<p>Could you please give me detailed answer explanations for these questions which are from the 2007 Saturday PSAT:</p>
<p>Intro: He was talking about how he liked to travel alone.</p>
<p>2nd paragraph (where the line reference is):</p>
<p>Others have different opinions. "Let me have a companion of my way," says the novelist Lawrence Sterne, "were it but to remark how the (shadows) lengthen as the sun declines." It is beautifully said; but in my opinion, this continual comparing of notes interferes with the involuntary impression of things upon the mind and dilutes the experience. If you have to explain what you feel, it is making a toil of a pleasure. You cannot read the book of nature without being perpetually put to the trouble of translating it for the benefit of others.</p>
<p>Question: Sterne mentions "the shadows" (I put it in parentheses) as an example of a </p>
<p>A. Specialized insight that only a seasoned traveler can bring to bear on a situation.
B. Pleasurable experience that one can enjoy at home as easily as in a foreign land.
C. Thoughtless comment that travelers are apt to make to their guides.
D. Beautiful sight that cannot be communicated.
E. Common Observation that travelers might enjoy sharing nonetheless</p>
<p>My approach: I used process of elimination (crossed out A-D) but I didn't feel very confident on the question as I couldn't find explicit evidence in that section of the passage.</p>
<p>Another passage: </p>
<p>The changes in communication styles encouraged by the space environment and the space flight experience don't just make communication between space crews and the earth-bound more difficult. Hitherto unexpected problems in communication between crew members are also introduced.</p>
<p>Question: The author of the passage implies that the special language of space flight is (you may have to look at the whole passage for this one >_>)</p>
<p>A. an attempt to enforce exclusivity
B. an attempt to develop a universal space language.
C. an attempt to address communication problems between scientists and lay persons.
D. a response to unprecedented conditions.
E. an unnecessary development</p>
<p>Umm, this is just what I think from reading these blurbs of your passages as I have not taken the test, but I believe D is the correct answer for both. My explanation is that for the first answer I think D is correct since he evidently thinks this example is beautiful from context and how comparison of notes can dilute this experience, etc etc and how being forced to communicate is a “toil of a pleasure (more reference to the shadows being good and beautiful)” making “Beautiful sight that cannot be communicated” the most sense to me.</p>
<p>Now for the second passage I say D because it says “unexpected problems” in the last sentence and that correlates with “unprecedented conditions” and I don’t really see how anything else makes sense to me, but I don’t have the rest of the passage, lol. But critique me! Just giving my info and trying to help!</p>
<p>^^ >_< I forgot to put the correct answers… </p>
<ol>
<li>E</li>
<li>D</li>
</ol>
<p>For number 2, looking back at the passage to find an explanation for the correct answers, I noticed “unexpected problems” too, but I didn’t know if that would be the sole explanation for that answer.</p>
<p>The first paragraph for the 1st passage is (to give you more background):</p>
<p>One of the pleasantest things in the world is going on a journey; but I like to do it myself. I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company for me. I am then never less alone than when alone. I cannot see the wit of walking and talking at the same time. When I am in the country, I wish to vegetate like the country. I like solitude when I give myself up to it, for the sake of solitude nor do I ask for “a friend in my retreat/Whom I may whisper, solitude is sweet.” Give me the clear blue sky over my head, and the green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me, and a three hours’ march to dinner – and I begin to feel, think, and be myself again. Instead of an awkward silence, broken by attempts at wit or dull commonplaces, mine is that undisturbed silence of the heart which alone is perfect eloquence.</p>
<p>Perhaps the explanation lies in the last sentence? Or is the “comparing of notes” in the sentence after the sentence containing the line reference?</p>
<p>Would the clue lie in the last part of the 1st passage? “You cannot read the book of nature without being perpetually put to the trouble of (translating it for the benefit of others.)”
Sharing… benefit of others?</p>
<p>It says “It is beautifully said; BUT in my opinion, this continual comparing of notes interferes with the involuntary impression of things upon the mind and dilutes the experience” This means that even though the quote by Sterne was nice and all, the author believes that sharing the experience of the scene “dilutes the experience” in turn. But Sterne believes the opposite because of the signal word BUT. He believes sharing is more important.</p>