When the child was about ten years old, he invited his sister, Mrs. Penniman, to come and stay with him. His sister Lavinia had married a poor clergyman, of a sickly constitution and a (5) flowery style of eloquence, and then, at the age of thirty-three, had been left a widow-without chil- dren, without fortune-with nothing but the mem- ory of Mr. Penniman's flowers of speech, a cer- tain vague aroma of which hovered about her own (10) conversation. Nevertheless, he had offered her a home under his own roof, which Lavinia accepted with the alacrity of a woman who had spent the ten years of her married life in the town of Poughkeepsie. The Doctor had not proposed to (15) Mrs. Penniman to come and live with him indefi- nitely; he had suggested that she should make an asylum of his house while she looked about for unfurnished lodgings. It is uncertain whether Mrs. Penniman ever instituted a search for unfurnished (20) lodgings, but it is beyond dispute that she never found them. She settled herself with her brother and never went away, and. when Catherine was twenty years old, her Aunt Lavinia was still one of the most striking features of her immediate (25) entourage. Mrs. Penniman's own account of the matter was that she had remained to take charge of her niece's education. She had given this account, at least, to everyone but the Doctor, who never asked for explanations which he could (30) entertain himself any day with inventing. Mrs. Penniman. moreover, though she had a good deal of a certain sort of artificial assurance, shrunk, for indefinable reasons, from presenting herself to her brother as a fountain of instruction. She had not a (35) high sense of humor, but she had enough to pre- vent her from making this mistake; and her broth- er, on his side, had enough to excuse her, in her situation, for laving him under contribution dur- ing a considerable part of a lifetime. He therefore (40) assented tacitly to the proposition which Mrs. Penniman had tacitly laid down, that it was of importance that the poor motherless girl should have a brilliant woman near her. His assent could only be tacit, for he had never been dazzled by his
(45) sister's intellectual lustre. Save when he fell in love with Catherine Harrington, he had never been dazzled, indeed, by any feminine character- istics whatever; and though he was to a certain extent what is called a ladies' doctor, his private (50) opinion of the more complicated sex was not exalted. He nevertheless, at the end of six months, accepted his sister's permanent presence as an accomplished fact, and as Catherine grew older, perceived that there were in effect good reasons (55) why she should have a companion of her own imperfect sex. He was extremely polite to Lavinia, scrupulously, formally polite; and she had never seen him in anger but once in her life, when he lost his temper in a theological discus- (60) sion with her late husband. With her he never dis- cussed theology, nor, indeed, discussed anything; he contented himself with making known, very distinctly in the form of a lucid ultimatum, his wishes with regard to Catherine. (65) Once, when the girl was about twelve years old, he had said to her- 'Try and make a clever woman of her, Lavinia; I should like her to be a clever woman." Mrs. Penniman, at this, looked thoughtful a (70) moment. "My dear Austin," she then inquired, "do you think it is better to be clever than to be good?" From this assertion Mrs. Penniman saw no rea- son to dissent; she possibly reflected that her own (75) great use in the world was owing to her aptitude for many things. "Of course I wish Catherine to be good," the Doctor said next day; "but she won't be any the less virtuous for not being a fool. I am not afraid (80) of her being wicked; she will never have the salt of malice in her character. She is 'as good as good bread," as the French say; but six years hence I don't want to have to compare her to good bread-and-butter." (85) "Are you afraid she will be insipid? My dear brother, it is I who supply the butter; so you need not fear!" said Mrs. Penniman, who had taken in hand the child's "accomplishments," overlooking her at the piano, where Catherine displayed a cer- (90) tain talent, and going with her to the dancing- class, where it must be confessed that she made but a modest figure.
Read the passage below, and then answer the questions that follow the passage. The correct response may be stated outright or merely suggested in the passage.
Questions 01-12 are based on the following passage.
In this excerpt from a novel, Catherine's Aunt Lavinia comes to make her home with Catherine and her father and becomes involved in Catherine's upbringing.
THE NUMBERS WITHIN BRACKETS ARE LINE NUMBERS
MODEL SAT TEST 5 - ENGLISH COMPRIHENSION
START SAT TEST - 5 ENGLISH COMPREHENSION
The Scholastic Aptitude Test, (SAT) is a test given to young high school students with a desire to attend college after receiving their high school diploma.