SAT OG 2018 Reading - Test 7 reading 1

Questions 1-10 are based on the following
passage.


This passage is adapted from George Eliot, Silas Marner. Originally published in 1861. Silas was a weaver and a notorious miser, but then the gold he had hoarded was stolen. Shortly after, Silas adopted a young child, Eppie, the daughter of an impoverished woman who had died suddenly.




Unlike the gold which needed nothing, and must

be worshipped in close-locked solitude—which was

hidden away from the daylight, was deaf to the song
of birds, and started to no human tones—Eppie was a
5 creature of endless claims and ever-growing desires,

seeking and loving sunshine, and living sounds, and

living movements; making trial of everything, with

trust in new joy, and stirring the human kindness in

all eyes that looked on her. The gold had kept his
10 thoughts in an ever-repeated circle, leading to

nothing beyond itself; but Eppie was an object

compacted of changes and hopes that forced his

thoughts onward, and carried them far away from

their old eager pacing towards the same blank
15 limit—carried them away to the new things that

would come with the coming years, when Eppie

would have learned to understand how her father

Silas cared for her; and made him look for images of

that time in the ties and charities that bound together
20 the families of his neighbors. The gold had asked that

he should sit weaving longer and longer, deafened

and blinded more and more to all things except the

monotony of his loom and the repetition of his web;

but Eppie called him away from his weaving, and
25 made him think all its pauses a holiday, reawakening

his senses with her fresh life, even to the old

winter-flies that came crawling forth in the early

spring sunshine, and warming him into joy because

she had joy.
30 And when the sunshine grew strong and lasting,

so that the buttercups were thick in the meadows,

Silas might be seen in the sunny mid-day, or in the

late afternoon when the shadows were lengthening

under the hedgerows, strolling out with uncovered
35 head to carry Eppie beyond the Stone-pits to where

the flowers grew, till they reached some favorite bank

where he could sit down, while Eppie toddled to

pluck the flowers, and make remarks to the winged

things that murmured happily above the bright
40 petals, calling “Dad-dad’s” attention continually by

bringing him the flowers. Then she would turn her

ear to some sudden bird-note, and Silas learned to

please her by making signs of hushed stillness, that

they might listen for the note to come again: so that
45 when it came, she set up her small back and laughed

with gurgling triumph. Sitting on the banks in this

way, Silas began to look for the once familiar herbs

again; and as the leaves, with their unchanged outline

and markings, lay on his palm, there was a sense of
50 crowding remembrances from which he turned away

timidly, taking refuge in Eppie’s little world, that lay

lightly on his enfeebled spirit.
As the child’s mind was growing into knowledge,

his mind was growing into memory: as her life
55 unfolded, his soul, long stupefied in a cold narrow

prison, was unfolding too, and trembling gradually

into full consciousness.
It was an influence which must gather force with

every new year: the tones that stirred Silas’ heart
60 grew articulate, and called for more distinct answers;

shapes and sounds grew clearer for Eppie’s eyes and

ears, and there was more that “Dad-dad” was

imperatively required to notice and account for.

Also, by the time Eppie was three years old, she
65 developed a fine capacity for mischief, and for

devising ingenious ways of being troublesome, which

found much exercise, not only for Silas’ patience, but

for his watchfulness and penetration. Sorely was poor

Silas puzzled on such occasions by the incompatible
70 demands of love.

Question 1 Which choice best describes a major theme of the passage?