ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


AP English Language and Composition Videos 152 videos

AP English Language and Composition 3.7 Passage Drill
542 Views

Which answer best describes the theme of the following passage? And if you say "fission chips," we'll give you half credit. The AP test graders mig...

AP English Language and Composition 3.5 Passage Drill
347 Views

AP English Language and Composition 3.5 Passage Drill. How is "forcible" being used here?

AP English Language and Composition 4.6 Passage Drill
230 Views

Take a look at this shmoopy question and see if you can figure out which device the speaker employs the most.

See All

AP English Language and Composition 5.8 Passage Drill 174 Views


Share It!


Description:

AP English Language and Composition 5.8 Passage Drill. Which of the following does the author use as an example of the "distorting medium"?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by the distorting medium.

00:07

At least it's not as big a problem as the distorting extra large. [Man shopping for blazers]

00:12

All right, check out the following passage.

00:13

[ mumbles ]

00:19

[ mumbling continues ] All right, we're done.

00:25

Which of the following does the author use as an example of the distorting medium?

00:29

Line 12 there.

00:30

And here are the potential answers.

00:32

[ mumbles ]

00:34

All right, well, let's start by taking a look at the full sentence

00:37

in which the quote appears. Right here.

00:39

"In thought, at any rate, those who forget good and evil [Quote from the passage]

00:43

and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good

00:47

than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires."

00:51

Got it.

00:52

So the complete phrase is "the distorting medium of their own desires."

00:57

And it refers to people projecting their own conceptions of good and evil onto the universe. [Image of Space/Universe]

01:01

That's a big projector.

01:02

Our job is to find out which of these choices is

01:05

talking about the same idea. [Man standing on a giant projector]

01:07

We have to say no to choice E.

01:09

Pleasing dreams are products of the distorting medium, not examples. [Shopkeeper waving his hand]

01:13

Word of advice: never buy your products from distorting mediums.

01:16

Things get wonky.

01:18

Option B is also a no.

01:19

The speaker tells us that it takes an element of submission to get [Two men playing chess at a park]

01:22

rid of the distorting medium of ethics.

01:24

That's rough. Can we just call an exterminator? Come on, guys.

01:28

Choices C and D are all related to the opposite of the distorting medium. [someone spraying a can]

01:31

Ethical neutrality, scientific philosophy -

01:35

these are the cures for all the pesky morality that's holding us back. [Man buying something from a store]

01:38

The correct answer is A.

01:41

The speaker specifically says

01:42

"friendliness and hostility" (A)

01:44

"are not the conceptions by which the world is to be understood."

01:48

Sounds like we've found ourselves another distorting medium.

01:51

Let's keep looking. It'll be like a philosophical Easter egg hunt. [Newton, Marx and Voltaire looking for Easter eggs]

01:57

[ clicking ]

Related Videos

AP English Language and Composition 1.2 Passage Drill
843 Views

AP English Language and Composition: Passage Drill Drill 1, Problem 2. What is the speaker's primary purpose in using onomatopoeia in line four?

AP English Literature and Composition 1.1 Passage Drill 7
310 Views

AP English Literature and Composition 1.1 Passage Drill 7. The primary purpose of this passage is what?

AP English Language and Composition 3.8 Passage Drill
225 Views

Wishing upon a star may help you pass your AP English Language and Composition test, but answering this question would be a safer bet.

AP English Language and Composition 4.6 Passage Drill
230 Views

Take a look at this shmoopy question and see if you can figure out which device the speaker employs the most.

AP English Language and Composition 4.5 Passage Drill
168 Views

Feel like shifting gears and answering a question about shifting tones? We've got you covered. Take a look at this question and see if you can foll...