1. The author implies that the 'professional schoolmaster' (line 7) has
A. no interest in teaching science
B. thwarted attempts to enliven education
C. aided true learning
D. supported the humanists
E. been a pioneer in both science and humanities.
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
When we look back to line 7, we read, "The professional schoolmaster was a match for both of them, and has almost managed to make the understanding of chemical reactions as dull and as dogmatic an affair as the reading of Virgil's Aeneid."
This tells us that the schoolmaster has made learning dull. And so we eliminate answers C and E which imply he has done something good.
But to be sure of the answer we should also read the previous sentences. We learn that, "The pioneers of the teaching of science imagined that its introduction into education would remove the conventionality, artificiality, and backward-lookingness which were characteristic of classical studies......" This section tells us that other people tried to alter the nature of education, but the "professional schoolmaster was a match for both of them". He therefore prevented (thwarted) these attempts, and the answer is B.