fiction of John Doe and Richard Roe, the plaintiff’s pledges to prosecute his action. But a more significant example is found in the rule repeated in many of the early laws,

90   that a defendant accused of a wrong must either find security or go to prison. This tsecurity was the hostage of earlier days, and later, when the actions for punishment and for redress were

95   separated from each other, became the bail of the criminal law. The liability was still conceived in the same way as when the bail actually put his own body into the power of the party secured.

The first passage is from The Chemistry of Food and Nutrition by A.W. Duncan discussing the different chemical components of food and their reactions. Passage 2 taken from A Treatise on Adulterations of Food and Culinary Poisons by Frederick Accum discusses the effect of different solutions on food.

Passage 1

Mineral Matter or Salts, is left as an ash when food is thoroughly burnt. The most important salts are calcium phosphate, carbonate and fluoride, sodium chloride,

5. potassium phosphate and chloride, and compounds of magnesium, iron and silicon.
   
   

Mineral matter is quite as necessary for plant as for animal life, and is therefore

10. present in all food, except in the case of some highly-prepared ones, such as sugar, starch and oil. Children require a good proportion of calcium phosphate for the growth of their bones, whilst adults

15. require less. The outer part of the grain of cereals is the richest in mineral constituents, white flour and rice are deficient. Wheatmeal and oatmeal are especially recommended for the quantity

20. of phosphates and other salts contained in them. Mineral matter is necessary not only for the bones but for every tissue of the body.
    
    

When haricots are cooked, the liquid is

25. often thrown away, and the beans served nearly dry, or with parsley or other sauce. Not only is the food less tasty but important saline constituents are lost. The author has made the following

30. experiments:—German whole lentils, Egyptian split red lentils and medium haricot beans were soaked all night (16 hours) in just sufficient cold water to keep them covered. The water was

35. poured off and evaporated, the residue heated in the steam-oven to perfect dryness and weighed. After pouring off the water, the haricots were boiled in more water until thoroughly cooked, the

40   liquid being kept as low as possible. The liquid was poured off as clear as possible, from the haricots, evaporated and dried. The ash was taken in each case, and the alkalinity of the water-soluble ash was

41   calculated as potash (K₂O). The quantity of water which could be poured off was with the German lentils, half as much more than the original weight of the pulse; not quite as much could be poured

50   off the others.

The loss on soaking in cold water, unless the water is preserved, is seen to be considerable. The split lentils, having had the protecting skin removed, lose most. In

55   every case the ash contained a good deal of phosphate and lime. Potatoes are rich in important potash salts; by boiling a large quantity is lost, by steaming less and by baking in the skins, scarcely any.

60   The flavour is also much better afterbaking.

The usual addition of common salt (sodium-chloride) to boiled potatoes is no proper substitute for the loss of their

65   natural saline constituents. Natural and properly cooked foods are so rich in sodium chloride and other salts that the addition of common salt is unnecessary. An excess of the latter excites thirst and

70   spoils the natural flavour of the food. It is the custom, especially in restaurants, to add a large quantity of salt to pulse, savoury food, potatoes and soups. Bakers’ brown bread is usually very salty, and

75   sometimes white is also. In some people too much salt causes irritation of the skin, and the writer has knowledge of the salty food of vegetarian restaurants causing or increasing dandruff. As a rule, fondness

80   for salt is an acquired taste, and after its discontinuance for a time, food thus flavoured becomes unpalatable.

Passage 2

Pour upon the saline contents a quantity of distilled water equal to that in which

85   the obtained salts were originally dissolved. If the whole saline matter become dissolved in this water, there is reason to believe that the saline matter has not been altered during the

90   evaporation of the water. But if a portion remain undissolved, as is usually the case, then we may conclude that some of the salts have mutually decomposed each other, when brought into a concentrated

95   state by the evaporation, and that salts have been formed which did not originally exist in the water before its evaporation.

We have already mentioned that almost

100  the only salts contained in common waters, are the carbonates, sulphates, and muriates, of soda, lime, and magnesia; and sometimes a very minute portion of iron. Having determined the different

105  acids and bases present, we may easily ascertain the relative weight of each. The formula suggested by Dr. Murray is fully as accurate a means of analysing waters as any other, and it is easy of

110  execution. The weight of the saline ingredients of a given quantity of water being determined, we may proceed to the accurate analysis of it in the following manner.

The following passage is taken from History of Julius Caesar Volume 2 by Napoleon III on Andrea Del Sarto’s expedition against the Bituriges and Carnutes.

The capture of Alesia and that of Vercingetorix, in spite of the united efforts of all Gaul, naturally gave Caesar hopes of a general submission; and he

5. therefore believed that he could leave his army, during the winter, to rest quietly in its quarters from the hard labours which had lasted, without interruption, during the whole of the

10. past summer. But the spirit of insurrection was not extinct among the Gauls; and convinced by experience that, whatever might be their number, they could not, in a body, cope with

15. troops inured to war, they resolved, by partial insurrections, raised on all points at once, to divide the attention and the forces of the Romans, as their only chance of resisting them with

20. advantage.

Caesar was unwilling to leave them time to realise this new plan, but gave the command of his winter quarters to hisquaestor Mark Antony, quitted Bibracte

25. on the day before the Calends of January (the 25^th of December), with an escort of cavalry, joined the 13^th legion, which was in winter quarters among the Bituriges, not far from the frontier of the

30. Ædui, and called to him the 11^th legion, which was the nearest at hand. Having left two cohorts of each legion to guard the baggage, he proceeded towards the fertile country of the Bituriges, a vast

35. territory, where the presence of a single legion was insufficient to put a stop to the preparations for insurrection.

His sudden arrival in the midst of men without distrust, who were spread over

40. the open country, produced the result which he expected. They were surprised before they could enter into their oppida, for Caesar had strictly forbidden everything which might have raised

45. their suspicion, especially the application of fire, which usually betrays the sudden presence of an

enemy. Several thousands of captives were made; those who succeeded in

50. escaping sought in vain a refuge among the neighbouring nations. Cæsar, by forced marches, came up with them everywhere, and obliged each tribe to think of its own safety before that of

55. others. This activity held the populations in their fidelity, and, through fear, engaged the wavering to

submit to the conditions of peace. Thus the Bituriges, seeing that Caesar offered

60. them an easy way to recover his protection, and that the neighbouring states had suffered no other

chastisement than that of having to deliver hostages, did not hesitate in

65. submitting.
    
    

The soldiers of the 11^th and 13^th legions had, during the winter, supported with rare constancy the fatigues of very difficult marches, in intolerable cold. To

70. reward them, he promised to give, by way of prize-money, 200 sestertii to each soldier, and 2,000 to each centurion. He then sent them into their winter quarters, and returned to

75. Bibracte, after an absence of forty days. Whilst he was there dispensing justice, the Bituriges came to implore his support against the attacks of theCarnutes. Although it was only eighteen

80. days since he returned, he marched again, at the head of two legions, the 6^th and the 14^th, which had been placed on the Saône to ensure the supply of provisions.

85. On his approach, the Carnutes, taught by the fate of others, abandoned their miserable huts, which they had erected on the site of their burgs and oppida destroyed in the last campaign, and fled

90. in every direction. Caesar, unwilling to expose his soldiers to the rigour of the season, established his camp at Genabum (Gien), and lodged his soldiers partly in the huts which had

95. remained undestroyed, partly in tents, under penthouses covered with straw. The cavalry and auxiliary infantry were sent in pursuit of the Carnutes, who, hunted down everywhere, and without

100. shelter, took refuge in the neighbouring countries.

The following passage is taken from Marvels of Pond-life by Henry James Slack on the use of the microscope.

The microscope is rapidly becoming the companion of every intelligent family that can afford its purchase, and, thanks to the skill of our opticians, instruments

5        which can be made to answer the majority of purposes may be purchased for three or four guineas, while even those whose price is counted in shillings are by no means to be despised. The

10   most eminent English makers, Wales, and Tolles, in America, and Hartnack, in Paris, occupy the first rank, while the average productions of respectable houses exhibit so high a degree of

15   excellence as to make comparisons invidious. We shall not, therefore, indulge in the praises of particular firms, but simply recommend anyreader entering upon microscopic study

20   to procure an achromatic instrument, if it can be afforded, and having at least two powers, one with a focus of an inch or two thirds of an inch, and the other of half or a quarter. Cheap microscopes

25   have usually only one eye-piece, those of a better class have two, and the best are furnished with three, or even more.

The magnifying power of a compound microscope depends upon the focal

30   length of the object-glass (or glass nearest the object), upon the length of the tube, and the power of the eye- piece. With regard to object-glasses, those of shortest focal length have the

35   highest powers, and the longest eye- pieces have the lowest powers. The body of a microscope, or principal tube of which it is composed, is, in the best instruments, about nine inches long, and

a draw tube, capable of being extended six inches more, is frequently useful. From simple optical principles, the longer the tube the higher the power obtained with the same object-glass; but

45   only object-glasses of very perfect construction will bear the enlargement of their own imperfections, which results from the use of long tubes; and consequently for cheap instruments the

50   opticians often limit the length of the tube, to suit the capacity of the object- glasses they can afford to give for the money. Such microscopes may be good enough for the generality of purposes,

55   but they do not, with glasses of given focal length, afford the same magnifying power as is done by

instruments of better construction. The  best and most expensive glasses will not

60   only bear long tubes, but also eye- pieces of high power, without any practical diminution of the accuracy of their operation, and this is a great convenience in natural history

65   investigations. To obtain it, however, requires such perfection of workmanship as to be incompatible

with cheapness. An experienced  operator will not be satisfied without

70   having an object-glass at least as high as a quarter, that will bear a deep eye- piece, but beginners are seldom successful with a higher power than one of half-inch focus, or thereabouts, and

75   before trying this, they should familiarise themselves with the use of one with an inch focus.

It is a popular error to suppose that enormous magnification is always an

80   advantage, and that a microscope is valuable because it makes a flea look as advanced, but one of the noticeable often smiled at the exclamations of casual visitors, who have been pleased

85   with his microscopic efforts to entertain them. “Dear me, what a wonderful instrument; it must be immensely powerful;” and so forth. These ejaculations have often followed the use

86   of a low power, and their authors have been astonished at receiving the explanation that the best microscope is that which will show the most with the least magnification, and that accuracy

95   of definition, not mere increase of bulk, is the great thing needful. Scientific men always compute the

apparent enlargement of the object by one dimension only. Thus, supposing an

100  object one hundredth of an inch square were magnified so as to appear one inch square, it would, in scientific parlance, be magnified to “one hundred diameters,” or one hundred linear; and

105  the figures 100 would be appended to any drawing which might be made from it. It is, however, obvious that the length is magnified as well as the breadth; and hence the magnification of the whole

110  surface, in the instance specified, would be one hundred times one hundred, or ten thousand: and this is the way in which magnification is popularly stated.