Read the following passage.
A. In November 1603, King Henri IV of France gave Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, a monopoly on the fur trade in the lands between the 40th and 46th parallels. In return, Dugua was expected to settle the land and convert its First Peoples to Christianity. He recruited 120 noblemen, artisans and soldiers and chartered five ships, which left France in the spring of 1604. Dugua and many of his men were Huguenots, so the company carried both a Catholic priest and a Protestant minister, as well as a surgeon and a miner. Samuel Champlain sailed with them as an explorer and mapmaker.
B. At the end of June the expedition entered Passamaquoddy Bay and settled on a small island where rivers meet the bay. Dugua named it Isle Sainte Croix, and the men valued it for its herring and bass and because it looked easy to defend. They first guarded a nearby islet with a barricade and a cannon, then put up a storehouse, a kitchen, a chapel and several dwellings. Wheat was sown on the mainland because the island's soil was too sandy for crops. The Passamaquoddy offered furs in exchange for hatchets, knives and glass beads, and for many of them this was a first direct meeting with Europeans.
C. The winter of 1604 to 1605 came early and was unusually severe. Ice floated down the river and cut the 79 men who stayed off from fresh water, firewood and game on the mainland. Their cider froze and was handed out by the pound, and they lived on salted meat and vegetables. Without fresh fruit, the men fell ill with scurvy, and 35 of them died. In March, Passamaquoddy hunters finally reached the island with game, and by May the survivors were largely well again. In August 1605, Dugua moved the whole settlement to Port Royal, in present-day Nova Scotia.
D. The National Park Service calls the choice of the island a mistake, because its exposed position made the winter far harder. It also credits the later success at Port Royal in part to the experience the settlers had gained, and it links the two sites to the start of a continuous French presence in North America. In 1604, no other Europeans lived north of the Spanish colony at Saint Augustine in Florida. Science has since tested the written record. When the graves were reopened in 2003, forensic experts found signs of scurvy and a skull cut open by the expedition's surgeon, just as Champlain had described in his memoirs.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: B
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph B: wheat was sown on the mainland, not on the island, because the island's soil was too sandy. The men lived on the island, so their wheat grew somewhere else.
Passage Reference: Wheat was sown on the mainland because the island's soil was too sandy for crops.
Tips: The mainland is mentioned twice. Ask which mention is about planting, not about being cut off.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A describes the royal grant and the people who sailed in 1604. Farming is not part of it.
- C: The mainland also appears in Paragraph C. But there it is the place the ice cut the men off from, with its water, wood and game. Nothing is said about growing wheat.
- D: The fourth paragraph gives expert opinion about the site and the graves. It does not say where any crop was planted.
- E: Sowing wheat on the mainland because of the island's sandy soil is reported in Paragraph B, so the passage does give this.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Their cider froze and was handed out by the pound, and they lived on salted meat and vegetables.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C says the cider froze and was handed out by the pound. A pound is a unit of weight, so a frozen drink was divided by weight instead of by volume.
Tips: Find the hard winter on the island. Ask what happened to their drink, and how the men then divided it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In Paragraph A the ships are loaded with people, from noblemen to a miner. But no supplies of food or drink are listed.
- B: Paragraph B lists the buildings, including a kitchen and a storehouse. Yet it says nothing about drinks or the cold.
- D: The harsh winter is mentioned in Paragraph D only as a reason the site was a poor choice. The frozen cider is not there.
- E: Frozen cider handed out by the pound is a detail from Paragraph C, the paragraph about the hard winter.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Dugua and many of his men were Huguenots, so the company carried both a Catholic priest and a Protestant minister, as well as a surgeon and a miner.
Why this is correct: Paragraph A says Dugua and many of his men were Huguenots. So the leader and a good number of the men who sailed with him belonged to the same faith.
Tips: A chapel in Paragraph B is a trap. Look for the paragraph that names the men's faith.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: A chapel is one of the new buildings in paragraph B, but that paragraph gives no information about anyone's religion.
- C: The winter illness and the move to Port Royal fill Paragraph C. Religion does not come up.
- D: The fourth paragraph reports what experts think of the settlement and what the graves showed, not what the men believed.
- E: The religion of Dugua and many of his men is named in Paragraph A, where the Huguenots are mentioned.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: In August 1605, Dugua moved the whole settlement to Port Royal, in present-day Nova Scotia.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C says that in August 1605 Dugua moved the whole settlement to Port Royal. It does not say that anyone talked him into it, and Champlain is not named in that paragraph at all.
Tips: The move is in Paragraph C. Check whether it says who suggested it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Champlain appears in Paragraph A only as an explorer and mapmaker on the voyage out. His advice to Dugua is not mentioned.
- B: Paragraph B is set in the summer, when the island was chosen and built on. That was long before any plan to leave it.
- C: Paragraph C reports the move to Port Royal, but it names only Dugua. Nobody is said to have persuaded him.
- D: Champlain's memoirs are mentioned at the end of Paragraph D. But only as a record of the surgeon's work, not of any advice.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: When the graves were reopened in 2003, forensic experts found signs of scurvy and a skull cut open by the expedition's surgeon, just as Champlain had described in his memoirs.
Why this is correct: Paragraph D says the graves were reopened in 2003. Experts found a skull cut open by the surgeon, just as Champlain had described in his memoirs. The modern study matched what one member of the group had written.
Tips: The third paragraph gives the deaths, but look for the paragraph set in 2003.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: A surgeon is listed in Paragraph A among the people who sailed, but no later study of bones is described.
- B: Notice that paragraph B covers the first summer on the island and the trade with the Passamaquoddy. No graves are mentioned.
- C: Deaths from scurvy are counted in Paragraph C, yet that paragraph says nothing about examining the bodies centuries later.
- E: The reopening of the graves in 2003 and the match with Champlain's memoirs close Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: The Passamaquoddy offered furs in exchange for hatchets, knives and glass beads, and for many of them this was a first direct meeting with Europeans.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B says the Passamaquoddy offered furs for hatchets, knives and glass beads. It gives no reason for the trade, and it says nothing about hunting or the winter.
Tips: Paragraph B lists the trade goods. Ask whether it also gives a reason for wanting them.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The royal grant, the crew and the clergy on the voyage make up paragraph A. The Passamaquoddy do not appear there at all.
- B: The second paragraph tells what the Passamaquoddy gave and what they got in return. It does not say what they planned to do with the tools.
- C: Passamaquoddy hunters bring game to the island in Paragraph C, yet nothing there links their hunting to the tools from the trade.
- D: Notice that paragraph D gives the Park Service view of the site and the results of the grave study. Trade goods are not discussed.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: The National Park Service calls the choice of the island a mistake, because its exposed position made the winter far harder.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: the National Park Service calls the choice of the island a mistake. Its exposed position made the winter far harder. A poor pick means a mistake, and being open to the cold means an exposed position.
Tips: Separate facts from opinions. You need someone saying the island was a poor pick, not only a report of the cold.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: No site has been picked yet in Paragraph A, which ends as the ships leave France.
- B: Paragraph B gives the reasons the men liked the island, such as fish and easy defence. It does not call the choice a mistake.
- C: The third paragraph shows how hard the winter was, but it does not judge whether the island was a bad choice.
- E: The judgment that the island was a mistake because of its exposed position opens Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: In return, Dugua was expected to settle the land and convert its First Peoples to Christianity.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph A says the king gave Dugua a monopoly on the fur trade. In return, Dugua was expected to settle the land. So the trading rights came with a duty to populate it.
Tips: Trade comes up more than once. Look for rights that were given with a duty attached, not trade on its own.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Trade happens in Paragraph B, when the Passamaquoddy exchange furs for tools, but the conditions of the royal grant are not there.
- C: The winter and the move to Port Royal are what paragraph C deals with. It does not mention the king's terms.
- D: Paragraph D talks about a lasting French presence, but it does not say this was a condition of any grant.
- E: The king's condition that Dugua settle the land in return for the monopoly appears in Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: It also credits the later success at Port Royal in part to the experience the settlers had gained, and it links the two sites to the start of a continuous French presence in North America.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: the later success at Port Royal came partly from experience. Paragraph C gives 35 deaths on the island. No paragraph tells how many died at Port Royal, so the comparison of deaths is not in the passage.
Tips: The statement compares deaths in two places. Check whether you can find a number of deaths for each one.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph is about the grant and the voyage. Port Royal does not appear in it.
- B: Notice that paragraph B follows the first summer on the island, with no word about any later settlement.
- C: Paragraph C counts the deaths on the island and ends with the move. But it says nothing about how many died afterwards.
- D: Notice that paragraph D speaks of success at Port Royal in general terms. It gives no numbers of dead at the new site.
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