Need help on SAT® reading comprehension

[Myc]

This is from REA (research and education association) PSAT 2006, pg. 31.

The following passagem written in 1849 Henery David Thoreau discusses his philosophy of governemnt.

"I heartily accept the motto,--" That government is best which governs least", and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe--"That governemnt is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The government itself, which is opnly the mode which people have choosen to execute their will , is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through of it...."

What does the author mean by "Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient." an expedient is a resource. inexpedient means unwise... I don't understand what the author is trying to say. Can anyone help me?

One of the question asks" Generally speaking, Thoreau believes that ___ " The answer is "governments are resistant to change and rarely improve." but where does the passage say that?

Thank you so much!

also do you have any advice on improving reading comprehension for the SAT?

[Sathyan]

When the government is a resource in the sense they give a beneficial plans to their citizens and the other means doing foolosh things by amending strict taxes .
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sathyan

[MysteryTutor]

This is an old post, but it brings up a very good point about using practice questions like the REA book. I recommend that students only practice with real SAT questions written by the College Board, because only those questions are guaranteed to follow the test designs that can really appear on the SAT. I doubt that the question cited in the book could be a real SAT question (to know for sure, of course, I'd need to see the actual text and the answer choices). There's no point preparing by practicing on questions that could never appear on the test.

[Spookysquirrel]

I'm with MysteryTutor. You are much better off using actual SAT prompts written by College Board. I've noticed that some test prep companies--Barron's comes to mind--use prompts and reading comprehension passages drawn from classical literature--stuff that's in the public domain. It's a way for them to get challenging readings for their practice problems without actually having to pay anyone to write them.

The actual SAT prompts, however, are quite different. Here's a great overview of which review books to use.

To answer your question, Thoreau is using "expedient" as a noun, meaning "a means to an end." He's saying that governments are at best a means to an end, but they usually aren't a very good means to that end. To unravel word usage like this in the future, check a good dictionary site--I like dictionary.com--and pay special attention to the part of speech and the less common meanings.