单选题 The following questions present a sentence, part of which or all of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence, you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.
These questions test correctness and effectiveness of expression. In choosing your answer, follow the requirements of standard written English; that is, pay attention to grammar, choice of words, and sentence construction. Choose the answer that produces the most effective sentence; this answer should be clear and exact, without awkwardness, ambiguity, redundancy, or grammatical error.

单选题 Blues musician Paul "Poboy" Smith, born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1936, has since 1958 been a fixture on the southern blues scene after the release of his debut album in that year.
A. Blues musician Paul "Poboy" Smith, born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1936, has since 1958 been a fixture on the southern blues scene after the release of his debut album in that year.
B. Being born in 1936 in Tupelo, Mississippi, blues musician Paul "Poboy" Smith released his debut album in 1958 and has been a fixture on the southern blues scene since then.
C. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1936, blues musician Paul "Poboy" Smith has been a fixture on the southern blues scene since the release of his debut album in 1958.
D. Having been a texture on the southern blues scene since 1958 when he released his debut album, Paul "Poboy" Smith is a blues musician who was born in 1936 in Tupelo, Mississippi.
E. Since the release of his debut album in 1958, blues musician Paul "Poboy" Smith has been a fixture on the southern blues scene; he was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1936.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】A is flawed because it is unclear what "that year" refers to and because the combination of "since" and "after" is redundant. B presents a bizarre chronology by referring to Smith's birth in 1936 in the present perfect "being born" and then using the simple past for a later event in 1958; also, the "has been a fixture.., since then" is awkward. D is somewhat redundant in identifying Smith as a "blues musician" after identifying him as a "fixture on the southern blues scene," and it presents the information in an illogical order by introducing Smith's name so late in the sentence. E awkwardly separates the final clause from the rest of the sentence, so that there is really no reason why these should not be separate sentences. C is the most concise and idiomatic of the answer choices, and it presents the information in the most logical way.

单选题 SEC regulations require that a public company disclose to their potential investors any legal, technological, or financial complications that could endanger their investments.
A. a public company disclose to their
B. a public company discloses to its
C. a public company disclose to its
D. public companies disclose to its
E. public companies have disclosed to their

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】The subject and possessive pronoun of the underlined clause should agree in number, so A and D are out. B is incorrect because the construction "require that a public company disclose" must be in the subjunctive voice, and therefore must be "disclose" instead of "discloses." In E, it does not make sense here to use the past tense when talking about "potential investors." C is the clearest and most standard statement.

单选题 The genius of Beethoven can be seen in the widely observed phenomenon that his music has the same appeal to an illiterate shepherd wandering the steppes of Kazakhstan as to a professional musician sipping her latte in Paris.
A. Kazakhstan as to
B. Kazakhstan, just as to
C. Kazakhstan; just as it would to a
D. Kazakhstan, as it would to a
E. Kazakhstan as a

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】A is grammatically correct and reflects standard English usage of the construction "[subject] is the same to X as to Y." The other options are all less idiomatic than A, so A is the best answer.

单选题 Mary, just as did the other students, objected to the squash casserole.
A. Mary, just as did the other students, objected to
B. Like the other students, Mary was objectionable to
C. Mary, like the other students, objected to
D. Mary objected, in the manner of the other students, to
E. Mary, as the other students, objected

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】"Just as did the other students" is a less standard construction than answer C, which is the clearest and most concise of the choices.

单选题 At the MegaTek Corporation, an inexperienced financial analyst mistook the rising cost of semiconductors as a seasonal fluctuation in the market.
A. the rising cost of semiconductors as a seasonal fluctuation
B. rise in price of semiconductors as a seasonal fluctuation
C. rising cost of semiconductors for a seasonal fluctuation
D. rising of the cost of semiconductors for a fluctuation by season
E. rise of semiconductors in price to a seasonal fluctuation

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】The proper construction is "mistook... for," not "mistook... as." Of the two answers with this construction, C and D, D is awkwardly worded, so C is the correct answer.