Entry Exam Category: College Admission Exams
Course: Accuplacer
Exam: Accuplacer Reading Full-Length Practice Test
Practice Question
Extract
In many accounts of the American West, the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803–1806) mistakenly marks the beginning of recorded history, with the captains’ journals constituting a baseline of information about the region. The earlier history of the West is frequently seen as an unimportant backstory. Although the Lewis and Clark expedition was a momentous event, it was only a subplot in a historical drama of time, place, and people that had been playing for thousands of years. The 'new lands' that Lewis and Clark explored were in fact very old: the explorers did not bring the West into United States history; they brought the United States into the history of the West.
In context, the metaphor in the third sentence ('it was... years') chiefly serves to:
Answer Choices
- A: Call attention to the age of the United States as a nation
- B: Question the literary value of the writings by Lewis and Clark
- C: Trivialize the accomplishments of the Lewis and Clark expedition
- D: Place the Lewis and Clark expedition into a broad context
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: The metaphor 'it was only a subplot in a historical drama of time, place, and people that had been playing for thousands of years' emphasizes that the expedition was just one part of a much longer and richer history of the American West. Rather than diminishing the importance of Lewis and Clark, it contextualizes their journey as part of a broader and older narrative—especially one that includes Native American histories. Thus, the metaphor is used to broaden perspective, making D the best choice.