ShmoopTube

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Here's your shmoopy question du jour... Go ahead and hit pause so you can review the

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passage. Don't sit too close to the screen.

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Using information from the passage, which of the following statements is MOST accurate?

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And here are the potential answers...

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So... what is this question asking?

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It wants to know if we can comprehend what we're reading.

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If we're reading in a fog, we won't be able to respond intelligently to any follow-up questions.

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Plus, it gets really hard to see out of our glasses.

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Let's start with A... "The transcontinental railroad cost billions of dollars to build."

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We don't have to read past the first sentence to see that this one isn't true.

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It was millions, not billions. "The transcontinental railroad connected

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the eastern and western halves of the United States."

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It sure did. In fact... that's what transcontinental means. "Across... the continent." So we

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may have our winner, unless there's a better answer...

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"No immigrant labor was used in the construction of the transcontinental railroad."

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This is the toughest choice to eliminate, because we have to go through the entire passage

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to make sure it isn't mentioned anywhere.

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But, sure enough... it isn't. If it's not in the passage, it doesn't concern us.

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Cross it off the list. And lastly... "The construction of the transcontinental

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railroad was not considered a great achievement at the time it was built."

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The first sentence of the second paragraph begs to differ.

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It says that it was celebrated as soon as it was completed.

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People aren't really in the habit of celebrating perceived disasters, so... cross off D as

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well. The answer is B.

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As in... "Boy, is this a long railroad."

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