Around the fourteenth century, acquiring large libraries became common among the European aristocracy,creating a growing demand for books.▉For the rapid copying of many texts, scholars in the ltalian city of Florence developed a cursive script of linked letters that did not require the quill (pen made from a bird feather)to be lifted from the page as each letter was completed.▉The activity of these scholars successfully encouraged further competitive book collecting among European rulers.▉Alongside ancient Greek and Roman authors,which were in fashion throughout Europe at the time,aristocratic buyers accumulated religious texts, ▉New genres intended purely for entertainment, such as chronicle histories and chivalric romances, grew in popularity and contributed to the very considerable size of libraries owned by princes at the time.
1.According to paragraph 1, one way in which scholars in Florence contributed to the growth of book collections was by
A.inventing a new kind of quill that made the writing process faster
B.creating a writing style that allowed books to be copied more quickly than before
C.encouraging book collecting not only among the aristocracy but also among the general population throughout Europe
D.making popular a variety of new genres, such as chronicle histories and chivalric romances
By the mid-fifteenth century the European book market was already very large. Aristocratic collecting opened up new markets for scribes and booksellers, and the expansion of the European university network increased traditional demand among scholars and students. The expanding functions of government required more notaries, secretaries, and literate public officials,stimulating a rapid growth in the number of schools. All of these required books, competing for a supply of the precious raw material-parchment, the thin, dried skin of some animals-on which books depended. Parchment was expensive and the supply relatively fixed; there were only so many suitable animals to be skinned. The continued expansion of the book market would have been halted if it had not been possible to find a cheaper.more plentiful alternative.
2.Why does the author include the information that the supply of parchment was relatively fixed”?
A.To suggest that alternative materials were not yet available for the production of books
B.To help explain why animal skins were often used as a raw material in book production
C.To indicate that the supply of raw materials used to make books was stable
D.To identify a problem faced by the growing book market
3.According to paragraph 2, which of the following statements is true about fifteenth-century European governments?
A.They tried to limit book collecting by aristocrats.
B.Their growth contributed to increased demand for books.
C.They built schools because they needed a large number of books.
D.They required notaries, secretaries, and officials to read books by traditional scholars.
Paper was an invention of the Eastern cultures, where it had been known and used for many centuries. It entered Europe via the Middle East and Islamic Spain, where the process of manufacture was mastered in the twelfth century. The raw material, before the introduction of …left a sheet which could be removed and dried to create paper.
This was a complex and intricate operation, demanding considerable skill to capture the right thickness of the resulting substance. The process needed an abundance of running water to power the hammers that smashed the rags. Obviously it also required access to a steady supply of suitable waste clothing. These were conditions that existed in or close to many of Europe’s largest centers of population, and soon the process was spreading far beyond Spain. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, paper mills were established in northern italy and southern Germany as well as in Normandy and Champagne in France. These locations were strategically close to the major urban centers that made most use of parchment. Soon paper became an acceptable substitute, especially for the more mundane purposes of bookkeeping and correspondence. Initially there was some resistance to the use of paper in books.Parchment was more hard-wearing and, especially for a richly illuminated or decorated text, the shiny surface of parchment continued to be preferred. But paper was also hardy and durable, as anyone who has handled a book made with the fine rag-based paper of the fifteenth century will testify. lt was also more flexible, less brittle.and more easily folded. Sheets were even and regular,and stacked well for transportation. Soon large quantities were being traded, especially into the chillier lands of northern Europe where the prevalence of woolen clothing restricted the supply of suitable rags.
4.The word “mundane” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.important
B.useful
C.popular
D.ordinary
5.The word “brittle” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.rare
B.expensive
C.difficult to use
D.easily broken
6.According to paragraph 4, all of the following were needed to establish a successful paper mill EXCEPT
A.highly skilled workers to control parts of the production process
B.flowing water to provide energy for production tools
C.a continuous supply of parchment to serve as a raw material
D.existence of nearby population centers to buy the mill’s product
7.Paragraph 4 suggests that rag-based paper had which of the following disadvantages?
A.It was not hard-wearing enough for the purposes of bookkeeping or correspondence.
B.Its surface was not as suitable for highly decorated texts as the surface of parchment was.
C.Its durability decreased when it was folded.
D.It was often damaged during transportation.
8.Which of the following can be inferred about rag-based paper in northern Europe?
A.Northern Europe did not use much paper because the region had larger supplies of parchment than other parts of Europe did.
B.Northern Europe produced paper that was more durable than the paper produced in other parts of Europe.
C.Northern Europe could not produce much paper because it did not have enough raw materials for doing so.
D.Northern Europe produced paper from pieces of woolen clothing
9.Look at the four squares[ █ ]that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage.Where would the sentence best fit?
They began buying other kinds of books, too.
10.Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the 3 answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. (This question is worth 2 points.) Drag your choices to the spaces where they belong. To review the passage, click on view text.The European book market experienced major changes between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.
A.The demand for books increased because aristocrats began buying books in many different genres and because the need for literate people increased.
B.European rulers encouraged other aristocrats to collect romances, religious texts, and works by Greek and Roman authors, which contributed to the increase in demand for paper.
C.The number of animal skins was too limited for people to continue depending on them for book production, so Europeans began to use paper, which had been invented outside of Europe.
D.The use of parchment was quickly stopped in some parts of Europe once the production of paper began because people realized that paper had significant advantages in quality over parchment.
E.A complex process was used to make paper from linen cloth,the supply of which was practically unlimited in some areas.and this paper was cheaper and easier to use and transport than parchment.
F.Northern Europe, where the demand for books was especially high and the supply of rags was fairly low,eventually introduced paper made from wood pulp, leading to a revolution in book production.
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