Certainly no creature in the sea is odder than the common sea cucumber. All living creature, especially human beings, have their peculiarities, but everything about the little sea cucumber seems unusual. What else can be said about a bizarre animal that, among other eccentricities, eats mud, feeds almost continuously day and night but can live without eating for long periods, and can be poisonous but is considered supremely edible by gourmets?

   For some fifty million years, despite all its eccentricities, the sea cucumber has subsisted on its diet of mud. It is adaptable enough to live attached to rocks by its tube feet, under rocks in shallow water, or on the surface of mud flats. Common in cool water on both Atlantic and Pacific shores, it has the ability to such up mud or sand and digest whatever nutrients are present.

   Sea cucumbers come in a variety of colors, ranging from black to reddish-brown to sand-color and nearly white. One form even has vivid purple tentacle. Usually the creatures are cucumber-shaped-hence their name-and because they are typically rock inhabitants, this shape, combine with flexibility, enables them to squeeze into crevices where they are safe from predators and ocean currents.

   Although they have voracious appetites, eating day and night, sea cucumbers have the capacity to become quiescent and live at a low metabolic rate-feeding sparingly or not at all for long periods, so that the marine organisms that provide their food have a chance to multiply. If it were not for this faculty, they would devour all the food available in a short time and would probably starve themselves out of existence.

   But the most spectacular thing about the sea cucumber is the way it defends itself. Its major enemies are fish and crabs, when attacked, it squirts all its internal organs into the water. It also casts off attached structures such as tentacles. The sea cucumber will eviscerate and regenerate itself if it is attached or even touched; it will do the same if the surrounding water temperature is too high or if the water becomes too polluted.

The fourth paragraph of the passage primarily discusses .....

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• The word “gloomy” in the passage is closest in meaning to .............

• In the last paragraph, the author mentions all of the following as possible roles of nineteenth- century "great women" EXCEPT .......

• The first songs of the Beatles were ................

ZUNIA12

• It can be inferred from the passage that research concerning the distress signals of trees ...............

• The word "them" in the passage 2 refers to_________.

• The Daylight Saving Time Energy Act of 1973 was responsible for ..

• Why is “plankton” mentioned in the second paragraph?

• Which of the following can be inferred about the order in which Kentucky, Tennessee, and Vermont joined the Union?

• Which sentence best expresses the main idea of the second paragraph?

• The word -that in the third paragraph refers to ............

• According to the author, one mark of a civilized society is that if ..............

• With which of the following topics is the passage primarily concerned?

• The passage would most likely be followed by details about _______.

• Which of the following pairs is INCORRECT?

• The word “body” in paragraph 1 could best be replaced by________.

• People thought Merlin was a dreamer because he__________.

• The author of the passage argues that ...............

• According to the passage, cell phones are especially popular with young people because ...............

• According to the passage, which of the following statements was true in 1990?

• The expression “traditional methods of teaching” is the first sentence refers to ______