A balanced diet contains proteins, which are composed of complex amino acids. There are 20 types of amino acids, comprising about 16 percent of the body weight in a lean individual. A body needs all 20 to be healthy. Amino acids can be divided into two groups: essential 5 and nonessential. There are 9 essential amino acids. These are the proteins that the body cannot produce by itself, so a healthy individual must ingest them. The 11 nonessential amino acids, on the other hand, are produced by the body, so it is not necessary to ingest them. Proteins are described as being either high-quality or low-quality, 10 depending on how many of the 9 essential amino acids the food contains. High-quality proteins, typically found in animal meats, are proteins that have ample amounts of the essential amino acids. Low-quality proteins are mainly plant proteins and usually lack one or more of the essential amino acids. Since people who follow a strict vegetarian 15 diet are ingesting only low-quality proteins, they must make sure that their diets contain a variety of proteins, in order to ensure that what is lacking in one food is available in another. This process of selecting a variety of the essential proteins is called protein complementation. Since an insufficient amount of protein in the 20 diet can be crippling, and prolonged absence of proteins can cause death, it is imperative that a vegetarian diet contains an ample amount of the essential proteins.
1. With what topic is this passage primarily concerned?
2. The word "lean" in line 3 could be best replaced by
3. The word "ingest" in line 7 is closest in meaning to which of the following?
4. The word "ample" in line 13 is closest in meaning to which of the following?
5. Which of the following would NOT be an example of a low-quality protein?
6. As used in line 14, which of the following words is closest in meaning to "strict"?
7. According to the passage, a vegetarian could die from insufficient protein ingestion if he or she
8. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "crippling" as used in line 20?
9. Which of the following words could best replace the word "prolonged" in line 20?
10. In line 21, the word "imperative" can be best replaced by
11. Which of the following best describes the author's tone in this passage?
12. Which statement best describes the organization of this passage?
