Reading Comprehension · Humanities
PrepTest 141 · Section 1 · Passage 2
Questions 8–15
Before you start
Open PrepTest 141, Section 1 in your official copy from LSAC and read the passage for Questions 8–15, using the structure guide below. The passage is not reprinted here.
Structure guide
- Intro line: says the passage comes from a critical review of one artist's work
- P1: describes a group of works, notes that they show obvious signs of awkward making, contrasts them with great art using a vivid example, then claims those signs are what give the works life, and imagines a duller result had the artist fully reached her goal
- P2: explains why, by pointing to the medium's stubborn realism; contrasts two kinds of art in how much they let the audience forget the makers, and adds a third kind for comparison
- P3: names the special blend of homemade mess and skill, gives one example where crude details are visible but unimportant, and ends by answering a critical comparison with warm praise
Step 2 · The kid passage
Kevin's Legend Tapes
(From a fifth grader's review in the class newsletter.)
Kevin calls them his "legend tapes": cassette recordings where his cousins act out dinosaur myths he invents, with Kevin directing. Every tape carries clear signs of the chaos it was made in. They sound less like a radio drama and more like a family phone call where everyone talks at once. No professional storyteller's T. rex ever giggles in the middle of a roar or says, "Ow, Biscuit, get off my foot." Those slips are exactly what make the tapes lively. Had Kevin managed the smooth, perfect tapes he was aiming for, they would sound like Marcus's tape: polished, gloriously dull, and never played twice.
The recorder hears everything, and that stubborn honesty makes Kevin's make-believe feel true. What comes through is the real afternoon, not the legend: cousins in bathrobes playing giants, trying hard not to sneeze for twenty straight minutes, because once the old machine started, nothing could be taken back. How each cousin survives the quiet is the true story of every tape. When we read a storybook, we can forget the writer; when we hear a cousin playing a giant, we cannot forget the cousin. A campfire storyteller can sometimes make us believe only the giant is there. A tape of cousins never stops being a tape of cousins.
What makes the tapes odd little treasures is their blend of homemade mess and real skill. In "The Last Sky Lizard," the thunder is plainly a cookie sheet being shaken and the wind is Owen blowing into a jar. These details hardly matter. For once, Kevin's dream outshouts the afternoon. The tape is spooky and wonderful. People have compared the legend tapes to a bad school talent show, but this one reminds you of the best talent show you ever saw, the one you still grin about.
Step 4 · The courtroom tale
The Case of the Cardboard Dragon
At the town parade contest hearing, Ms. Pell pointed at a photo. "Your Honor, the Elm Street dragon is obviously cardboard boxes, and its fire is a red umbrella. It should lose." Mr. Whitfield smiled. "Exactly, Judge. Had the neighbors built a flawless dragon, it would look like every shiny float nobody remembers. Instead the crowd saw two things at once: a dragon, and Grandpa's sneakers poking out underneath. That double view is why they cheered. And on the last block, at sunset, with the umbrella glowing, that dragon truly seemed to breathe fire." The judge chuckled. "The boxes stay boxes, counsel, but the magic wins. Blue ribbon to Elm Street."