PrepTest 146, Section 4, Question 19
Hundreds of clay tablets marked in cuneiform have(447 more words not shown)
By characterizing certain cuneiform inscriptions(20 more words not shown)
- Athe meaning of(10 more words not shown)
- Bthe inscriptions are(5 more words not shown)
- Cthe inscriptions do(5 more words not shown)
- Dthe inscriptions refer(7 more words not shown)
- Ethe terms represented(13 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The sheep sign isn't a little sheep; it's a circled cross. The metal sign likewise doesn't picture metal. Abstract describes that relationship between the symbol and what it represents: the mark carries meaning without resembling its subject.
Working the answers
- A
Abstract doesn't mean undecipherable. The author tells us what the sheep and metal signs mean, even though they aren't pictures of their subjects.
- B
Sheep and metal are tangible things. A symbol can be abstract in its form while referring to a perfectly concrete object. It needn't stand for something like love or justice.
- CCorrect
The signs do not resemble what they designate. A circled cross represents a sheep through its assigned meaning, not by visually depicting the animal.
- D
The contrast is between picturing something and using a nonresembling symbol. It isn't between referring to a general category and referring to a specific object. A picture could also represent a category.
- E
Nothing compares the ceremonial character of these terms with daily speech. The presence of temple contributions elsewhere doesn't change what abstract means in the opening examples.
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