SAT Reading - Khan Diagnostic Quiz level 3 - reading 10

Questions 1-11 are based on the following
passage.


This passage is adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Originally published in 1892. The narrator, Dr. Watson, works closely with detective Sherlock Holmes.




The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance

of some little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled

newspaper from the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he
glanced down the advertisement column, with his head thrust
5 forward and the paper flattened out upon his knee, I took a

good look at the man and endeavoured, after the fashion of

my companion, to read the indications which might be

presented by his dress or appearance.
I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our
10 visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace

British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather

baggy grey shepherd’s check trousers, a not over-clean black

frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with

a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal
15 dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded

brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair

beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing

remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the

expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his
20 features.
Sherlock Holmes’ quick eye took in my occupation, and

he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning

glances. “Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time

done manual labour, that he is a Freemason, that he has been
25 in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of

writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.”
Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his

forefinger upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
“How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that,
30 Mr. Holmes?” he asked. “How did you know, for example,

that I did manual labour? It’s as true as gospel, for I began as

a ship’s carpenter.”
“Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size

larger than your left. You have worked with it, and the
35 muscles are more developed.”
“Well, then, and the Freemasonry?”
“I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how I read

that, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order,

you use an arc-and-compass breastpin.”
40 “Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?”
“What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very

shiny for five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch

near the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?”
“Well, but China?”
45 “The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your

right wrist could only have been done in China. I have made

a small study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to

the literature of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes’

scales of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in
50 addition, I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-

chain, the matter becomes even more simple.”
Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. “Well, I never!” said

he. “I thought at first that you had done something clever, but

I see that there was nothing in it after all.”
55 “I begin to think, Watson,” said Holmes, “that I make a

mistake in explaining. ‘Omne ignotum pro magnifico,’* you

know, and my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer

shipwreck if I am so candid. Can you not find the

advertisement, Mr. Wilson?”
60 “Yes, I have got it now,” he answered with his thick red

finger planted halfway down the column. “Here it is. This is

what began it all. You just read it for yourself, sir.”

* Roughly translated as “Everything unknown is/seems magnificent.”

Question 1 Over the course of the passage, the main focus shifts from