GED Practice Quiz

Directions:

When you are finished, go to the Web Links or choose a different activity or chapter from the menu on the left.

Question 1 refers to the following excerpt from a play.

ARE HEDDA AND AUNT RINA CLOSE?
HEDDA.
(handing [a letter] to him) It came early this morning.

TESMAN.
It’s from Aunt Julia! What can it be? (He lays the packet on the other footstool, opens the letter, runs his eye through it, and jumps up.) Oh, Hedda—she says that poor Aunt Rina is dying!

HEDDA.
Well, we were prepared for that.

TESMAN.
And that if I want to see her again, I must make haste. I’ll run in to them at once.

HEDDA.
(suppressing a smile) Will you run?

TESMAN.
Oh, my dearest Hedda—if you could only make up your mind to come with me! Just think!

HEDDA.
(rises and says wearily, repelling the idea) No, no don’t ask me. I will not look upon sickness and death. I loathe all sorts of ugliness.

TESMAN.
Well, well, then . . . ! (bustling around) My hat . . . ? My overcoat . . . ? Oh, in the hall . . . I do hope I mayn’t come too late, Hedda! Eh?

Henrik Ibsen, Hedda Gabler, 1890. Translated by Edmund Gosse and William Archer.

1		What would Hedda most likely do if Tesman became ill?
			A)	deny that he was ill
			B)	take him to a hospital
			C)	wish that she was in his place
			D)	try to avoid him
			E)	remain constantly by his sickbed

Questions 2 and 3 refer to the following excerpt.

WHAT WAS FLORENCE NIGHTENGALE REALLY LIKE?
       Everyone knows the popular conception of Florence Nightingale. The saintly, self-sacrificing woman, the delicate maiden of high degree who threw aside the pleasures of a life of ease to succour the afflicted, the Lady with the Lamp, gliding through the horrors of the hospital at Scutari, and consecrating with the radiance of her goodness the dying soldier’s couch—the vision is familiar to all. But the truth was different. The Miss Nightingale of fact was not as facile fancy painted her. She worked in another fashion, and towards another end; she moved under the stress of an impetus which finds no place in the popular imagination. A Demon possessed her. Now demons, whatever else they may be, are full of interest. And so it happens that in the real Miss Nightingale there was more that was interesting than in the legendary one; there was also less that was agreeable.

       Her family was extremely well-to-do, and connected by marriage with a spreading circle of other well-to-do families. There was a large country house in Derbyshire; there was another in the New Forest; there were Mayfair rooms for the London season and all its finest parties; there were tours on the Continent with even more than the usual number of Italian operas and of glimpses at the celebrities of Paris. Brought up among such advantages, it was only natural to suppose that Florence would show a proper appreciation of them by doing her duty in that state of life unto which it had pleased God to call her—in other words, by marrying, after a fitting number of dances and dinner-parties, an eligible gentleman, and living happily ever afterwards.

Lytton Strachey, "Florence Nightingale," Eminent Victorians, 1918

2		If Florence Nightingale were living today, which of the following would she probably recommend to young women?
			A)	Always be agreeable and pleasant.
			B)	A woman’s place is in the home.
			C)	Follow your dream, whatever it is.
			D)	Marry a rich gentleman.
			E)	Follow your parents’ advice.
3		The writing style used in this excerpt would probably be appropriate for the biography of which of the following people?
			A)	Frank Sinatra
			B)	Tom Cruise
			C)	Madonna
			D)	Ronald Reagan
			E)	Michael Jordan

Question 4 refers to the following excerpt.

WHAT MADE THE JOB OF A STEAMBOAT PILOT ATTRACTIVE TO A BOY?
       When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was, to be a steamboatman. We had transient ambitions of other sorts, but they were only transient. When a circus came and went, it left us all burning to become clowns; the first Negro minstrel show that ever came to our section left us all suffering to try that kind of life; now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. These ambitions faded out, each in its turn; but the ambition to be a steamboatman always remained. . . .

       Boy after boy managed to get on the river. The minister’s son became an engineer. The doctor’s and the postmaster’s sons became mud clerks; the wholesale liquor dealer’s son became a barkeeper on a boat; four sons of the chief merchant, and two sons of the county judge, became pilots. Pilot was the grandest position of all. The pilot, even in those days of trivial wages, had a princely salary—from a hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars a month, and no board to pay. Two months of his wages would pay a preacher’s salary for a year. Now some of us were left disconsolate. We could not get on the river—at least our parents would not let us.

       So, by and by, I ran away. I said I would never come home again till I was a pilot and could come in glory. But somehow I could not manage it. I went meekly aboard a few of the boats that lay packed together like sardines at the long St. Louis wharf, and humbly inquired for the pilots, but got only a cold shoulder and short words from mates and clerks. I had to make the best of this sort of treatment for the time being, but I had comforting daydreams of a future when I should be a great and honored pilot, with plenty of money, and could kill some of these mates and clerks and pay for them.

Mark Twain, "To Be a Steamboatman," Life on the Mississippi, 1875

4		If the narrator were a boy today, which of the following would he most likely dream of becoming?
			A)	a lawyer
			B)	an airline captain
			C)	a computer programmer
			D)	an acountant
			E)	a writer

Question 5 refers to the following poem.

WHAT WILL DESTROY THE WORLD?

	Fire and Ice
	Some say the world will end in fire,
	Some say in ice.
	From what I’ve tasted of desire
	I hold with those who favor fire.
(5)	But if it had to perish twice,
	I think I know enough of hate
	To say that for destruction ice
	Is also great
	And would suffice.
	Robert Frost, "Fire and Ice," 1923

5		With which of the following statements would the poet most likely agree?
			A)	Most people care about one another.
			B)	Hate is a powerful force in life.
			C)	The earth will probably have another Ice Age.
			D)	The end of the world is coming soon.
			E)	In order to know love we must also know hate.

Questions 6 and 7 refer to the following excerpt.

HOW DID GHANDI ACCOMPLISH HIS GOAL?
       Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 in India, which was then a colony of the British Empire. In 1888 Gandhi went to London to study law. Shortly after he received his law degree and returned to India, an Indian businessman asked him to become a legal advisor at a firm in South Africa. While there, Ghandi observed the unfair treatment of the Indians by the white settlers and decided to fight for their rights. He achieved great success with the practice of satyagraha, or nonviolent resistance. This practice became the backbone of his life’s work.

       Gandhi’s success in South Africa brought him great respect from the people of India, and he soon became the leader of the Indian campaign for independence from British rule. Gandhi believed that India’s extreme poverty was the result of imported clothing from the textile mills of Great Britain. Spinning yarn into fabric had once been a common occupation for people in the Indian villages, but the imported goods caused many people to lose their jobs. One day—as a symbolic event—he asked his followers to throw all their British clothing into a big fire. He encouraged them not to buy any more British clothing but to produce and buy their own Indian fabrics. After that many people started to boycott British goods.

       Gandhi organized other peaceful resistance movements against the British government, including a strike involving the entire nation. He and his followers were repeatedly brutalized by British soldiers, but they never used a single form of violence in return. As people around the world became aware of the British violence against the nonviolent protesters, they began to support Gandhi’s beliefs. In 1947 India received its independence, and the British left the country. Gandhi spent the rest of his days working to achieve peace between India’s Hindu and Muslim factions. He was assassinated in 1948 by a Hindu fanatic.

6		Which of the following proverbs best describes Gandhi’s philosophy?
			A)	The pen is mightier than the sword.
			B)	An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
			C)	Don’t fire your guns until you see the whites of your enemies’ eyes.
			D)	A penny saved is a penny earned.
			E)	No one can make you unhappy without your consent.
7		Which action would Gandhi most likely NOT take to fight racism in the United States?
			A)	organize a boycott of stores that don’t hire minorities
			B)	urge minorities to open their own stores to create more jobs for minorities
			C)	arrange a sit-in outside the office of an influential senator to promote helpful legislation
			D)	vandalize the shops of owners who don’t hire minorities
			E)	remain calm and peaceful while being victimized by a racist organization

Question 8 refers to the following poem.

HOW DOES ONE CHOOSE WHICH PATH TO TAKE?

	The Road Not Taken
	Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
	And sorry I could not travel both
	And be one traveler, long I stood
	And looked down one as far as I could
(5)	To where it bent in the undergrowth;
	Then took the other, as just as fair,
	And having perhaps the better claim,
	Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
	Though as for that, the passing there
(10)	Had worn them really about the same,
	And both that morning equally lay
	In leaves no step had trodden black.
	Oh! I kept the first for another day!
	Yet knowing how one way leads on to way,
(15)	I doubted if I should ever come back.
	I shall be telling this with a sigh
	Somewhere ages and ages hence;
	Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
	I took the one less traveled by,
(20)	And that has made all the difference.
	Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken," 1916

8		If the poet were asked for advice about a career choice, which of the following statements would he most likely make?
			A)	Make your own choices in life; don’t follow the crowd.
			B)	Spend a lot of time in the woods.
			C)	Take an active interest in other people’s lives.
			D)	Pay attention to the beauty in nature.
			E)	Plan carefully for the future; leave nothing to chance.

Question 9 refers to the following excerpt.

       We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That, to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

The Declaration of Independence

9		Of which of the following events would the writer of the excerpt probably approve?
			A)	A ruler declares himself president for life.
			B)	An army general forcibly takes over a corrupt government.
			C)	A prime minister is elected by voters in a nation.
			D)	A government takes possession of private property.
			E)	A dictator runs a country wisely and justly.

Question 10 refers to the following excerpt.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MODERN WRITING?
       The personal computer has been hailed as the greatest boon to writing since the printing press. And certainly the freedom that "writing with light" brings is exhilarating. The ability to create, move, and recall words at the touch of a button makes any other way of writing seem cumbersome at best. But many modern writers confuse the mechanics of the writing process with a true and respectful feeling for words themselves. The most difficult aspects of writing—such as choosing the one right word—are still as demanding as ever. A computer cannot make a poor writer good.

10		What advice would the author most likely give to writers?
			A)	Buy a good word processing program.
			B)	Write with a pencil and paper.
			C)	Develop a strong vocabulary.
			D)	Don’t waste time revising your work.
			E)	Get the latest computer model.