Excerpt from newspapers through the ages
mark dziak

5truly modern newspapers were not created, however, until after the invention of movable type. movable type was a system of printing that involved special type pieces. these were metal or ceramic “stampers” with the image of a letter or number. a press operator would arrange these type pieces to form words and sentences on a larger block. by coating the block with ink and pressing blank pages to it, the operator could make many copies of the words.

6movable type was likely invented in asia about a thousand years ago. however, johannes gutenberg made the earliest printing press, as we know it today, around 1450. these presses used movable type to create many pages of news faster and more easily than any other process. the information spread this way people discover new ideas about the world. it usher in the era of thought and learning known as the renaissance.

what can the reader infer the author means when he says that newspapers were not truly modern until after the invention of movable type?
a) to be truly modern, newspapers must cost more than a simple gazetta and have a sizable subscription base.
b) to be truly modern, newspapers needed to be strictly about news and not contain opinions or advertisements.
c) a modern newspaper is printed many more times than previous newspapers--and still is relatively cheap to buy.
d) modern newspapers have editorial staff and hires an army of reporters to investigate every case of legal wrong-doing.

Read the passage. excerpt from "why equal pay is worth fighting for" by senator elizabeth warren, april 17, 2014 i honestly can't believe that we're still arguing over equal pay in 2014. when i started teaching elementary school after college, the public school district didn't hide the fact that it had two pay scales: one for men and one for women. women have made incredible strides since then. but 40 years later, we're still debating equal pay for equal work. women today still earn only 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, and they're taking a hit in nearly every occupation. bloomberg analyzed census data and found that median earnings for women were lower than those for men in 264 of 265 major occupation categories. in 99.6 percent of occupations, men get paid more than women. that's not an accident; that's discrimination. the effects of this discrimination are real, and they are long lasting. today, more young women go to college than men, but unequal pay makes it harder for them to pay back student loans. pay inequality also means a tougher retirement for women. . for middle-class families today, it usually takes two incomes to get by, and many families depend as much on mom's salary as they do on dad's, if not more. women are the main breadwinners, or joint breadwinners, in two-thirds of the families across the country, and pay discrimination makes it that much harder for these families to stay afloat. women are ready to fight back against pay discrimination, but it's not easy. today, a woman can get fired for asking the guy across the hall how much money he makes. here in the senate, sen. barbara mikulski (d-md.) introduced the paycheck fairness act to give women the tools to combat wage discrimination. it would ensure that salary differences have something to do with the actual job that they are doing, and not just because they are women. senator warren states that the effects of pay discrimination are long-lasting. is this a valid argument supported by accurate evidence? no; warren weakens her point by claiming that the paycheck fairness act would "give women the tools to combat wage discrimination." yes; warren supports her point by noting, "for middle-class families today, it usually takes two incomes to get by." yes; warren supports her point by noting, "pay inequality also means a tougher retirement for women." no; warren weakens her point by noting, "today, a woman can get fired for asking the guy across the hall how much money he makes."