" Margaret greeted Henry with peculiar tender-
ness. Mature as he was, she might yet be able to
help him to the building of the rainbow bridge
that should connect the prose in us with the
(5) passion. Without it we are meaningless fragments,
half monks, half beasts, unconnected .arches that
are never joined into an individual. With it love is
born, and alights on the highest curve, glowing
against the fire. Happy are they who see from
(10) either aspect the glory of these outspread wings.
The roads of their souls lie clear, and they and
their friends shall find easy going."
- The "rainbow bridge" mentioned in line 3 should connect
(a) fear and bravery
(b) sanity and madness
© logic and emotion
(d) man and woman
(e) chaos and order
What’s your answer? Can you clarify it for me?
“A woman from New Orleans who read the arti-
cle on ravens that I wrote when I had just started
to investigate whether and how ravens share
wrote me: “I did not have so much trouble as you
(5) did in showing that ravens share. I see them at my
feeder-they even feed one another.” There are no
ravens in New Orleans, nor anywhere else in Loui-
siana. Perhaps what she actually saw were several
large dark birds (crows? grackles?), one of which
(10) fed another one or two (probably their grown
offspring traveling along with them).
People commonly confuse personal interpreta-
tions with factual observations. This tendency is a
special bane 10 getting reliable observations on
(15) ravens because so much ingrained folklore about
them exists that it is difficult to look at them
objectively. I once read an article about a trapper/
writer m Alaska. Knowing he would be familiar
with ravens in the north, I wrote to ask him if he
(20) had seen ravens feeding in crowds. He had a lot of
raven stories to tell. First, he said “everyone” he
knew, knew that ravens share their food. He was
surprised at the ignorance of us armchair scientists
so far away, who would even question it. Ravens
(25) were “clever enough” to raid the fish he kept on
racks for ~IS dogs. They proved their cleverness by
posting a twenty-four-hour guard” at his cabin.
(How did he distinguish this, I wondered, from
birds waiting for an opportunity to feed?) As soon
(30) as he left the cabin, a raven was there to “spread
the word.” (Read: Flew away, and/or called.) He
claimed that one raven “followed” him all day.
(Read: He occasionally saw a raven.) It then
“reported back” to the others so that they could
(35) all leave .Just before he got back from his day on
the trapline. (Read: He saw several leave together
and there were none when he got back to the
cabin door.) Many of the birds “raided” ( fed from?)
his fish rack, and his idea of their “getting out the
(40) word” to ravens for miles around is that the one
who discovers the food calls, and thereby
summons all the birds in neighboring territories,
who then also call, in an ever-enlarging ring of
information sharing, (An interesting thought.) It
(45) was no mystery to him why the birds would do
this: they are “gossiping.” “It seems obvious,” he
said, “that the birds get excited, and they simply
cannot hold in their excitement-that lets others
know,” And why should they evolve such trans-
(50) parent excitement? That, too, was “obvious”:
“Because it is best for the species.” This stock
answer explains nothing.
It was disturbing to me to see anyone so facilely
blur the distinction between observations and
(55) interpretations and then even go so far as to make
numerous deductions without the slightest shred
of evidence, When I was very young and did not
“see” what seemed obvious to adults, I often
thought I was stupid and unsuited for science.
(60) Now I sometimes wonder if that is why I make
progress. I see the ability to invent interconnect-
tions as no advantage whatsoever where the
discovery of truth is the objective.
There are those who believe that science
(65) consists entirely of disproving alternative hypothe-
ses, as if when you eliminate the alternative
views, the one you have left is right. The problem
is that there is no way to think of all the possible
hypotheses that nature can devise. More than that,
(70) you have to prove which is the most reasonable.
But anyone hypothesis can, with a limited data
set, be reasonable. There is at least a touch of
truth in the idea that any variable affects another.
If you look long and determinedly enough you will
(75) find that almost any variable element you choose
to examine apparently affects the behavior you are
studying. You have to be able to skim over what is
not important or relevant to your problem, and to
concentrate long enough on the prime movers to
(80) unearth sufficient facts that, presuming they are
recognized, add up to something."
- The author assumes that accurate knowledge of ravens' behavior is acquired through
(a) study of all research done on birds by behavioral specialists
(b) correlation of observed actions with notions of human motivation
© comparison of one’s personal impressions with those of other researchers
(d) lifelong familiarity with ravens while living in the wilderness
(e) systematic observation combined with testing hypotheses
Thank you very much guys 
!