Which of the following most logically completes the passage?
Concerned about financial well-being of its elderly citizens, the government of Runagia decided two years ago to increase by 20 percent the government-provided pension paid to all Runagians over 65. Inflation in the intervening period has been negligible, and the increase has been duly received by all eligible Runagians. Nevertheless, many of them are no better off financially than they were before the increase, in large part because ________.
A. They rely entirely on the government pension for their income
B. Runagian banks are so inefficient that it can take up to three weeks to cash a pension check
C. They buy goods whose prices tend to rise especially fast in times of inflation
D. The pension was increased when the number of elderly Runagians below the poverty level reached an all-time high
E. In Runagia children typically supplement the income of elderly parents, but only by enough to provide them with a comfortable living
Why E?
Last year all refuse collected by Shelbyville city services was incinerated. This incineration generated a large quantity of residue ash. In order to reduce the amount of residue ash Shelbyville generates this year to half of last year’s total, the city has revamped its collection program. This year city services will separate for recycling enough refuse to reduce the number of truckloads of refuse to be incinerated to half of last year’s number.
Which of the following is required for the revamped collection program to achieve its aim?
A. This year, no materials that city services could separate for recycling will be incinerated.
B. Separating recyclable materials from materials to be incinerated will cost Shelbyville less than half what it cost last year to dispose of the residue ash.
C. Refuse collected by city services will contain a larger proportion of recyclable materials this year than it did last year.
D. The refuse incinerated this year will generate no more residue ash per truckload incinerated than did the refuse incinerated last year.
E. The total quantity of refuse collected by Shelbyville city services this year will be no greater than that collected last year.[D]
Which is the correct one? D or E? Why?
When storing Renaissance oil paintings, museums conform to standards that call for careful control of the surrounding temperature and humidity, with variations confined within narrow margins. Maintaining this environment is very costly, and recent research shows that even old oil paint is unaffected by wide fluctuations in temperature and humidity. Therefore, museums could relax their standards and save money without endangering their Renaissance oil paintings.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
- Renaissance paintings were created in conditions involving far greater fluctuations in temperature and humidity than those permitted by current standards.
- Under the current standards that museums use when storing Renaissance oil paintings, those paintings do not deteriorate at all.
- Museum collections typically do not contain items that are more likely to be vulnerable to fluctuations in temperature and humidity than Renaissance oil paintings.
- None of the materials in Renaissance oil paintings other than the paint are vulnerable enough to relatively wide fluctuations in temperature and humidity to cause damage to the paintings.
- Most Renaissance oil paintings are stored in museums located in regions near the regions where the paintings were created.
Why D?
Why D?
