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Difficulty: MediumSecondary Meanings of Common Words

For centuries, mapmakers struggled to accurately depict the shape of the Earth on flat sheets of paper. In his landmark 1569 map, Gerardus Mercator resolved this issue by introducing a conformal projection that preserved local angles and shapes. While this projection was highly useful for navigation, it had the unintended effect of distorting the size of landmasses near the poles. Consequently, the Mercator projection has long served to color our geographical understanding of the relative sizes of continents, leading many to believe Greenland is comparable in size to Africa.

As it is used in the passage, the word *color* most nearly means:

  1. A
    dye
  2. influenceAnswer
  3. C
    shade
  4. D
    brighten

Answer

influence
In the context of the passage, the Mercator projection's distortion of landmass sizes is said to 'color' our geographical understanding, leading to false impressions. Here, 'color' is used in its secondary sense to mean 'influence' or shape. Substituting 'influence' into the sentence maintains the author's original meaning and fits the context of perception bias.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Locate the target word in the passage and examine its immediate context.
The word 'color' is used in the phrase: 'the Mercator projection has long served to color our geographical understanding...'
Understanding the surrounding words helps determine the functional role of the target word.
2
Analyze the meaning of the sentence and the paragraph as a whole to see how 'color' behaves.
The paragraph explains that the map 'distorted' the size of landmasses, leading to incorrect geographical beliefs (like Greenland appearing as large as Africa). Thus, the projection has affected, shaped, or biased our understanding.
The secondary meaning must align with the tone and details of the passage's argument.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the word that best substitutes for the target word without changing the author's meaning.
Substituting 'influence' fits perfectly: 'served to influence our geographical understanding'. Other choices like 'dye' (literal color) or 'brighten' (make clear/cheerful) do not fit.
Selecting the option that preserves the context's logical flow identifies the correct answer.

Key Concept

Identifying secondary meanings of common words in reading passages by analyzing contextual clues and avoiding primary meaning bias.
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Secondary Meanings of Common Words

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