Selecting Concluding Sentences and Transitions

For decades, scholars of Maya hieroglyphs viewed the inscriptions as purely mystical, representing astronomical calendars and religious symbols rather than historical records. This perspective shifted in 1960 when art historian Tatiana Proskouriakoff published a groundbreaking study of the stelae—carved stone slabs—at the site of Piedras Negras. By arranging the monuments chronologically based on their carved dates, she noticed that the life spans of the figures depicted corresponded to average human lifespans, suggesting the carvings actually recorded the histories of rulers.

The writer wants to conclude the paragraph by reinforcing the impact of Proskouriakoff’s discovery on the scholarly understanding of Maya writing. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

Passage:

In 1964, radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were using a large horn antenna in Holmdel, New Jersey, to detect weak radio waves bounced off balloon satellites. To their frustration, they kept detecting a persistent, low-level hum in the microwave spectrum that seemed to come from all directions in the sky. They spent months checking their equipment, going so far as to clean out nesting pigeons and their waste from the horn, but the static remained. Ultimately, this mysterious noise was identified not as a technical malfunction, but as the cosmic microwave background radiation—the relic radiation left over from the Big Bang.

The writer wants to add a concluding sentence at the end of the passage to emphasize the significance of the scientists' discovery. Which of the following sentences best accomplishes this goal?

In 1952, computer pioneer Grace Hopper developed the first compiler, a revolutionary program that translated English-like commands into machine-readable code. Prior to this invention, programming required writing tedious strings of numbers or symbols, a task prone to human error and restricted to a small group of mathematicians. By allowing programmers to write in a language closer to human speech, Hopper’s compiler democratized software development and laid the groundwork for modern programming languages. [4]

Which choice best concludes the paragraph at [4] by emphasizing the long-term impact of Hopper’s compiler on the field of computer science?

Passage:

In 1931, engineering draftsman Harry Beck proposed a revolutionary design for the London Underground map. Before Beck's innovation, transit maps attempted to represent geographic distances accurately, which resulted in a cluttered, confusing tangle of lines in the congested city center. Beck realized that passengers traveling underground cared primarily about how to navigate between stations rather than their precise location on the surface. He simplified the complex network into a clean, schematic diagram, restricting lines to horizontal, vertical, or 45-degree angles and spacing stations evenly. Initially rejected by officials as too radical, the map was trial-printed in 1933 and became an instant success with the public. ________

Question:

The writer wants to add a concluding sentence to the paragraph that reinforces the paragraph's main focus on the lasting impact of Beck's design. Which of the following sentences best achieves this goal?

Marie Tharp began transforming raw sonar data collected from the Atlantic Ocean into detailed topographic maps in the early 1950s. At the time, she was barred from research vessels due to her gender, so she relied on her colleague Bruce Heezen to gather the depth measurements. As Tharp meticulously plotted the points, she noticed a massive, V-shaped rift running down the center of the ocean floor. Heezen initially dismissed her findings as 'girl talk,' but Tharp persisted, convinced that this feature was a rift valley that proved the theory of continental drift.

Ultimately, Heezen was convinced after he mapped the epicenters of undersea earthquakes, which aligned perfectly with Tharp's rift valley. [1] Furthermore, they decided to publish a map of their findings in 1977.

Which choice most effectively concludes the passage by highlighting the ultimate success of Tharp's research and its impact on the scientific understanding of Earth's geology?

[1]
In 1903, during a winter visit to New York City, Mary Anderson observed a trolley driver struggling to see through the freezing sleet. The driver frequently opened the front window to wipe the wet snow off the windshield by hand, exposing the passengers to the cold and delaying the trip. To solve this problem, Anderson sketched a design for a rubber blade attached to a hand-operated lever inside the vehicle. She patented her invention, the windshield wiper, in 1903, but manufacturing companies initially rejected it, believing the device would distract drivers. However, as the automobile industry boomed in the following decades, Anderson's design proved indispensable. [2]

The writer wants to add a concluding sentence after sentence [2] that highlights the long-term impact of Anderson's invention on modern transportation. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

In the early twentieth century, leprosy was considered a terminal and highly debilitating disease, with patients often exiled to isolated colonies. At the College of Hawaii, young chemist Alice Ball undertook the challenge of finding an effective treatment. She focused on chaulmoogra oil, a natural substance that had shown therapeutic promise but was extremely difficult for the body to absorb. Ball successfully developed a chemical method to isolate the active ethyl esters from the oil, creating the first water-soluble, injectable treatment for the disease. [1]

The writer wants to add a concluding sentence at point [1] that wraps up the discussion of Ball's scientific achievement and highlights its immediate impact on patients. Which of the following sentences best accomplishes this goal?

In 1799, French soldiers in Egypt uncovered a slab of dark stone covered in three distinct scripts: Ancient Greek, Demotic, and hieroglyphs. This artifact, known as the Rosetta Stone, became the key to unlocking the written language of ancient Egypt, which had been dead for over a thousand years. Scholars across Europe rushed to translate the texts, but decryption proved incredibly difficult because hieroglyphs were not merely alphabetic symbols but a complex mixture of phonetic and ideographic signs. Jean-François Champollion, a brilliant French linguist, spent years comparing the Greek text to the hieroglyphs, eventually realizing that the Egyptian symbols represented sounds of the spoken Coptic language.

Which choice best concludes the paragraph by emphasizing the revolutionary impact of Champollion's work on our understanding of ancient Egyptian history?

[1] In the late 1980s, engineering teams in Japan faced a daunting challenge with the high-speed Shinkansen trains. As the trains exited narrow tunnels at speeds of nearly 200 miles per hour, they compressed the air ahead of them, creating a deafening sound known as a "tunnel boom." This noise not only disturbed nearby residents but also threatened the structural integrity of the tunnels themselves. Eiji Nakatsu, the chief engineer and an avid birdwatcher, realized that the solution might lie in nature.

[2] Nakatsu observed the kingfisher, a bird that dives from the air into water to catch fish with barely a splash. He reasoned that the bird's wedge-shaped beak allowed it to transition smoothly between mediums of different densities. By redesigning the nose of the Shinkansen train to mimic the shape of the kingfisher's beak, the engineers reduced the train's air pressure by 30 percent and noise levels significantly. ________

Which of the following concluding sentences best wraps up the main idea of the passage?

In the late nineteenth century, sound was first captured on delicate wax cylinders and shellac discs. Over time, these historical recordings have degraded, making them too fragile to play with a traditional needle. To preserve these audio treasures, scientists developed the IRENE system, which uses high-resolution digital imaging to scan the physical grooves of a record. By converting these visual scans into digital sound files, researchers can reconstruct audio from damaged media without physical contact.

Which choice provides the most logical and effective concluding sentence for the paragraph?

Passage Segment:

In 1977, oceanographers aboard the research submersible *Alvin* made a startling discovery on the Pacific ocean floor: hydrothermal vents spewing mineral-rich water into the pitch-black depths. Rather than finding a barren wasteland, the scientists observed a thriving ecosystem teeming with giant tube worms and ghost-white crabs. This discovery revolutionized our understanding of biology, demonstrating that entire communities could flourish without a single ray of sunlight. [1] **Furthermore, the *Alvin* submersible had been upgraded recently with titanium hulls to withstand extreme pressure.**

Instead of utilizing photosynthesis, the organisms surrounding these vents rely on chemosynthesis, a process where bacteria convert dissolved hydrogen sulfide gas into organic matter. This geothermal energy pathway suggested that life on Earth might have originated in the deep sea rather than in shallow, sunlit waters.

Question:

Which choice most effectively concludes the first paragraph and provides a transition to the second paragraph?