Difficult CR Questions

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1 
  When we came home, Aunt Sylvie would certainly be

home, too, enjoying the evening, for so she described her
habit of sitting in the dark. Evening was her special time of
day. She gave the word three syllables, and indeed I think
she liked it so well for its tendency to smooth, to soften. 5
She seemed to dislike the disequilibrium of counterpoising
a roomful of light against a worldful of darkness. Sylvie in
a house was more or less like a mermaid in a ship’s cabin.
She preferred it sunk in the very element it was meant to
exclude 10

  1. The reference to Aunt Sylvie’s pronunciation in line 4 serves to
    a. capture a distinctive regional dialect
    b. highlight a double meaning of a word
    c. provide an ominous foreshadowing
    d. underscore a particular misconception
    e. give evidence of a contrary personality

Why is the answer b?

  1. The last sentence of the passage suggests that Sylvie felt a house should be a
    a. shelter from darkness and danger
    b. defense against unwelcome visitors
    c. mysterious and adventurous place
    d. reminder of the cabin of a ship
    e. part of the world outdoors

Why is the answer E?
Thanks for your help

2

IS THIS HOUSEKEEPING I LOVE THAT BOOK

  1. Think about the word: evening. Besides the conventional pronunciation ("eev-ning") that means the time of day between afternoon and night, it can be taken another way. Eev-enn-ing, as in the gerund of "even," as in the process of making something even. The next sentence expands upon this, playing on "making something even" -- "its tendency to smooth, to soften." So, B.
  2. "She preferred it sunk in the very element it was meant to exclude" -- she wants it to be part of the outdoors, which is the element that houses are meant to exclude. E.
3

What test is this question from? Is this a CollegeBoard test?

4

http://www.thecriticalreader.com/be-as-literal-as-you-possibly-can/
Erica Meltzer’s blog talks about the questions, too.

The same Google search turns up a copy of what is purportedly the October 2007 SAT, which includes this passage.