Practice TEAS Test Reading

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Starting in 1856, Alfred, Lord Tennyson began publishing his compilation of Arthurian legends that became known as Idylls of the King. These poems were based on the earlier Medieval collection Le Morte d'Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory, which dated to the middle of the 15th century. Malory's work, which is believed to be largely a translation of older French stories, was written in prose style. It combined the earlier tales into a single grouping for English readers. As the title suggests, Malory's focus was largely on the epic
nature of Arthur's life. Malory discussed his birth, his rise as a prince and warrior, his quests as a knight, and his eventual death. Malory also included chapters on knights such as Lancelot and Gareth, and he discussed the relationships between Tristan and Isolde, and Lancelot and Guinevere. Instead of embracing the romance angle, however, Malory focused more on the moral elements within these stories.
Tennyson, though heavily influenced by Malory, took a different approach to the Arthurian stories. For one, he wrote them in poetry form, not prose. Additionally, Tennyson, as a Victorian poet, was more interested in the romantic qualities of the stories, and included the distinct elements of nature and elegy. Idylls of the King has a softer focus
overall. For instance, in Malory's work, Guinevere faces execution for her adultery, and is only spared when Lancelot rides in to rescue her. In Tennyson's work, Arthur chooses to forgive Guinevere, and she chooses to spend the rest of her days doing good works in a
convent. Some literary scholars believe that Tennyson was writing an allegory about social problems and the need for social justice that existed during Tennyson's own time. Charles Dickens is remembered for doing the same thing in his novels about the abuses of lower- class children in Victorian England.

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In an effort to conserve water, the town of Audley has asked residents and businesses to water their lawns just one day a week. It has provided the following schedule based on addresses:
Monday: addresses ending in 0 and 9 Tuesday: addresses ending in 1 and 8 Wednesday: addresses ending in 2 and 7 Thursday: addresses ending in 3 and 6 Friday: addresses ending in 5
Saturday: addresses ending in 4

Businesses with suite numbers should use the final number in the suite number to determine their watering schedule.

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Most scientists agree that while the scientific method is an invaluable methodological tool, it is not a failsafe method for arriving at objective truth. It is debatable, for example, whether a hypothesis can actually be confirmed by evidence.

When a hypothesis is of the form “All x are y,� it is commonly believed that a piece of evidence that is both x and y confirms the hypothesis. For example, for the hypothesis “All monkeys are hairy,� a particular monkey that is hairy is thought to be a confirming piece of evidence for the hypothesis. A problem arises when one encounters evidence that disproves a hypothesis: while no scientist would argue that one piece of evidence proves a hypothesis, it is possible for one piece of evidence to disprove a hypothesis. To return to the monkey example, one hairless monkey out of one billion hairy monkeys disproves the hypothesis “All monkeys are hairy.� Single pieces of evidence, then, seem to affect a given hypothesis in radically different ways. For this reason, the confirmation of hypotheses is better described as probabilistic.

Hypotheses that can only be proven or disproven based on evidence need to be based on probability because sample sets for such hypotheses are too large. In the monkey example, every single monkey in the history of monkeys would need to be examined before the hypothesis could be proven or disproven. By making confirmation a function of probability, one may make provisional or working conclusions that allow for the possibility of a given hypothesis being disconfirmed in the future. In the monkey case, then, encountering a hairy monkey would slightly raise the probability that “all monkeys are hairy,� while encountering a hairless monkey would slightly decrease the probability that “all monkeys are hairy.� This method of confirming hypotheses is both counterintuitive and controversial, but it allows for evidence to equitably affect hypotheses and it does not require infinite sample sets for confirmation or disconfirmation.

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