Sat practice Test #8 Answer Explanations

Choice D is the best answer. In the fourth paragraph, the narrator 
explains that although Sempere normally didn’t charge him for books, 
he still left Sempere a few coins as payment: “It was only small 
change—if I’d had to buy a book with that pittance, I would probably 
have been able to afford only a booklet of cigarette papers.” These lines 
signal the narrator’s awareness that he was paying less for the books 
than they were worth.
Choice A is incorrect because the passage states that Sempere didn’t 
expect or want the narrator to pay: “He hardly ever allowed me to pay 
for the books.” Choice B is incorrect because the fourth paragraph 
makes clear that even if Sempere didn’t want the narrator's money, the 
narrator would still “leave the coins I’d managed to collect.” Choice C 
is incorrect because the third paragraph states that the money with 
which the narrator paid Sempere was originally given to the narrator 
by his father.
QUESTION 8
Choice B is the best answer. In the fourth paragraph, the narrator 
describes his reluctance to leave Sempere’s bookshop: “When it was 
time for me to leave, I would do so dragging my feet, a weight on my 
soul.” In this context, “weight” most nearly means burden.

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Choices A, C, and D are incorrect because in the context of the narrator 
having to do something he doesn’t want to, a “weight” he had to carry 
most nearly means a burden, not a bulk (choice A), force (choice C), or 
clout (choice D).
QUESTION 9
Choice C is the best answer. When, in the eighth paragraph, the 
narrator asks Sempere if the author Charles Dickens is a friend of his, 
Sempere replies, in the ninth paragraph, that Dickens is a “lifelong 
friend. And from now on, he’s your friend too.” Sempere designated 
Dickens a “friend” of both himself and the narrator, who had never 
heard of the author before. This signals that the use of “friend” 
in these lines is figurative and emphasizes Sempere’s emotional 
connection to Dickens and, more generally, to reading. It also 
signals Sempere’s hope that the narrator will come to have a similar 
connection to Dickens.
Choices A, B, and D are incorrect because the word “friend” is used in 
these lines to emphasize Sempere’s connection to reading, rather than 
his connection to the narrator (choice A), the narrator’s relationships 
or home life (choice B), or the narrator’s emotional state or decision 
making (choice D).
QUESTION 10