1． Because the process of freezing food consumes energy, many people keep their electric freezers half-empty, using them only to store commercially frozen foods. Yet freezers that are half-empty often consume more energy than they would if they were kept fully stocked.
Which of the following, if true, contributes most to an explanation of the apparent discrepancy described above?
a. A given volume of air in a freezer requires much more energy to be maintained at a temperature below freezing than does an identical volume of frozen food.
b. The more often a freezer’s door is opened, the more energy is required to maintain that freezer’s normal temperature.
c. When unfrozen foods are placed in a freezer, the average temperature of a given volume of air inside that freezer rises temporarily.
d. A person who normally maintains a half-empty freezer can cut energy costs considerably by using a freezer that is 50 percent smaller
e. An electric freezer can operate efficiently only if chilled air is free to circulate within the freezing compartment
2. Despite the fact that the health-inspection procedures for catering establishments are more stringent than those for ordinary restaurants, more of the cases of food poisoning reported to the city health department were brought on by banquets served by catering services than were brought on by restaurant meals.
Which of the following, if true, helps explain the apparent paradox in the statement above?
a. A significantly larger number of people eat in restaurants than attend catered banquets in any given time period.
b. Catering establishments know how many people they expect to serve, and therefore are less likely than restaurants to have, and serve, leftover food, a major source of food poisoning.
c. Many restaurants provide catering services for banquets in addition to serving individual meals.
d. The number of reported food-poisoning cases at catered banquets is unrelated to whether the meal is served on the caterer’s or the client’s premises
e. People are unlikely to make a connection between a meal they have eaten and a subsequent illness unless the illness strikes a group who are in communication with one another.
3. Japanese factory workers are guaranteed life-time jobs, bonuses paid on the basis of productivity and corporate profits, and a wage rate that is no attached to a particular job. Paradoxically, these guarantees do not discourage factory owners from introducing labor-saving machinery. Such innovations are to the factory owner’s advantage despite the fact that the owners must protect the wages of their workers
Which of the following, if true, logically explains why the introduction of labor-saving machinery is advantageous to factory owners?
a. Before a Japanese factory worker is hired, he or she must present a record of his or her previous productivity
b. Labor-saving machinery increases productivity, thus yielding profits that more than cover the cost of retraining workers for other jobs.
c. The purchase and maintenance of new machinery adds significantly to the final cost of the goods produced
d. Factory workers demand a change of procedure in the routine tasks they perform.
e. Limited competition exists among Japanese factories for consumer markets.
5. A package is never accepted for delivery by the delivery service unless it is within the established size limits. All packages accepted for delivery by the delivery service have a return address.
If the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true?
a. The delivery service charges more for heavier packages than for lighter packages
b. The delivery service will always accept for delivery a package that is within the established size limits.
c. If a package is within the established size limits and has a return address, it will be accepted for delivery by the delivery service no matter how heavy the package is.
d. A package that is not within the established size limits but has a return address is never accepted for delivery by the delivery service.
e. The delivery service does not charge for packages that must be returned to the sender
6. Veteran screenwriters, aiming at creating a 120-page screenplay for a film, usually turn in a 135-page first draft. As one screenwriter put it, “That gives those in charge of the movie a chance to be creative when they get the scripts at the very least, they can cut 15 pages.”
The screenwriter’s statement cited above conveys which of the following propositions?
a. Screenwriters for a film are generally not involved in any aspects of filmmaking besides providing the script
b. Seasoned screenwriters are resigned to, and make allowance for, draft scripts being altered by those evaluating them.
c. Truly creative screenwriters are too temperamental to adhere to page limits set for their work
d. It takes a special kind of creativity to recognize what is best left out of a film script.
e. Even experienced screenwriters cannot be expected to write scripts of consistently high quality throughout.
7. Popular culture in the United States has become Europeanized to an extent unimaginable twenty-five years ago. Not many people then drank wine with meals, and no one drank imported mineral water. No idea would have been more astonishing than that Americans would pay to watch soccer games. Such thoughts arise because of a report that the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has just adopted a proposal to develop the country’s first comprehensive interstate system of routes for bicycles.
Which of the following inferences is best supported by the passage?
a. Long-distance bicycle routes are used in Europe.
b. Drinking imported mineral water is a greater luxury than drinking imported wine
c. United States culture has benefited from exposure to foreign ideas.
d. Most Europeans make regular use of bicycles.
e. The influence of the United States on European culture has assumed unprecedented proportions in the last twenty-five years.
8. Forty-five percent of all blood donated in the United States is type O. Type O blood is essential for emergencies where there is no time for determining the blood type of victims because type O blood can be used for everyone. Type O blood is unique in that it is compatible with blood of all types: any recipient, regardless of blood type, can be given it. But precisely because of this special usefulness, type O blood is chronically in short supply.
If the statements in the passage above are true, which of the following must also be true?
a. The special usefulness of type O blood lies in the fact that it matches the blood type of most people.
b. Supplies of type O blood are continuously so low that type O blood is unavailable for emergencies, where its usefulness would be greatest.
c. Forty-five percent of the total population of the United States has type O blood, which makes type O the most common blood type
d. Any decision to give blood of any type other than O needs to be based on knowledge of the recipient’s blood type.
e. Type O blood is the only blood that cannot be typed as fast as needed in emergencies.
9. Rule1 of Game X provides that anyone who refuses to become a player in Game X shall at the moment of refusal be assessed a ten-point penalty in the game.
Which of the following claims is implicit in Rule 1?
a. All those who agree to play Game X will achieve scores higher than the scores of those who were assessed a penalty under Rule 1.
b. A person can avoid a ten-point penalty by initially agreeing to become a player and then withdrawing after the game is under way.
c. The rules of Game X supply a procedure for determining when the game is over.
d. A person who refuses to play Game X cannot be declared a loser in the game
e. A person can at the same time decline to play Game X and yet be a part of the game.
10. That social institutions influence the formation of character has become a generally accepted proposition. This doctrine views individuals as but compliant recipients of social influence: personalities are entirely the products of society, and at any point in life an individual’s personality can be changed by management of the social world. Crime is said to exist only because society has in some ways failed in its responsibility to give every person the resources to lead a productive life. However, whereas it is true that extreme poverty forces some people to steal, it is obvious that some persons will commit crimes no matter how well society treats them.
Which of the following is implied by the “doctrine”(line 3) described in the passage above?
a. Social institutions may reflect personality as much as they shape it.
b. Social influence on personality is most strongly felt by the affluent.
c. The concentration of wealth in the hands of a privileged few accounts for the existence of crime.
d. Bringing about social reform is the most likely means of curtailing crime.
e. Less severe punishment of crime would be likely to result in more crime
11. The best argument for the tenure system that protects professional employment in universities is that it allows veteran faculty to hire people smarter than they are and yet remain secure in the knowledge that unless they themselves are caught in an act of moral turpitude --- a concept that in the present climate almost defies definition --- the younger faculty cannot turn around and fire them. This is not true in industry.
Which of the following assumptions is most likely to have been made by the author of the argument above?
a. Industry should follow the example of universities and protect the jobs of managers by instituting a tenure system
b. If no tenure system existed, veteran faculty would be reluctant to hire new faculty who might threaten the veteran faculty’s own jobs
c. The traditional argument that the tenure system protects scholars in universities from being dismissed for holding unconventional or unpopular beliefs is no longer persuasive.
d. If a stronger consensus concerning what constitutes moral turpitude existed, the tenure system in universities would be expendable
e. Veteran faculty will usually hire and promote new faculty whose scholarship is more up-to-date than their own
12. A small dose of widely used tranquilizer allows people to lie during lie detector tests without being discovered. The stress responses that lie detector tests measure can be inhibited by the drug without noticeable side effects. One of the implications of this fact is that the drug can also be effective in reducing stress in everyday situations.
An assumption of the passage is that
a. Tranquilizers are always an effective treatment for stress
b. The inhibition of stress responses increases subjective stress
c. Stress as measured by a lie detector is similar to everyday stress
d. Persons who lie during a lie detector test always display signs of stress
e. It is not desirable to reduce stress in everyday situations
13. FilmPro sells millions of videocassettes directly to consumers at $25 a piece for a $10 profit on each. However, FilmPro is losing money because people are buying illegally copied versions of its $25 videocassettes at far cheaper prices. So far, one million illegally copied cassettes have been sold for $5 each. Illegally copied cassettes have been sold for $5 each. Illegal copying, therefore, has cost the company at least $10 million in potential profits.
Which of the following is an assumption that, if true, would allow the conclusion above to be properly drawn?
a. The price of the illegally copied videocassettes never goes below $5 a piece
b. At least one million more cassettes would have been purchased from FilmPro for $25 a piece if the illegally copied cassettes had not been available
c. FilmPro refunds money to customers dissatisfied with the original cassettes.
d. The illegally copied tapes are of such high quality that it is virtually impossible to differentiate between them and the originals
e. FilmPro never sells discontinued videocassettes at less than $25 a piece
14. It has been hypothesized that much of the matter in the universe is “dark”, i.e., unseen. Studies have shown that galaxies in many galaxy clusters are moving faster with respect to one another than they would if visible stars constituted all their mass. The studies suggest that the galaxies are moving under the gravitational influence of unseen mass in considerable quantity.
Which of the following is an assumption underlying the passage above?
a. Measurements of the speed of moving galaxies are extremely unreliable.
b. The workings of gravitational forces are not particularly well understood.
c. The aggregate mass of visible stars in the galaxies mentioned above can be estimated with some confidence.
d. The general composition of unseen matter in the universe has been determined.
e. Without exception, the galaxies mentioned above move toward one another
15. Soil scientists have asserted that decaying matter on the forest floor is a far greater source of the acidity in mountain lakes than is the acid rain that falls on these lakes. Therefore, they contend, reducing acid rain will not significantly reduce the acidity levels of mountain lakes.
Which of the following statements, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?
a. It is natural for mountain lakes to have acidity levels higher than those of other lakes.
b. The harmful effects of increased acidity levels in lakes have been greatly underestimated
c. Acid rain is found in urban and heavily industrialized regions of the country
d. There is much disagreement among soil scientists about the causes of acid rain.
e. While plant life remains, acid rain significantly increases the amount of decaying organic matter in natural environments
16. Although the human population around the forestland in Middlesex County has increased, the amount of forestland has not been reduced. Therefore, the decrease in the county’s songbird population cannot be attributed to the growth in the county’s human population.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?
a. As the human population of Middlesex County has grown, there has been an increase in the number of shopping malls built.
b. The presence of more garbage cans resulting from the increase in the county’s human population ensures the survival of more raccoons, which prey on songbird eggs whenever available.
c. There has recently been a decrease in the amount of rain-forest land in Central and South America, where songbirds spend the winter months.
d. Although several species of songbirds are disappearing from Middlesex County, these species are far from being endangered.
e. The disappearance of songbirds, which eat insects, often results in increased destruction of trees by insects.
17. The 1988 drought in North America was probably caused by shifts in the temperature patterns of large equatorial stretches of the Pacific Ocean. The drought, therefore, is not evidence for the hypothesis that a long-term global warming trend, allegedly caused by atmospheric pollutants such as carbon dioxide, is occurring.
Which of the following, if true, constitutes the best criticism of the argument above?
a. Most pre-1988 droughts for which we have records were preceded by shifts in temperature patterns in the Pacific Ocean.
b. There has been no warming trend in the United States over the last 100 years.
c. The consequences of global warming occur long after the actual emission of pollutants into the atmosphere.
d. Emissions of carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere increased in 1988
e. A global warming trend could cause increases in the frequency and severity of shits in temperature patterns in the Pacific Ocean.
18. A recent study of an insurance company’s underwriters indicated that those who worked in pleasant physical surroundings were 25 percent more productive than their peers in unpleasant physical surroundings. Objective criteria for evaluating job performance included caseload and complexity of cases. This shows that improving workers’ environments increases those workers’ productivity.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?
a. On average, less-productive employees spend no fewer hours’ per day at their workstations than do their more-productive peers.
b. Unpleasant surroundings give employees less motivation to work hard than more pleasant surroundings do.
c. The more-productive employees are generally rewarded with pleasant office space.
d. More-productive employees do not work any more hours than their less-productive peers.
e. Peer pressure discourages employees in crowded, unpleasant surroundings from making phone calls to their own family members during work time.
19. A common misconception is that university hospitals are better than community or private hospitals. In fact, university hospitals have a lower survival rate for patients than do other hospitals. From this it seems clear that the quality of care at university hospitals is lower than that at other hospitals.
Which of the following, if true, most forcefully undermines the argument of the passage above?
a. Many doctors divide their working hours between a university and a community or private hospital.
b. Doctors at university hospitals often earn less than doctors at private hospitals.
c. University and community hospitals often cannot afford the elaborate facilities of private hospitals.
d. The emphasis at many university hospitals is on pure research rather than on the treatment and care of patients.
e. The patients who seek help at university hospitals are usually more seriously ill than those at private or community hospitals.
20. Many pregnant women suffer from vitamin deficiency, but this is frequently not due to vitamin deficiency in their diets; most often it is because they have higher requirements for vitamins than do the rest of the population.
The best criticism of the reasoning in the statement above is that it
a. fails to specify the percentage of pregnant women who suffer from vitamin deficiency
b. gives insufficient information about why pregnant women have higher vitamin requirements than do other groups
c. fails to employ the same reference group for both uses of the term “vitamin deficiency”
d. provides insufficient information about the incidence of vitamin deficiency in other groups with high vitamin requirements
e. uses “higher requirements” in an ambiguous manner
21. In respectable periodicals, books are given reviewing space in inverse proportion to the likely size of their sales. Airport and supermarket bookstalls stock only books that are expected to sell in large numbers. Consequently, those who buy books at such bookstalls have to do so without any guidance whatever from the book reviewers whose work is published in respectable periodicals.
Which of the following is a valid criticism of the argument above?
a. Bookstalls like those found at airports and in supermarkets are designed to induce people to buy books on impulse.
b. The assortment of books available at airport bookstalls is different from the assortment of books available at supermarket bookstalls.
c. The fact that a book is expected to sell well does not guarantee that actual sales will be large.
d. Many who later come to be respected as book reviewers start their careers by writing for trashy magazines.
e. The conclusion that respectable periodicals never publish reviews of projected bestsellers is unwarranted.
22. Some would have you believe that the economic problems of Western Europe have been caused by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil cartel. This is nonsense. After all, Great Britain is not dependent on OPEC oil and yet Great Britain suffers from the same economic problems that afflict France and West Germany.
The author’s point is made primarily by
a. offering Great Britain as a counterexample
b. analyzing the economic difficulties of France and West Germany
c. pointing out a misconception in reasoning
d. proposing an alternative explanation
e. drawing an analogy between France and West Germany
23. Any United States flag manufactured outside the United States should be banned from importation, since some foreign manufacturers superimpose images on the United States flag and sell such products, on the other hand, would face penalties for such violations of the United States flag code.
Which of the following is the best criticism of the argument above?
a. The argument reiterates its conclusion instead of providing a reason for it
b. The argument makes an irrelevant distinction between foreign and United States manufacturers.
c. The reason given for the ban undermines rather than supports the conclusion.
d. The reason given for the ban does not explain why images superimposed on the United States flag are offensive.
e. The reason given for the ban applies only to a part of the group of manufacturers whose flags are included in the ban, not necessarily to all.
24. Dear Editor: Jones’s new book has the potential to destroy reputations of persons who have held high governmental responsibility during national crises. However, readers should dismiss Jones’s criticisms. However, readers should dismiss Jones’s criticisms. Jones’s antigovernment attitude is well known, and his criticisms will convince only those like himself, persons who have never had real responsibility and never will, and hence are not qualified to judge.
The argument above includes which of the following questionable techniques?
a. It employs the term “responsibility” in more than one sense.
b. It assumes that attacking the source of a claim is sufficient to disprove the claim.
c. It assumes that the majority of people share Jones’s attitude of opposition to government policies.
d. It appeals to a person of unreliable authority as a supporter of its position
e. It confuses cause and effect
25. Spiritualism, the doctrine that it is possible to communicate with the spirits of the deceased through specially talented persons called mediums, is fraudulent. As long ago as the 1870’s, Professor Edwin Lankester showed that the purported “spirit writing” of the famed medium Henry Slade was present on a slate before the “spirits” were supposed to have begun writing on it. This example demonstrates that the doctrine of spiritualism is worthless.
If the example above is correctly reported, which of the following is the best argument against the conclusion drawn above?
a. There cannot be proof that the spirits of the deceased do not exist.
b. The conclusion depends on a historical report, and such reports of past events do not recount all of the circumstances
c. The cited evidence presupposes what is to be proved
d. A single instance of fraud cannot show that the doctrine is false in general.
e. The correctness of the report depends on the veracity of antispiritualists, who may be expected to be biased.
26. Pandas are rapidly disappearing from the wild. Therefore, in order to preserve the species, existing pandas should be captured and placed in zoos around the world.
Which of the following statements, if true, casts most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?
a. When in captivity, pandas typically produce more young than they do in their native habitat.
b. Newborn pandas in zoos are not likely to die from infectious diseases, whereas newborn pandas in the wild are likely to die from these diseases.
c. Sufficient quantities of bamboo, the panda’s only food, cannot be made available outside the panda’s native habitat.
d. Many zoos are eager to increase their stock of rare and exotic animals, but there are not enough pandas for all the zoos that want one.
e. Pandas in zoos have as many offspring that survive to adulthood as do pandas in the wild.
27. X: When a rare but serious industrial accident occurs, people respond by believing that such accidents are becoming more frequent. This belief is irrational. After all, being dealt four aces in a hand of poker, a rare event, hardly increases one’s chances of being dealt four aces in a future hand.
Y: To the contrary, the belief is rational because it results in people’s sensing a danger to themselves not previously sensed and taking precautionary actions to prevent similar accidents in the future.
Y’s attempt to counter X’s claim is best described by which of the following?
a. It questions the aptness of the analogy drawn by X.
b. It makes apparent X’s failure to consider how people vary in their responses to a serious accident.
c. It shifts the basis for judging rationality to considerations of utility.
d. It offers an alternative explanation of why people form incorrect beliefs.
e. It challenges X’s assumption that the occurrence of a single event is sufficient to change a belief.
28. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was established to protect workers from accidents and unsafe conditions on the job. There has actually been an increase in the number of job-related accidents under OSHA. This demonstrates the agency’s ineffectiveness.
Which of the following, if true concerning the period during which the increase occurred, most seriously weakens the argument above?
a. A number of job categories, excluded from the jurisdiction of OSHA in the legislation originally establishing the agency, have continued to be outside OSHA’s jurisdiction..
b. OSHA has been assigned a greater number of kinds of workplace activities to monitor.
c. There has been an increase in the total number of people at work, and the ratio of work-related deaths and injuries to size of workforce has fallen in OSHA-supervised occupations.
d. Regulations issued by OSHA have met with political criticism from elected officials and the mass media.
e. The increase in job-related accidents has occurred mainly in a single job category, whereas the number of job-related accidents has remained approximately constant in other categories.
29. Last year, support for the social and behavioral sciences represented only about three percent of the government’s total budget for research funds in the United States. Thus, the particularly sharp reductions imposed on such programs this year seem dictated not by financial constraints but by social philosophy.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the conclusion of the passage above is based?
a. The government funds allocated for research in the social and behavioral sciences are not sufficient for the work that needs to be done.
b. The social and behavioral sciences are as valuable as the physical and biological sciences.
c. The current reductions will stop research in the social and behavioral sciences.
d. Government funding is the primary source of research money in the United States.
e. Three percent is an insignificant portion of the government’s total budget for research funds.
30. Many geologists theorize that the trail of volcanic craters and cinder cones along the Snake River plain of southern Idaho was produced as the North American continent slid westward over a stationary “plume”, a vertical channel through which molten rock rose intermittently from the Earth’s core to burst through its crust.
Which of the following, if true, tends to support the geologists’ theory of how the trail was produced?
a. The largest craters and cinder cones are on the eastern margin of the trail.
b. The most violent volcanic activity apparently occurred at the western margin of the trail.
c. The craters and cinder cones are evenly spaced throughout the extent of the trail.
d. The newest craters and cinder cones are on the eastern margin of the trail.
e. The craters and cinder cones on the western margin of the trail generally took longer to form than did those on the eastern margin.
31. The first people to inhabit North America came from Asia Scientists had hypothesized that these people traveled across a now-submerged landmass that connected the two continents until 14,000 years ago, depending for food only on the land animals they hunted as they traveled Recent discoveries have led to the new hypothesis that the first people came by boat along the southern shore of the landmass, eating fish and sea mammals.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the new hypothesis by casting doubt on the earlier hypothesis?
a. The landmass connecting North America and Asia extended very far to the north
b. In Europe, maritime cultures primarily dependent on the sea for food developed no earlier than 10,000 years ago.
c. People living in Asia at the time the two continents were connected hunted land animals for food.
d. The landmass was so bitterly cold that its vegetation would have been too sparse to support land animals
e. Sophisticated and mature North American and Asian cultures that display great similarities to each other existed as far back as 8,000 years ago.
32. Infection is the biggest threat to the life of a burn patient. The skin, the body’s natural barrier against bacteria, is damaged or gone in the burned areas. The bacteria that are a threat are unpredictable in both variety and number. Moreover, those found affecting any one patient may change completely from one day to the next. The standard treatment, therefore, is the administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Considering only the information given about burn patients in the passage above, which of the following is most likely to enhance the effectiveness of the standard treatment of a burn patient?
a. Keeping the patient in an air-conditioned room until recovery is assured
b. Keeping the areas affected by burns as dry as possible
c. Continuously monitoring the patient’s vital signs with electronic equipment
d. Feeding the patient a diet extra rich in calories
e. Keeping the patient in a maximally sterile environment
33. The dramatic rise in the number of homeless people in the 1980’s cannot be attributed to the discharge of mentally ill persons from hospitals into “community care”, even though it is true that provisions for such community care are for the most part nonexistent.
Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim above?
a. The policy of discharging mentally ill persons from hospitals was based on the supposition that their illnesses could be controlled by newly developed drugs.
b. Without supervision in a hospital setting, those people whose mental illness can be controlled by medication might not actually take prescribed medication.
c. Some community-care programs for mentally ill persons did exist in the 1980’s, but those programs consisted primarily of outpatient clinics.
d. The policy of discharging significant numbers of mentally ill persons from hospitals took effect in the 1960’s.
e. There have always been some people in large cities who have led a homeless existence.
34. The attitude that it is all right to do what harms no one but oneself is usually accompanied by a disregard for the actual interdependence of people. Destroying one’s own life or health means not being available to help family members or the community; it means, instead, absorbing the limited resources of the community for food, health services, and education without contributing fully to the community.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the view expressed above?
a. The cost of avoidable accidents and illnesses raises health insurance rates for everyone.
b. Harm to one person can result in an indirect benefit, such as the availability of work in health-related fields, to others.
c. Life would be dull if it were necessary to abstain from all of the minor pleasures that entail some risk of harm to a person who indulges in them.
d. The contribution a person makes to the community cannot be measured by that person’s degree of health.
e. The primary damage caused by the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and unauthorized drugs is done to the person who uses those substances.
35. Which of the following, if true, provides the most logical completion of the passage below?
Cars fueled by methanol have a much lower level of emissions of pollutants such as carbon monoxide and environmentally harmful hydrocarbons than gasoline-fueled cars do. Methanol fuel does produce somewhat higher formaldehyde emissions than gasoline does. Nevertheless, a methanol-powered car actually produces less atmospheric formaldehyde pollution than a comparable gasoline-powered car, because _________.
a. compared to carbon monoxide and some hydrocarbons produced by gasoline-powered cars, formaldehyde pollution is not a serious threat to the environment.
b. the technical difficulties involved in mass-producing methanol-powered cars will prevent them from seriously competing with gasoline-powered cars for several years
c. gasoline-powered cars are required by United States law to be equipped with catalytic converters that reduce emissions of many pollutants.
d. measuring a car’s emissions is generally an accurate method of assessing that car’s contribution to atmospheric pollution
e. most formaldehyde pollution generated by gasoline-powered cars results from the photo-chemical conversion of hydrocarbon emissions into formaldehyde in the atmosphere
36. Since minors should not smoke, the proposed law prohibiting cigarette sales to minors is reasonable. However, the proposed ban on cigarette vending machines is like installing a roadblock to apprehend the one person in a hundred who drives without a license. A roadblock stops everyone, not just those who break the law.
The answer to which of the following questions would be most important in evaluating the objection above to a ban on cigarette vending machines?
a. Do cigarette vending machines malfunction more frequently than do food vending machines?
b. Are there current laws that prohibit the sale to minors of materials intended only for adults?
c. Would an increase in taxes on cigarette sales help deter minors from purchasing cigarettes?
d. Would a ban on cigarette vending machines inconvenience a significant number of cigarette-buying adults?
e. Are items more expensive when sold from a vending machine than when sold in retail stores?
37. Calvin: Fire insurance policies are disadvantageous to policyholders. The typical policyholder always pays more in premiums than he or she collects in payments on policies.
Lorraine: Yes, but policyholders are still right in thinking that it is to their advantage to hold an insurance policy. The peace of mind that comes from having an insurance policy is the main advantage to the policyholder.
Lorraine addresses Calvin’s argument by:
a. questioning the source of Calvin’s factual information
b. introducing a consideration neglected by Calvin’s argument
c. showing that Calvin’s argument assumes what it sets out to prove
d. challenging the truth of the evidence advanced in Calvin’s argument
e. showing the irrelevance of Calvin’s evidence to the conclusion he draws
38. Patel: Although enrollment in the region’s high school has been decreasing for several years, enrollment at the elementary school has grown considerably. Therefore, the regional school board proposes building a new elementary school.
Quintero: Another solution would be to convert some high school classrooms temporarily into classrooms for elementary school students.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to support Quintero’s alternative proposal?
a. Some rooms at the high school cannot be converted into rooms suitable for the use of elementary school students.
b. The cost of building a high school is higher than the cost of building an elementary school.
c. Although the birth rate has not increased, the number of families sending their children to the region’s high school has increased markedly.
d. A high school atmosphere could jeopardize the safety and self-confidence of elementary school students.
e. Even before the region’s high school population began to decrease, several high school classrooms rarely needed to be used.
39. Soft Drink Manufacturer: Our new children’s soft drink, RipeCal, is fortified with calcium. Since calcium is essential for developing healthy bones, drinking RipeCal regularly will help make children healthy.
Consumer Advocate: But RipeCal also contains large amounts of sugar, and regularly consuming large amounts of sugar is unhealthful, especially for children.
In responding to the soft drink manufacturer, the consumer advocate does which of the following?
a. Challenges the manufacturer’s claim about the nutritional value of calcium in children’s diets
b. Argues that the evidence cited by the manufacturer, when properly considered, leads to a conclusion opposite to that reached by the manufacturer.
c. Implies that the manufacturer of a product is typically unconcerned with the nutritional value of that product.
d. Questions whether a substance that is healthful when eaten in moderation car unhealthful when eaten in excessive amounts.
e. Presents additional facts that call into question the conclusion draw the manufacturer.
40. Sleep deprivation is a known cause of workplace error, and many physicians frequently go without sleep for periods of 24 hours or more. However, few of these physicians have, in the course of a routine examination by a peer, been diagnosed with sleep deprivation. So there is little cause for concern that habitual sleep deprivation will cause widespread physician error.
The answer to which of the following questions would be most helpful in evaluating the argument?
a. Do physicians who have been diagnosed with sleep disorders also show signs of other ills not related to sleep deprivation?
b. Is the ability to recognize the symptoms of sleep deprivation in others significantly impaired by habitual sleep deprivation?
c. Do factors other than habitual sleep deprivation ever lead to errors in the workplace on the part of physicians?
d. Of people who have recently been treated by physicians, what percentage believe that many physicians have occasionally suffered from sleep deprivation?
e. Is the incidence of sleep deprivation higher among physicians than it is among other health care worker.
第二部分
1. Currently, the number of first-time admissions of individuals diagnosed as manic-depressives to hospitals in Great Britain exceeds by nine times the number of admissions of such patients to public and private hospitals in the United States, even though the population size of the United States is many times that of Great Britain.
Which of the following, if true, would be most useful to an attempt to explain the situation described above?
a. The term manic-depressive refers to a wider range of mentally ill patients in Great Britain than it does in the United States.
b. The admission rate in the United States includes those individuals who visit clinics for the first time as well as those who are admitted directly to hospitals.
c. A small percentage of patients diagnosed as manic-depressive in Great Britain are admitted to private nursing homes rather than hospitals.
d. The variety of training institutions in psychology in the United States is greater than in Great Britain, reflecting the variety of schools of psychology that have developed in the United States.
e. Seeking professional assistance for mental health problems no longer carries a social stigma in the United States, as it once did.
2. The population of elephant seals, reduced by hunting to perhaps a few dozen animals early in this century, has soared under federal protection during the last few decades. However, because the species repopulated itself through extensive inbreeding, it now exhibits a genetic uniformity that is almost unparalleled in other species of mammals, and thus it is in far greater danger of becoming extinct than are most other species.
Given the information in the passage above which of the following is most likely the reason that other species of mammals are less likely than elephant seals to become extinct?
a. Other species of mammals have large populations, so the loss of a few members of the species is not significant.
b. Other species of mammals have increased their knowledge of dangers through the experience of generation after generation of animals.
c. In other species of mammals, hunters can readily distinguish between males and females or between young animals and adults.
d. In other species of mammals, some members of the species are genetically better equipped to withstand a disease or event that destroys other members of the species.
e. Other species of mammals have retained habits of caution and alertness because they have not been protected as endangered species.
3. Therapists find that treatment of those people who seek help because they are unable to stop smoking or overeating is rarely successful. From these experiences, therapists have concluded that such habits are intractable, and success in breaking them is rare. As surveys show, millions of people have dropped the habit of smoking, and many people have successfully managed a substantial weight loss.
If all of the statements above are correct, an explanation of their apparent contradiction is provided by the hypothesis that
a. there have been some successes in therapy., and those successes were counted in the surveys
b. it is easier to stop smoking than it is to stop overeating.
c. it is easy to break the habits of smoking and overeating by exercising willpower
d. the group of people selected for the survey did not include those who failed to break their habits even after therapy.
e. those who succeed in curing themselves do not go for treatment and so are not included in the therapists’ data.
4. The 38 corporations that filed United States income tax returns showing a net income of more than $100 million accounted for 53 percent of the total taxable income from foreign sources reported on all tax returns. Sixty percent of the total taxable income from foreign sources came from the 200 returns reporting income from 10 or more countries.
If the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true?
a. Most of the total taxable income earned by corporations with net income above $100 million was earned from foreign sources.
b. Wealthy individuals with large personal incomes reported 47 percent of the total taxable income from foreign sources.
c. Income from foreign sources amounted to between 53 and 60 percent of all reported taxable income.
d. Some of the corporations with net income above $100 million reported income from 10 or more countries.
e. Most of the tax returns showing income from 10 or more countries reported net income of more than $100 million.
5. In October 1987 the United States stock market suffered a major drop in prices. During the weeks after the drop, the volume of stocks traded also dropped sharply to well below what had been the weekly average for the preceding year. However, the volume for the entire year was not appreciably different from the preceding year’s volume.
Which of the following, if true, resolves the apparent contradiction presented in the passage above?
a. Foreign investors usually buy United States stocks only when prices are low.
b. The number of stock buyers in 1987 remained about the same as it had been the preceding year.
c. For some portion of 1987, the volume of stocks traded was higher than the average for that year
d. The greater the volume of stocks traded in a given year, the lower the average price per share on the United States stock market for that year.
e. The volume of stocks traded rises and falls in predictable cycles.
6. The state with the greatest fraction of its population in urban areas, if the urban areas are considered to include the suburbs, is California. The West is highly urbanized, but California is exceptional even in that region: 91 percent of its population lives in urban areas. Geographically, however, California is rural: 96 percent of its land is outside urban areas.
If all of the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true?
a. No state has a smaller fraction of its population in rural areas than California has
b. The current rate of population growth in California’s urban area exceeds the current rate of population growth in California’s rural areas.
c. In California 96 percent of the population lives on 9 percent of the land.
d. No state has a smaller area devoted to urban settlement than California has.
e. California’s population density is among the highest of all states in the United States.
7. New Jersey has one of the lowest motor vehicle fatality rates in the country, and it is one of the few states that require extensive annual automobile safety inspections. Therefore, all states should adopt similar safety inspection procedure.
The argument above is based on which of the following assumptions?
a. Most states tend to impose few rules and regulations on the automobile drivers operating within those states.
b. Most states are skeptical that annual automobile safety inspections can reduce fatality rates.
c. Annual automobile safety inspections contribute significantly to holding down New Jersey’s fatality rate.
d. Drivers in New Jersey are more safety conscious than are drivers in other parts of the country.
e. A smaller number of people die on the roads in New Jersey than in most other states.
8. One of the world’s most celebrated paintings, The Man with the Golden Helmet, long attributed to Rembrandt, is not a Rembrandt after all. So say several art experts, who base their conclusion on an analysis of stylistic features, especially details both of shading and of brushwork. In order to ascertain who really painted the well-known masterpiece, the experts have begun a series of sophisticated new tests, including one that involves the activation of neutrons. These tests yield patterns for any painter that are as distinctive as a good set of fingerprints.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the conclusion of the art experts depends?
a. The Man with the Golden Helmet was not painted during Rembrandt’s lifetime.
b. If even The Man with the Golden Helmet is of questionable attribution, then any supposedly authentic Rembrandt has now become suspect.
c. The painting known as The Man with the Golden Helmet to Rembrandt was a deliberate fraud.
d. The original ascription of The Man with the Golden Helmet to Rembrandt was a deliberate fraud.
e. There are significant consistencies among authentic Rembrandts in certain matters of style.
9. In March 300 college students turned out in Washington to protest against proposed cuts in student loan funds. Another 350,000 collegians flocked to Florida’s sun-drenched beaches during March for “spring break”. Since the Florida sun-seekers were more numerous, they were more representative of today’s students than those who protested in Washington, and therefore Congress need not heed the appeals of the protesting students.
The argument above makes which of the following assumptions?
a. The students who vacationed in Florida did not oppose the cutting of student loan funds by Congress.
b. The students who vacationed in Florida were not in agreement with the opinion of the majority of United States citizens about the proposed cut in loan funds.
c. The students who protested in Washington were more seriously concerned about their education than were the students who vacationed in Florida.
d. The students who neither protested in Washington in March nor vacationed in Florida in March are indifferent to governmental policies on education.
e. The best way to influence congressional opinion about a political issue is to communicate with one’s elected representative in Washington.
10. “On the whole,” Ms. Dennis remarked, “ engineering students are lazier now than they used to be. I know because fewer and fewer of my students regularly do the work they are assigned.”
The conclusion drawn above depends on which of the following assumptions?
a. Engineering students are working less because, in a booming market, they are spending more and more time investigating different job opportunities.
b. Whether or not students do the work they are assigned is a good indication of how lazy they are.
c. Engineering students should work harder than students in less demanding fields.
d. Ms. Dennis’ students are doing less work because Ms. Dennis is not as effective a teacher as she once was.
e. Laziness is something most people do not outgrow.
11. The average age and racing experience of the drivers at the Indianapolis 500 automobile race increased each year between 1965 and 1980. The reason for the increase is that high-speed racing drivers were living longer than their predecessors. Race-car safety features that reduced the severity of crashes of the kind that formerly took drivers’ lives were primarily responsible for the increase in the average age of the Indianapolis 500 competitors.
Which of the following, if true, would be most likely to be part of the evidence used to show that safety features on the cars that protected drivers in major crashes were responsible for the increase in the average age of drivers at the Indianapolis race?
a. Younger drivers at high-speed racetracks were involved in major accidents at a slightly higher rate than were older drivers between 1965 and 1980.
b. Major accidents on high-speed racetracks occurred at about the same frequency in the years after 1965 as in the years before 1965.
c. The average age of drivers attempting to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 decreased slightly between 1965 and 1980.
d. Accidents on highways in the United States occurred at about the same frequency in the years after 1965 as in the years before 1965.
e. Other safety features, involving the condition of the racetrack and the uniforms worn by the drivers while driving, were adopted at Indianapolis between 1965 and 1980.
13. Sometime during the 1950’s, rock music permanently ousted jazz from the music scene. This is evident from the behavior of youths of that time. In crowded nightclubs they would applaud rock acts enthusiastically. But when a jazz act began, they went outside and got refreshments. They came back in only when the jazz set was finished.
Which of the following statements, if true, is a valid objection to the conclusion drawn above?
a. Jazz is the most important musical contribution of the United States to world culture.
b. Although some young people who attended nightclubs in the 1950’s did try to listen to jazz, they eventually became bored with it.
c. Since the 1960’s, rock music has not only provided youths with recreation but has, as well, become a rallying point for making social statements.
d. Although by 1960 jazz performances were less popular, there has since been a revival of interest in jazz among middle-class professionals.
e. Jazz steadily increased in popularity between the 1930’s and the 1950’s.
14. Researchers have discovered a new poison, bromethalin, that is lethal to all rats, even to those species that have become immune to other poisons, as well as to those rats that eat only the most minute quantities. Tests have demonstrated that rats will not learn to avoid bromethalin pose no threat to the well-being of other animals.
Which of the following statements, if true, would support the researchers’ claim that carcasses of rats killed by bromethalin will not pose a threat to other animals?
a. Rats that consume bromethalin die immediately.
b. Animals, prompted by curiosity, often examine carcasses that appear in their territory.
c. Chemicals in the digestive tract of dead rats quickly break bromethalin down into a nontoxic substance.
d. Traces of bromethalin remain in the rat’s mouth and saliva after the rat eats the poison.
e. Certain animals are scavengers and feed habitually on refuse and dead flesh
15. In mammals it is the secondary palate that permits breathing while eating. Clearly, breathing while eating is necessary to maintain the high rate of metabolism of mammals.
The author’s assertions would be most weakened by the discovery of a mammalian species that had a
a. high rate of metabolism and the ability to breathe while eating
b. low rate of metabolism and the ability to breathe while eating
c. low rate of metabolism and no ability to breathe while eating
d. high rate of metabolism and no secondary palate
e. low rate of metabolism and a secondary palate
16. Noting that the number of crimes committed in a certain city had decreased in 1982 by 5.2 percent in comparison with 1981, the police chief of the city said, “ We see here the result of the innovative police program put into effect in the city at the beginning of 1982.”
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion drawn by the police chief?
a. Several cities that have recently increased spending for police programs experienced no decrease in crime in 1982, as compared with 1981.
b. The number of crimes committed in the city is estimated, by the same method each year, from the number of crimes reported.
c. The number of crimes committed in the suburban areas surrounding the city rose by about 5 percent in 1982 over the figure for 1981 and were nearly equal in number to those in the city in 1982.
d. The number of crimes committed in the city in 1982 was 10 percent higher than the number committed in 1972
e. The size of the age-group most likely to commit crimes decreased considerably in the city in 1982, as against 1981, because of a declining birth rate.
17. Found in caves with the bones of australopithecines, which are thought by some to be ancient ancestors of the human species, were great collections of animal bones. From the frequencies of types of bones, it can be seen that many bones represented only parts of animals that must have died elsewhere. The australopithecines thus must have been mighty hunters, to have brought home so much meat.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion drawn above?
a. The australopithecines sometimes moved from cave to cave for shelter and did not remain in one cave for a lifetime.
b. The australopithecine bones found in the caves were those of adult males, adult females, and juveniles.
c. Evidence of the use of fire was absent from the caves in which the collections of bones were found.
d. Marks on the bones, including the bones of the australopithecines, are consistent with teeth marks of large catlike animals of the period.
e. The bones in the cave did not include bones of an elephant-like animal that existed in the area at the time of the australopithecines.
18. Public education suffers from what can be diagnosed as the sickness of an over-governed society. This sickness denies many parents control over the kind of education their children receive. The power once held by parents has gravitated to professional educators. The sickness has been aggravated by increasing centralization and bureaucratization of schools.
Which of the following, if true, would weaken the claim that there is continuing erosion of parents’ control over their children’s education?
a. As a result of community pressure, growing numbers of school administrators follow recommendations made by parents.
b. The number of professional educators has risen sharply over the last decade even though the number of students has declined.
c. Parents’ organizations that lobby for changes in school curriculums are generally ineffectual
d. More members of school boards are appointed by school administrators than are elected by the public.
e. The use of state-wide curriculum programs increased in the United States during the past two decades.
19. From a certain farming region, trucks can carry vegetables to market in New Mexico in two days for a total cost of $300. A train will carry the vegetables there in four days for $200. If reducing time in transit is more important to the owner of the vegetables than is reducing the shipping bill, he or she will send the vegetables by truck.
Which of the following is an assumption made in the passage above?
a. Vegetables can be sold more profitably when shipped by train than by truck.
b. Other than speed and cost, there are no significant differences between truck and train transportation from the farming region to New Mexico.
c. The time required to ship vegetables by train from the farming region to New Mexico could be reduced to two days if the price for this service were raised.
d. Most owners of vegetables in the region are more concerned with shipping costs than with the time involved in shipping vegetables to market.
e. Transportation of vegetables by truck is worth at least $200 per day to owners of the vegetables in the farming region.
20. The excessive number of safety regulations that the federal government has placed on industry poses more serious hardships for big businesses than for small ones. Since large companies do everything on a more massive scale, they must alter more complex operations and spend much more money to meet governmental requirements.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?
a. Small companies are less likely than large companies to have the capital reserves for improvements.
b. The operations of small companies frequently rely on the same technologies as the operations of large companies.
c. Safety regulation codes are uniform, established without reference to size of company.
d. Large companies typically have more of their profits invested in other businesses than do small companies.
e. Large companies are in general more likely than small companies to diversify their markets and products.
21. As a practical matter, the copper available for industrial use should not be thought of as limited by the quantity of copper deposits, known or unknown. The transmutation of one chemical element into another is a modern reality, through the methods of nuclear physics. Therefore, the quantity of a natural resource such as copper cannot be calculated even in principle, because copper can be made from other metals.
Which of the following, if true, is the strongest argument against the argument above?
a. Although it is possible that additional deposits of copper will be found, geological considerations strongly indicate that they will not amount to more than a fifty-year supply.
b. The production of copper from other metals in industrial quantities would be prohibitively expensive in energy and materials.
c. Synthetic materials have been discovered that can serve as practical substitutes for copper in most of its uses.
d. It will be impractical, in the foreseeable future, to mine any deposits of metal that may exist on the Moon or on other planets.
e. Methods for estimating the amount of copper available in currently known deposits have become very sophisticated and have proved quite accurate.
22. The world’s annual food production slightly exceeds the amount of food required to provide a minimally adequate diet for the world’s population. To predict that insufficient food production will cause a hunger crisis in the future is nonsense. Any hunger crisis will result from a distribution problem rather than a production problem.
The statement above assumes which of the following?
a. The world’s food requirements are greater than they will be in the future.
b. A shortfall in the world’s food production can be prevented by a better distribution system.
c. The world’s food production will continue to be sufficient to meet or exceed needs.
d. The distribution of the world’s existing food supply will be improved in the future.
e. The world hunger crisis will not exist in the future.
23. Psychological maladjustment in children is caused by the stress of the birthing process as is proved by the discovery of a positive relationship between the duration of the mother’s labor and the amount of time the child spent crying in the first month of life.
Which of the following, if true, LEAST damages the author’s assertion?
a. There is no relationship between the amount of time spent crying and psychological maladjustment.
b. Behavior indicative of psychological maladjustment does not appear until the third month of a child’s life.
c. From the infant’s point of view, a hurried labor is more stressful than a gradual, slow delivery.
d. The estimates of the duration of labor were based on obstetricians’ estimates of the time of the onset of labor.
e. The infants who have experienced the greatest stress during birth are often too weak to cry for extended periods of time.
24. The cost of the average computer logic device is falling at the rate of 25 percent per year, and the cost of the average computer memory device at the rate of 40 percent per year. It can be concluded that if these rates of cost decline remain constant for a period of three years, at the end of that time the cost of the average computer memory device will have declined by a greater amount than the cost of the average computer logic device.
Accurate information about which of the following would be most useful in evaluating the correctness of the conclusion above?
a. The number of logic devices and memory devices projected to be purchased during the next three years.
b. The actual prices charged for the average computer logic devices and memory devices
c. The compatibility of different manufacturers’ logic devices and memory devices.
d. The relative durability of logic devices and memory devices.
e. The average number of logic devices and memory devices needed for an average computer system.
25. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and unusual weather have caused many more natural disasters adversely affecting people in the past decade than in previous decades. We can conclude that the planet Earth as a natural environment has become more inhospitable and dangerous, and we should employ the weather and earth sciences to look for causes of this trend.
The conclusion drawn above is most seriously weakened if which of the following is true?
a. The weather and earth sciences have provided better early warning systems for natural disasters in the past decade than in previous decades.
b. International relief efforts for victims of natural disasters have been better organized in the past decade than in previous decades.
c. There are records of major earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, landslides, and floods occurring in the distant past, as well as in the recent past.
d. Population pressures and poverty have forced increasing numbers of people to live in areas prone to natural disasters.
e. There have been no changes in the past decade in people’s land-use practices that could have affected the climate.作者: hiiamjo 时间: 2004-9-23 19:27
有答案么？
作者: lololo 时间: 2004-10-10 12:57
ding!!
作者: topway7 时间: 2004-10-13 07:12
thanks a lot!![em08]作者: sharpgun 时间: 2004-11-9 10:05
