HiSET: Language Arts - Reading : Inference and Interpretation

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for HiSET: Language Arts - Reading

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Example Questions

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Example Question #101 : Hi Set: High School Equivalency: Reading

Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began.

Consider all this; and then turn to the green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half-known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return!

Passage adapted from Moby Dick, Herman Melville (1851)

Melville likens the solid ground to what in a person?

Possible Answers:

Vacation

Happiness

Flesh

Horrible thoughts

Personal growth

Correct answer:

Happiness

Explanation:

Tahiti is a land often described as paradise. As an island it is surrounded by Melville’s dangerous sea, but it is ”insular” from the sea –- thus, according to Melville, Tahiti’s beauty and joy exist without any danger from the sea. Similarly, a person can be happy without any contact with the fears and dangers of life.

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