GRE-Verbal 試験問題を無料オンラインアクセス
| 試験コード: | GRE-Verbal |
| 試験名称: | Section One : Verbal |
| 認定資格: | Admission Test |
| 無料問題数: | 320 |
| 更新日: | 2026-10-23 |
The Trojan War is one of the most famous wars in history. It is well known for the tenyear duration, for the
heroism of a number of legendary characters, and for the Trojan horse. What may not be familiar,
however, is the story of how the war began. According to Greek myth, the strife between the Trojans and
the Greeks started at the wedding of Peleus, King of Thessaly, and Thetis, a sea nymph. All of the gods
and goddesses had been invited to the wedding celebration in Troy except Eris, goddesses of discord.
She had been omitted from the guest list because her presence always embroiled mortals and immortals
alike in conflict. To take revenge on those who had slighted her, Eris decided to cause a skirmish. Into the
middle of the banquet hall, she threw a golden apple marked "for the most beautiful." All of the goddesses
began to haggle over who should possess it.
The gods and goddesses reached a stalemate when the choice was narrowed to Hera, Athena, and
Aphrodite. Someone was needed to settle the controversy by picking a winner. The job eventually fell to
Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, who was said to be a good judge of beauty. Paris did not have an easy
job. Each goddess, eager to win the golden apple, tried aggressively to bribe him. "I'll grant you vast
kingdoms to rule, "promised HerA. "Vast kingdoms are nothing in comparison with my gift," contradicted
AthenA. "Choose me and I'll see that you win victory and fame in war." Aphrodite outdid her adversaries,
however. She won the golden apple by offering Helen, Zeus' daughter and the most beautiful mortal, to
Paris. Paris, anxious to claim Helen, set off for Sparta in
Greece. Although Paris learned that Helen was married, he accepted the hospitality of her husband, King
Menelasu of Sparta, anyway. Therefore, Menelaus was outraged for a number of reasons when Paris
departed, taking Helen and much of the king's wealth back to Troy. Menelaus collected his loyal forces
and set sail for Troy to begin the war to reclaim Helen.
Each goddess tried ___to bribe Paris.
King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette ruled France from 1774 to 1789, a time when the country was
fighting bankruptcy. The royal couple did not let France's insecure financial situation limit their
immoderate spending, however. Even though the minister of finance repeatedly warned the king and
queen against wasting money, they continued to spend great fortunes on their personal pleasure. This
lavish spending greatly enraged the people of France. They felt that the royal couple bought its luxurious
lifestyle at the poor people's expense. Marie Antoinette, the beautiful but exceedingly impractical queen,
seemed uncaring about her subjects; misery. While French citizens begged for lower taxes, the queen
embellished her palace with extravagant works of art. She also surrounded herself with artists, writers,
and musicians, who encouraged the queen to spend money even more profusely. While the queen's
favorites glutted themselves on huge feasts at the royal table, many people in France were starving. The
French government taxed the citizens outrageously. These high taxes paid for the entertainments the
queen and her court so enjoyed. When the minister of finance tried to stop these royal spendthrifts, the
queen replaced him. The intense hatred that the people felt for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette kept
building until it led to the French Revolution. During this time of struggle and violence (1789-1799),
thousands of aristocrats, as well as the king and queen themselves, lost their lives at the guillotine.
Perhaps if Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had reined in their extravagant spending, the events that
rocked France would not have occurred.
The people surrounding the queen encouraged her to spend money ____.
In nearly all human populations, a majority of individuals can taste the artificially synthesized chemical
phenylthiocarbonide (PTC). However, the percentage varies dramatically-from as low as sixty percent in
India to as high as ninety-five percent in AfricA. That this polymorphism is observed in non-human
primates as well indicates a long evolutionary history which, although obviously not acting on PTC, might
reflect evolutionary selection for taste discrimination of other, more significant bitter substances, such as
certain toxic plants. A somewhat more puzzling human polymorphism is the genetic variability in earwax,
or cerumen, which is observed in two varieties. Among European populations, ninety percent of
individuals have a sticky yellow variety rather than a dry, gray one, whereas in northern China these
numbers are approximately the reverse. Perhaps like PTC variability, cerumen variability is an incidental
expression of something more adaptively significant. Indeed, the observed relationship between cerumen
and odorous bodily secretions, to which non-human primates and, to a lesser extent humans, pay
attention suggests that during the course of human evolution genes affecting body secretions, including
cerumen, came under selective influence.
It can be inferred from the passage that human populations vary considerably in their