SAT II Literature : Content
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature
All SAT II Literature Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #71 : Content
1. Better to see your cheek grown hollow,
2. Better to see your temple worn,
3. Than to forget to follow, follow,
4. After the sound of a silver horn.
5. Better to bind your brow with willow
6. And follow, follow until you die,
7. Than to sleep with your head on a golden pillow,
8. Nor lift it up when the hunt goes by.
9. Better to see your cheek grow sallow
10. And your hair grown gray, so soon, so soon,
11. Than to forget to hallo, hallo,
12. After the milk-white hounds of the moon.
It is reasonable to infer that the author of the poem believes that _______________.
I Heightened experience is more important than physical beauty
II The important things in life are easily forgotten if one is not careful
III Intense emotion is worth suffering for
II only
I, II, and III
I only
I and III only
I and II only
I, II, and III
The author argues in stanzas 1 and 3 that it’s better to “follow the hunt” — i.e., live with intensity — even at the cost of youth and beauty. Early exhaustion and old age are legitimate causes of suffering, but it’s worth the pain in order to live passionately. The whole poem can be seen as a warning reminding the reader how easy it is to make the safe choice (sleeping on a golden pillow) and to forget what’s really important in life.
Passage adapted from Eleanor Wylie's "A Madman's Song" (1921)
Example Question #1 : Inferences: Prose
… The figure of that first ancestor, invested by family tradition with a dim and dusky grandeur, was present to my boyish imagination as far back as I can remember. It still haunts me, and induces a sort of home-feeling with the past, which I scarcely claim in reference to the present phase of the town. I seem to have a stronger claim to a residence here on account of this grave, bearded, sable-cloaked, and steeple-crowned progenitor—who came so early, with his Bible and his sword, and trode the unworn street with such a stately port, and made so large a figure, as a man of war and peace—a stronger claim than for myself, whose name is seldom heard and my face hardly known. He was a soldier, legislator, judge; he was a ruler in the Church; he had all the Puritanic traits, both good and evil. He was likewise a bitter persecutor; as witness the Quakers, who have remembered him in their histories, and relate an incident of his hard severity towards a woman of their sect, which will last longer, it is to be feared, than any record of his better deeds, although these were many. His son, too, inherited the persecuting spirit, and made himself so conspicuous in the martyrdom of the witches, that their blood may fairly be said to have left a stain upon him. So deep a stain, indeed, that his dry old bones, in the Charter-street burial-ground, must still retain it, if they have not crumbled utterly to dust! I know not whether these ancestors of mine bethought themselves to repent, and ask pardon of Heaven for their cruelties; or whether they are now groaning under the heavy consequences of them in another state of being.
(1850)
Based on the passage, how could the narrator’s character best be described?
Reclusive
Unjust
Lenient
Severe
Zealous
Reclusive
Most of this passage describes the narrator’s ancestors and not the narrator himself; however, in the middle of the passage, we see the narrator note that his “name is seldom heard and [his] face hardly known” in town, which implies that the narrator is withdrawn or antisocial. Reclusive, which means withdraw and hermitlike, is therefore the best choice. Zealous, unjust, and severe would all be better descriptions for the narrator’s ancestors.
Passage adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. (1850)
Example Question #1 : Inferences: Prose
(1) During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. (2) I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. (3) I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. (4) I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant eye-like windows—upon a few rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium—the bitter lapse into every-day life—the hideous dropping off of the veil.
What effect might this particular passage achieve in the longer story in which it occurs?
Dialect
Allegory
Epiphany
Mythology
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing
The general sense of ominousness and foreboding in this passage make it an excellent example of foreshadowing for some later doom in the story. This is not an allegory, a story or extended metaphor used to make a philosophical or moral point. It is also not an epiphany, a sudden realization experienced at the end of a story. Dialect is a specific regional language, and mythology refers to a culture’s collection of sacred or important myths or archetypal stories (e.g. stories about Zeus and Hera are part of Greek mythology).
Passage adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” (1839).
Example Question #81 : Extrapolating From The Passage
Passage adapted from “Reconstruction” by Frederick Douglass (1866)
Without attempting to settle here the metaphysical and somewhat theological question (about which so much has already been said and written), whether once in the Union means always in the Union—agreeably to the formula, “Once in grace always in grace”—it is obvious to common sense that the rebellious States stand today, in point of law, precisely where they stood when, exhausted, beaten, conquered, they fell powerless at the feet of Federal authority. Their State governments were overthrown, and the lives and property of the leaders of the Rebellion were forfeited. In reconstructing the institutions of these shattered and overthrown States, Congress should begin with a clean slate, and make clean work of it.
Let there be no hesitation. It would be a cowardly deference to a defeated and treacherous President, if any account were made of the illegitimate, one-sided, sham governments hurried into existence for a malign purpose in the absence of Congress. These pretended governments, which were never submitted to the people, and from participation in which four millions of the loyal people were excluded by Presidential order, should now be treated according to their true character, as shams and impositions, and supplanted by true and legitimate governments, in the formation of which loyal men, black and white, shall participate.
It is not, however, within the scope of this paper to point out the precise steps to be taken, and the means to be employed. The people are less concerned about these than the grand end to be attained. They demand such a reconstruction as shall put an end to the present anarchical state of things in the late rebellious States—where frightful murders and wholesale massacres are perpetrated in the very presence of Federal soldiers. This horrible business they require shall cease. They want a reconstruction such as will protect loyal men, black and white, in their persons and property; such a one as will cause Northern industry, Northern capital, and Northern civilization to flow into the South, and make a man from New England as much at home in Carolina as elsewhere in the Republic. No Chinese wall can now be tolerated. The South must be opened to the light of law and liberty, and this session of Congress is relied upon to accomplish this important work.
What can be inferred based on the contents of second paragraph?
The governments in question were afraid of black people
Black people were slaughtered by the governments in question
Only some black people were permitted to be included in the governments in question
None of these
Black people were excluded from the governments in question
Black people were excluded from the governments in question
In the passage, it is said that four million people were excluded from the governments in question. Now, the passage itself is based on the American Civil War. Although you do not necessarily know this, the options provided here help you to work through the details. The author is trying to stress the fact that most, if not all, blacks were excluded from these governments in the South. He thinks that these governments were utterly illegitimate because of such exclusionary practices. (He has other reasons as well.) The general implication is not merely that some people were excluded, and nothing is said regarding fear of the blacks. Instead, the focus is on the nearly utter exclusion that happened.
Example Question #72 : Content
Passage adapted from “Reconstruction” by Frederick Douglass (1866)
Without attempting to settle here the metaphysical and somewhat theological question (about which so much has already been said and written), whether once in the Union means always in the Union—agreeably to the formula, “Once in grace always in grace”—it is obvious to common sense that the rebellious States stand today, in point of law, precisely where they stood when, exhausted, beaten, conquered, they fell powerless at the feet of Federal authority. Their State governments were overthrown, and the lives and property of the leaders of the Rebellion were forfeited. In reconstructing the institutions of these shattered and overthrown States, Congress should begin with a clean slate, and make clean work of it.
Let there be no hesitation. It would be a cowardly deference to a defeated and treacherous President, if any account were made of the illegitimate, one-sided, sham governments hurried into existence for a malign purpose in the absence of Congress. These pretended governments, which were never submitted to the people, and from participation in which four millions of the loyal people were excluded by Presidential order, should now be treated according to their true character, as shams and impositions, and supplanted by true and legitimate governments, in the formation of which loyal men, black and white, shall participate.
It is not, however, within the scope of this paper to point out the precise steps to be taken, and the means to be employed. The people are less concerned about these than the grand end to be attained. They demand such a reconstruction as shall put an end to the present anarchical state of things in the late rebellious States—where frightful murders and wholesale massacres are perpetrated in the very presence of Federal soldiers. This horrible business they require shall cease. They want a reconstruction such as will protect loyal men, black and white, in their persons and property; such a one as will cause Northern industry, Northern capital, and Northern civilization to flow into the South, and make a man from New England as much at home in Carolina as elsewhere in the Republic. No Chinese wall can now be tolerated. The South must be opened to the light of law and liberty, and this session of Congress is relied upon to accomplish this important work.
Which of the following inferences is warranted by the final paragraph?
The Chinese were influencing American politics by giving ideas to those involved in the reconstruction
A wall was in the middle of being built between the North and the South of the United States
Conquering soldiers were seen allowing southern plantation owners to be killed in revenge for their rebellion
Southerners did not allow northerners to enter their territory
Congress had ignored all of the issues of reconstruction up to this time
Conquering soldiers were seen allowing southern plantation owners to be killed in revenge for their rebellion
We cannot say much about what Congress has done, though Douglass is certainly telling congress what he thinks they should do. Likewise, the remarks about the "Chinese wall" are figurative. There is neither a wall nor Chinese involvement afoot in the United States. Instead, the best option is the one stating that soldiers have been permitting killings. This is hinted at when Douglass describes the current state of affairs by writing that it is a situation "where frightful murders and wholesale massacres are perpetrated in the very presence of Federal soldiers."
Example Question #2 : Connotation And Implication
Adapted from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891)
"Dorian," cried Hallward, "that is not the question. England is bad enough I know, and English society is all wrong. That is the reason why I want you to be fine. You have not been fine. One has a right to judge of a man by the effect he has over his friends. Yours seem to lose all sense of honor, of goodness, of purity. You have filled them with a madness for pleasure. They have gone down into the depths. You led them there. Yes: you led them there, and yet you can smile, as you are smiling now. And there is worse behind. I know you and Harry are inseparable. Surely for that reason, if for none other, you should not have made his sister's name a by-word."
"Take care, Basil. You go too far."
"I must speak, and you must listen. You shall listen. When you met Lady Gwendolen, not a breath of scandal had ever touched her. Is there a single decent woman in London now who would drive with her in the park? Why, even her children are not allowed to live with her. Then there are other stories—stories that you have been seen creeping at dawn out of dreadful houses and slinking in disguise into the foulest dens in London. Are they true? Can they be true? When I first heard them, I laughed. I hear them now, and they make me shudder. What about your country-house and the life that is led there? Dorian, you don't know what is said about you. I won't tell you that I don't want to preach to you. I remember Harry saying once that every man who turned himself into an amateur curate for the moment always began by saying that, and then proceeded to break his word. I do want to preach to you. I want you to lead such a life as will make the world respect you. I want you to have a clean name and a fair record. I want you to get rid of the dreadful people you associate with. Don't shrug your shoulders like that. Don't be so indifferent. You have a wonderful influence. Let it be for good, not for evil. They say that you corrupt every one with whom you become intimate, and that it is quite sufficient for you to enter a house for shame of some kind to follow after. I don't know whether it is so or not. How should I know? But it is said of you. I am told things that it seems impossible to doubt. Lord Gloucester was one of my greatest friends at Oxford. He showed me a letter that his wife had written to him when she was dying alone in her villa at Mentone. Your name was implicated in the most terrible confession I ever read. I told him that it was absurd—that I knew you thoroughly and that you were incapable of anything of the kind. Know you? I wonder do I know you? Before I could answer that, I should have to see your soul."
"To see my soul!" muttered Dorian Gray, starting up from the sofa and turning almost white from fear.
"Yes," answered Hallward gravely, and with deep-toned sorrow in his voice, "to see your soul. But only God can do that."
A bitter laugh of mockery broke from the lips of the younger man. "You shall see it yourself, tonight!" he cried, seizing a lamp from the table. "Come: it is your own handiwork. Why shouldn't you look at it? You can tell the world all about it afterwards, if you choose. Nobody would believe you. If they did believe you, they would like me all the better for it. I know the age better than you do, though you will prate about it so tediously. Come, I tell you. You have chattered enough about corruption. Now you shall look on it face to face."
There was the madness of pride in every word he uttered. He stamped his foot upon the ground in his boyish insolent manner. He felt a terrible joy at the thought that someone else was to share his secret, and that the man who had painted the portrait that was the origin of all his shame was to be burdened for the rest of his life with the hideous memory of what he had done.
Which of the following might explain Dorian's reaction in the underlined and bolded selection?
He is overcome by the gravity of Basil's charges.
He is a very private man.
He is tired of Basil's nosiness.
He has a guilty conscience.
He dislikes Basil's ability to notice his faults.
He has a guilty conscience.
When Basil says that he would need to see Dorian's soul in order to judge whether or not he knows Dorian, he uses his words without directly intending a particular judgment on his friend. Indeed, it is almost as if Basil is musing when he says it—not particularly serious about undertaking such a search of Dorian's soul. However, this completely unnerves the latter, hinting that such a search would uncover something that he would rather remain hidden. If his soul were lain "bare," he will appear as the moral that he has become. This is the source of his fright at this moment of the discussion.
Example Question #3 : Claims And Argument
Adapted from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891)
"Dorian," cried Hallward, "that is not the question. England is bad enough I know, and English society is all wrong. That is the reason why I want you to be fine. You have not been fine. One has a right to judge of a man by the effect he has over his friends. Yours seem to lose all sense of honor, of goodness, of purity. You have filled them with a madness for pleasure. They have gone down into the depths. You led them there. Yes: you led them there, and yet you can smile, as you are smiling now. And there is worse behind. I know you and Harry are inseparable. Surely for that reason, if for none other, you should not have made his sister's name a by-word."
"Take care, Basil. You go too far."
"I must speak, and you must listen. You shall listen. When you met Lady Gwendolen, not a breath of scandal had ever touched her. Is there a single decent woman in London now who would drive with her in the park? Why, even her children are not allowed to live with her. Then there are other stories—stories that you have been seen creeping at dawn out of dreadful houses and slinking in disguise into the foulest dens in London. Are they true? Can they be true? When I first heard them, I laughed. I hear them now, and they make me shudder. What about your country-house and the life that is led there? Dorian, you don't know what is said about you. I won't tell you that I don't want to preach to you. I remember Harry saying once that every man who turned himself into an amateur curate for the moment always began by saying that, and then proceeded to break his word. I do want to preach to you. I want you to lead such a life as will make the world respect you. I want you to have a clean name and a fair record. I want you to get rid of the dreadful people you associate with. Don't shrug your shoulders like that. Don't be so indifferent. You have a wonderful influence. Let it be for good, not for evil. They say that you corrupt every one with whom you become intimate, and that it is quite sufficient for you to enter a house for shame of some kind to follow after. I don't know whether it is so or not. How should I know? But it is said of you. I am told things that it seems impossible to doubt. Lord Gloucester was one of my greatest friends at Oxford. He showed me a letter that his wife had written to him when she was dying alone in her villa at Mentone. Your name was implicated in the most terrible confession I ever read. I told him that it was absurd—that I knew you thoroughly and that you were incapable of anything of the kind. Know you? I wonder do I know you? Before I could answer that, I should have to see your soul."
"To see my soul!" muttered Dorian Gray, starting up from the sofa and turning almost white from fear.
"Yes," answered Hallward gravely, and with deep-toned sorrow in his voice, "to see your soul. But only God can do that."
A bitter laugh of mockery broke from the lips of the younger man. "You shall see it yourself, tonight!" he cried, seizing a lamp from the table. "Come: it is your own handiwork. Why shouldn't you look at it? You can tell the world all about it afterwards, if you choose. Nobody would believe you. If they did believe you, they would like me all the better for it. I know the age better than you do, though you will prate about it so tediously. Come, I tell you. You have chattered enough about corruption. Now you shall look on it face to face."
There was the madness of pride in every word he uttered. He stamped his foot upon the ground in his boyish insolent manner. He felt a terrible joy at the thought that someone else was to share his secret, and that the man who had painted the portrait that was the origin of all his shame was to be burdened for the rest of his life with the hideous memory of what he had done.
At the end of the passage, what is Dorian claiming about Basil?
That Basil is utterly incapable of seeing the truth of this matter
That Basil deserves the treatment he is receiving from Dorian
That Basil is the source of the problems facing Dorian's friends
That Basil is the person truly at fault for Dorian's moral decay
That Basil is the one who caused Dorian to become prideful
That Basil is the person truly at fault for Dorian's moral decay
This question requires a little bit of inference in order to see the claim that Dorian is making. Dorian speaks of Basil being shown his "handiwork." Likewise, it is said that he (Dorian) "felt a terrible joy at the thought that some one else was to share his secret, and that the man who had painted the portrait that was the origin of all his shame was to be burdened for the rest of his life with the hideous memory of what he had done." In fact, Basil had painted a portrait that helped, through some kind of preternatural intervention, to allow Dorian to continue living in iniquity without experiencing the effects of his actions (or aging in general). The claim that Dorian is making boils down to this: "Basil made that painting and now will see his guilt in this matter."
Example Question #3 : Connotation And Implication
Adapted from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891)
"Dorian," cried Hallward, "that is not the question. England is bad enough I know, and English society is all wrong. That is the reason why I want you to be fine. You have not been fine. One has a right to judge of a man by the effect he has over his friends. Yours seem to lose all sense of honor, of goodness, of purity. You have filled them with a madness for pleasure. They have gone down into the depths. You led them there. Yes: you led them there, and yet you can smile, as you are smiling now. And there is worse behind. I know you and Harry are inseparable. Surely for that reason, if for none other, you should not have made his sister's name a by-word."
"Take care, Basil. You go too far."
"I must speak, and you must listen. You shall listen. When you met Lady Gwendolen, not a breath of scandal had ever touched her. Is there a single decent woman in London now who would drive with her in the park? Why, even her children are not allowed to live with her. Then there are other stories—stories that you have been seen creeping at dawn out of dreadful houses and slinking in disguise into the foulest dens in London. Are they true? Can they be true? When I first heard them, I laughed. I hear them now, and they make me shudder. What about your country-house and the life that is led there? Dorian, you don't know what is said about you. I won't tell you that I don't want to preach to you. I remember Harry saying once that every man who turned himself into an amateur curate for the moment always began by saying that, and then proceeded to break his word. I do want to preach to you. I want you to lead such a life as will make the world respect you. I want you to have a clean name and a fair record. I want you to get rid of the dreadful people you associate with. Don't shrug your shoulders like that. Don't be so indifferent. You have a wonderful influence. Let it be for good, not for evil. They say that you corrupt every one with whom you become intimate, and that it is quite sufficient for you to enter a house for shame of some kind to follow after. I don't know whether it is so or not. How should I know? But it is said of you. I am told things that it seems impossible to doubt. Lord Gloucester was one of my greatest friends at Oxford. He showed me a letter that his wife had written to him when she was dying alone in her villa at Mentone. Your name was implicated in the most terrible confession I ever read. I told him that it was absurd—that I knew you thoroughly and that you were incapable of anything of the kind. Know you? I wonder do I know you? Before I could answer that, I should have to see your soul."
"To see my soul!" muttered Dorian Gray, starting up from the sofa and turning almost white from fear.
"Yes," answered Hallward gravely, and with deep-toned sorrow in his voice, "to see your soul. But only God can do that."
A bitter laugh of mockery broke from the lips of the younger man. "You shall see it yourself, tonight!" he cried, seizing a lamp from the table. "Come: it is your own handiwork. Why shouldn't you look at it? You can tell the world all about it afterwards, if you choose. Nobody would believe you. If they did believe you, they would like me all the better for it. I know the age better than you do, though you will prate about it so tediously. Come, I tell you. You have chattered enough about corruption. Now you shall look on it face to face."
There was the madness of pride in every word he uttered. He stamped his foot upon the ground in his boyish insolent manner. He felt a terrible joy at the thought that someone else was to share his secret, and that the man who had painted the portrait that was the origin of all his shame was to be burdened for the rest of his life with the hideous memory of what he had done.
What is implied by the underlined expression?
Nobody else was aware of the depths of Dorian's corruption.
Dorian was soon to critique the portrait spoken of, harshly deriding its painter.
Dorian was going to unleash a long tirade against Basil for the harm that the latter had done to him.
Nobody else had seen the portrait Dorian was about to show Basil.
Dorian was going to tell Basil the truth about his seemingly wicked actions.
Nobody else had seen the portrait Dorian was about to show Basil.
We can infer that Dorian is about to show Basil a painting that the latter had done—the handiwork spoken of before and the portrait noted in this selection. Apparently, there is a connection between the portrait and the shame that Dorian has felt (and his corrupt character). Readers of this book will know that they are intimately connected and that Dorian has not revealed this portrait to others. Even without such knowledge, however, it can be inferred that this portrait, which he is about to show to Basil, is the secret spoken of in this paragraph.
Example Question #4 : Inferences: Prose
1 “In the right coat-pocket of the great man-mountain” (for so I interpret the words quinbus flestrin,) “after the strictest search, we found only one great piece of coarse-cloth, large enough to be a foot-cloth for your majesty’s chief room of state. 2 In the left pocket we saw a huge silver chest, with a cover of the same metal, which we, the searchers, were not able to lift. 3 We desired it should be opened, and one of us stepping into it, found himself up to the mid leg in a sort of dust, some part whereof flying up to our faces set us both a sneezing for several times together… 4 In the large pocket, on the right side of his middle cover” (so I translate the word ranfulo, by which they meant my breeches,) “we saw a hollow pillar of iron, about the length of a man, fastened to a strong piece of timber larger than the pillar; and upon one side of the pillar, were huge pieces of iron sticking out, cut into strange figures, which we know not what to make of. 5 In the smaller pocket on the right side, were several round flat pieces of white and red metal, of different bulk; some of the white, which seemed to be silver, were so large and heavy, that my comrade and I could hardly lift them.”
What can be inferred about the person whom the speaker is describing?
He is enormous
He is well known to the speaker
He is a sworn enemy of the speaker
He rules the speaker’s nation
He is ill
He is enormous
We see in sentence 1 that the person is described as a “great man-mountain.” We see in the same sentence that his handkerchief (“one great piece of coarse-cloth”) is considered large enough to be a carpet (“a foot-cloth for your majesty’s chief room of state”). Based on these descriptions and on the lack of textual evidence for the other answers, we can decide that the person in question is enormous.
Passage adapted from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, 1892.
Example Question #3 : Inferences: Prose
. . . Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it by seasons. We can only record its moods, and chronicle their return. With us time itself does not progress. It revolves. It seems to circle round one centre of pain. The paralysing immobility of a life every circumstance of which is regulated after an unchangeable pattern, so that we eat and drink and lie down and pray, or kneel at least for prayer, according to the inflexible laws of an iron formula: this immobile quality, that makes each dreadful day in the very minutest detail like its brother, seems to communicate itself to those external forces the very essence of whose existence is ceaseless change. Of seed-time or harvest, of the reapers bending over the corn, or the grape gatherers threading through the vines, of the grass in the orchard made white with broken blossoms or strewn with fallen fruit: of these we know nothing and can know nothing.
For us there is only one season, the season of sorrow. The very sun and moon seem taken from us. Outside, the day may be blue and gold, but the light that creeps down through the thickly-muffled glass of the small iron-barred window beneath which one sits is grey and niggard. It is always twilight in one’s cell, as it is always twilight in one’s heart. And in the sphere of thought, no less than in the sphere of time, motion is no more. The thing that you personally have long ago forgotten, or can easily forget, is happening to me now, and will happen to me again to-morrow. Remember this, and you will be able to understand a little of why I am writing, and in this manner writing. . . .
(1897)
From details in the second paragraph, one may infer that ________________.
it is summer
the speaker has always lived in the same place
the speaker is in prison
the speaker is blind
the speaker did nothing to deserve this
the speaker is in prison
From details in the second paragraph it is possible to infer that the speaker is in prison. For instance, the speaker mentions sitting beneath a "small iron-barred window." He also mentions his "cell." The iron-barred window and the mention of being in a "cell" provide enough information to show that the speaker is in jail. None of the other answers can be definitively determined from the information provided in this passage.
Passage adapted from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde (1897).
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