SAT Reading & Writing Practice Set - Daisy Miller (Adapted)
When Frederick Winterbourne first met Daisy Miller by the lake at Vevey, he had been amused and a
little dazzled by the way she treated their sudden acquaintance as if it were the most natural thing in
the world. She proposed a walk with him almost at once, chattered freely about her brother Randolph
and her travels, and seemed to take for granted that a young lady might arrange her own pleasures
without asking anyone’s leave. His aunt, Mrs. Costello, refused to meet Daisy on the grounds that the
Millers were “common,” and Winterbourne’s European friends hinted that the girl’s independence was
nothing but vulgar flirtation. Yet in those first days he thought of her chiefly as a charming “American
girl,” frank and spontaneous where the women he knew in Geneva were careful and guarded. When he
promised to visit her in Rome during the winter, it was with a half-formed idea that he might, in due time,
help “form” her, teaching her to value the sort of reserve and discrimination that he had learned abroad,
while still admiring the freshness that set her apart. (James, 1878)
In Rome, the outlines of that idea blurred under the strong light of other people’s judgments. Mrs.
Walker, an American lady settled there, drew Winterbourne into her carriage one afternoon and begged
Daisy to get in as well, warning that walking through the Pincian Gardens with Mr. Giovanelli—an Italian
gentleman of uncertain standing—would damage her reputation beyond repair. Daisy laughed, thanked
Mrs. Walker for her concern, and walked on with Giovanelli, saying that if such behavior were
“improper,” then she must be all improper and Mrs. Walker must give her up. From that day Mrs. Walker
turned her back on Daisy at her own gathering, and others followed her lead, reading Daisy’s openness
with Italian acquaintances as proof that she knew no boundaries at all. Winterbourne, who had begun
by defending Daisy as merely ignorant of European rules, found himself watching her from across
crowded rooms and sunny promenades, as if his own position had slipped from that of companion to
that of a critical observer taking notes on a case. (James, 1878)
The last time he saw her out in the Roman night, she was sitting with Giovanelli inside the shadowed
circle of the Colosseum. Winterbourne, coming upon them there, was more startled than he cared to
admit; he had heard often enough that the place was “deadly” after dark, haunted not by ghosts but by
the fever that rose from its damp hollows. To find Daisy there, thinly wrapped and amused by the moonlit
ruin, seemed to him at once reckless and strangely consistent with her refusal to be frightened by what
others called dangerous. He rebuked Giovanelli for exposing her to the risk of Roman fever and
suggested that only a woman “of the wrong sort” would choose such a promenade, words whose
cruelty he realized even as he spoke them. Daisy, hurt and confused, asked whether he believed she
was engaged to Giovanelli or merely “going on” with him for amusement. Winterbourne, weary of her
teasing declarations and denials, answered that it made very little difference. The remark, which he
intended as a retreat into cool irony, fell between them like a small, sharp judgment, and he left her
there, telling himself that she had chosen her path. (James, 1878)
A few days later, Daisy lay ill with the fever he had warned her about, and the easy categories by which
everyone had spoken of her began to blur in Winterbourne’s mind. Mrs. Miller, fluttering between
complaints about the Roman climate and accounts of her daughter’s gaieties, told him that when Daisy
had briefly waked from delirium she had been anxious that he should know she was not engaged to
Giovanelli and had asked him to remember their excursion to the castle in Switzerland. After Daisy’s
death, Winterbourne met Giovanelli among the tombs and reproached him for having taken her to the
Colosseum; Giovanelli replied quietly that the girl would never have married him, and that she had been
“the most innocent” young lady he had ever known. Back in Vevey the following summer, Winterbourne
, told Mrs. Costello he had done Daisy an “injustice,” though he added, almost in the same breath, that
his aunt had been right to warn him against her and that he had perhaps “lived too long in foreign parts.”
Whether he had learned to see Daisy more clearly, or merely to rest more comfortably in his own divided
judgment, the story leaves uncertain; it shows him where he began, between Geneva and the lakeside
hotel, with the image of a young woman who had crossed his path and passed away, leaving behind the
uneasy question of what, exactly, he had failed to understand. (James, 1878)
(Adapted from the novella Daisy Miller by Henry James)
QUESTIONS 1–8: MAIN IDEA, BIG PICTURE
1. The passage as a whole primarily emphasizes
A. how Daisy’s flirtation successfully overturns European social conventions.
B. how Winterbourne’s mixed attraction to and disapproval of Daisy leads him to misjudge her,
only partly revising his view after her death.
C. how Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Costello compete for influence over Roman society.
D. how Giovanelli’s reputation in Rome is finally redeemed.
2. Across the four paragraphs, Daisy is portrayed chiefly as
A. a calculating schemer who delights in shocking others.
B. a young woman whose frank, unconventional behavior is read as immorality by a social
world eager to condemn her.
C. an experienced European aristocrat.
D. a shy girl who avoids all male company.
3. The first paragraph’s account of Winterbourne’s early impressions of Daisy mainly serves to
A. present her as already notorious in Vevey.
B. establish his initial view of her as a charming embodiment of American spontaneity whom
he believes he might gently influence without crushing her freshness.
C. prove that he has no interest in her.
D. show that Mrs. Costello approves of Daisy’s behavior.
4. Taken together, the second and third paragraphs primarily highlight
A. how Roman society welcomes Daisy’s independence.
B. the process by which warnings from Mrs. Walker and Winterbourne’s own observations lead
him to shift from participant in Daisy’s adventures to a distant judge of them.
C. that Giovanelli is secretly engaged to Daisy.
D. that Daisy is fully aware of every nuance of Roman etiquette.
5. Which statement best expresses a central theme developed in the passage?
A. Social reputations are always accurate reflections of a person’s character.
B. Cultural codes and rumors can distort the perception of an individual whose behavior does
not fit established expectations.
C. It is always wrong to question the advice of older relatives.
D. Romantic love inevitably leads to tragedy.
When Frederick Winterbourne first met Daisy Miller by the lake at Vevey, he had been amused and a
little dazzled by the way she treated their sudden acquaintance as if it were the most natural thing in
the world. She proposed a walk with him almost at once, chattered freely about her brother Randolph
and her travels, and seemed to take for granted that a young lady might arrange her own pleasures
without asking anyone’s leave. His aunt, Mrs. Costello, refused to meet Daisy on the grounds that the
Millers were “common,” and Winterbourne’s European friends hinted that the girl’s independence was
nothing but vulgar flirtation. Yet in those first days he thought of her chiefly as a charming “American
girl,” frank and spontaneous where the women he knew in Geneva were careful and guarded. When he
promised to visit her in Rome during the winter, it was with a half-formed idea that he might, in due time,
help “form” her, teaching her to value the sort of reserve and discrimination that he had learned abroad,
while still admiring the freshness that set her apart. (James, 1878)
In Rome, the outlines of that idea blurred under the strong light of other people’s judgments. Mrs.
Walker, an American lady settled there, drew Winterbourne into her carriage one afternoon and begged
Daisy to get in as well, warning that walking through the Pincian Gardens with Mr. Giovanelli—an Italian
gentleman of uncertain standing—would damage her reputation beyond repair. Daisy laughed, thanked
Mrs. Walker for her concern, and walked on with Giovanelli, saying that if such behavior were
“improper,” then she must be all improper and Mrs. Walker must give her up. From that day Mrs. Walker
turned her back on Daisy at her own gathering, and others followed her lead, reading Daisy’s openness
with Italian acquaintances as proof that she knew no boundaries at all. Winterbourne, who had begun
by defending Daisy as merely ignorant of European rules, found himself watching her from across
crowded rooms and sunny promenades, as if his own position had slipped from that of companion to
that of a critical observer taking notes on a case. (James, 1878)
The last time he saw her out in the Roman night, she was sitting with Giovanelli inside the shadowed
circle of the Colosseum. Winterbourne, coming upon them there, was more startled than he cared to
admit; he had heard often enough that the place was “deadly” after dark, haunted not by ghosts but by
the fever that rose from its damp hollows. To find Daisy there, thinly wrapped and amused by the moonlit
ruin, seemed to him at once reckless and strangely consistent with her refusal to be frightened by what
others called dangerous. He rebuked Giovanelli for exposing her to the risk of Roman fever and
suggested that only a woman “of the wrong sort” would choose such a promenade, words whose
cruelty he realized even as he spoke them. Daisy, hurt and confused, asked whether he believed she
was engaged to Giovanelli or merely “going on” with him for amusement. Winterbourne, weary of her
teasing declarations and denials, answered that it made very little difference. The remark, which he
intended as a retreat into cool irony, fell between them like a small, sharp judgment, and he left her
there, telling himself that she had chosen her path. (James, 1878)
A few days later, Daisy lay ill with the fever he had warned her about, and the easy categories by which
everyone had spoken of her began to blur in Winterbourne’s mind. Mrs. Miller, fluttering between
complaints about the Roman climate and accounts of her daughter’s gaieties, told him that when Daisy
had briefly waked from delirium she had been anxious that he should know she was not engaged to
Giovanelli and had asked him to remember their excursion to the castle in Switzerland. After Daisy’s
death, Winterbourne met Giovanelli among the tombs and reproached him for having taken her to the
Colosseum; Giovanelli replied quietly that the girl would never have married him, and that she had been
“the most innocent” young lady he had ever known. Back in Vevey the following summer, Winterbourne
, told Mrs. Costello he had done Daisy an “injustice,” though he added, almost in the same breath, that
his aunt had been right to warn him against her and that he had perhaps “lived too long in foreign parts.”
Whether he had learned to see Daisy more clearly, or merely to rest more comfortably in his own divided
judgment, the story leaves uncertain; it shows him where he began, between Geneva and the lakeside
hotel, with the image of a young woman who had crossed his path and passed away, leaving behind the
uneasy question of what, exactly, he had failed to understand. (James, 1878)
(Adapted from the novella Daisy Miller by Henry James)
QUESTIONS 1–8: MAIN IDEA, BIG PICTURE
1. The passage as a whole primarily emphasizes
A. how Daisy’s flirtation successfully overturns European social conventions.
B. how Winterbourne’s mixed attraction to and disapproval of Daisy leads him to misjudge her,
only partly revising his view after her death.
C. how Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Costello compete for influence over Roman society.
D. how Giovanelli’s reputation in Rome is finally redeemed.
2. Across the four paragraphs, Daisy is portrayed chiefly as
A. a calculating schemer who delights in shocking others.
B. a young woman whose frank, unconventional behavior is read as immorality by a social
world eager to condemn her.
C. an experienced European aristocrat.
D. a shy girl who avoids all male company.
3. The first paragraph’s account of Winterbourne’s early impressions of Daisy mainly serves to
A. present her as already notorious in Vevey.
B. establish his initial view of her as a charming embodiment of American spontaneity whom
he believes he might gently influence without crushing her freshness.
C. prove that he has no interest in her.
D. show that Mrs. Costello approves of Daisy’s behavior.
4. Taken together, the second and third paragraphs primarily highlight
A. how Roman society welcomes Daisy’s independence.
B. the process by which warnings from Mrs. Walker and Winterbourne’s own observations lead
him to shift from participant in Daisy’s adventures to a distant judge of them.
C. that Giovanelli is secretly engaged to Daisy.
D. that Daisy is fully aware of every nuance of Roman etiquette.
5. Which statement best expresses a central theme developed in the passage?
A. Social reputations are always accurate reflections of a person’s character.
B. Cultural codes and rumors can distort the perception of an individual whose behavior does
not fit established expectations.
C. It is always wrong to question the advice of older relatives.
D. Romantic love inevitably leads to tragedy.
