EXERSICE 28.

PASSAGE ONE (Questions 1-7)

(3A) The causes of schizophrenia are not clear, but schizophrenia has long been attributed to
faulty parenting. (3B) In cases where schizophrenia developed, the parents were often considered
responsible. (3C) However, recent studies are now pointing to heredity and prenatal environmental
factors as the chief culprits in this disease. (3D)
Recent studies of identical twins have been used to demonstrate that heredity plays a role in
the development of schizophrenia. These studies have shown that in cases where one identical
twin is afflicted with schizophrenia, the other twin has a 50 percent probability of also suffering
from it.
(5A) However, heredity is not believed to be the only culprit. (5B) Studies of the fingerprints of
identical twins have lent credence to the theory that prenatal environmental factors are likely
contributors to the development of schizophrenia. (5C) In studies of pairs of identical twins in
which one is afflicted with schizophrenia and one is not, abnormalities were found in the
fingerprints of one-third of the twins, always in the afflicted twin. (5D) Since fingers develop in the
second trimester of pregnancy, the hypothesis has been proposed that the abnormalities in the
fingerprints were due to a second-trimester trauma that affected only one of the twins and that
this same trauma was a factor in the onset of schizophrenia. (5E)

PASSA GE TWO (Questions 8-13)

(10A) To Americans, the Pony Express was a fixture of the Old West; most Americans are
rather surprised to find out that in reality the Pony Express was in existence for only a short
period of time, about a year and a half. (10B) A short-lived forefather of “express” mail service, the
Pony Express operated between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, a distance of
just under 2,000 miles. (10C) Letters and small packages could be delivered in under 10 days instead
of the 3 to 4 weeks that it had taken prior to the institution of the Pony Express. (10D)
In 1860, St. Joseph was the westernmost terminal of the country’s railroad system; mail
destined for the West Coast could come to St. Joe by train, but the only way to get it farther west
was on horseback. The Pony Express service was established on April 3, 1860, to fill this need: a
letter carried on horseback with only minimal downtime for changes in horses and riders could
cover 200 miles in one twenty-four hour period.
The Pony Express system consisted of approximately 80 riders, 400 horses, and 190 stations
every 10 to 15 miles along the route. One rider took a mail pouch and carried it for 75 miles,
changing his tired horse for a fresh one at every station; he then passed the pouch to another
rider. Riders traveled day and night, and the mail never stopped.
(12A) On October 24, 1861, only a year and a half after the start of the Pony Express, the first
transcontinental telegraph opened for business, ending the need for the Pony Express. (12B) The
Pony Express officially closed for business on October 26, 1861. (12C) Obviously, its owners were
quick to recognize that the need for their services no longer existed. (12D)

PASSAGE THREE (Questions 14-18)

The grand jury is an important part of the American legal system. (16A) The grand jury is
composed of private citizens who are appointed to serve for a designated period of time. (16B)
Grand juries, which hold meetings in private, serve one of two functions: charging or
investigatory. (16C) A grand jury that is serving a charging function listens to evidence presented by
the prosecutor and decides whether or not the prosecution has adequate evidence to charge a
suspect with a crime; if the grand jury feels that there is adequate evidence, then it issues an
indictment, and the suspect must then proceed with a trial. (16D) grand jury that is serving an
investigatory function investigates cases of suspected dishonesty, often by public officials. (16E)
The primary reason for the existence of the grand jury is that it is supposed to ensure that
citizens are not subject to unfair prosecution; under the grand jury system, prosectors must first
convince an unbiased group of citizens that there is justification for the charges that they want to
bring. However, the grand jury system has come under attack from numerous directions. Grand
juries are routinely criticized for being too slow and too costly; the grand jury system really means
that there are two trials, the grand jury hearing to decide whether or not there should be a trial
and then the actual trial itself. Another criticism of the grand jury results from the fact that the
meetings are held in private; the grand jury is not open to public scrutiny and is therefore not
publicly responsible for its actions, and this has cast doubt on some of its findings. A final
common criticism of the grand jury is that the evidence it hears is one-sided, from the perspective
of the prosecution, so that the grand jury serves as the right arm of the prosecution rather than
as a defender of the rights of a suspect.