| 1. 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
c还是E?
2. Plankton generally thrive in areas of the ocean with sufficient concentrations of certain nitrogen compounds near the surface where plankton live. Nevertheless, some areas, though rich in these nitrogen compounds, have few plankton. These areas have particularly low concentrations of iron, and oceanographers hypothesize that this shortage of iron prevents plankton from thriving. However, an experimental release of iron compounds into one such area failed to produce a thriving plankton population, even though local iron concentrations increased immediately.
Which of the following, if true, argues most strongly against concluding, on the basis of the information above, that the oceanographers’ hypothesis is false?
A: Not all of the nitrogen compounds that are sometimes found in relatively high concentrations in the oceans are nutrients for plankton.
B: Certain areas of the ocean support an abundance of plankton despite having particularly low concentrations of iron.
C: The release of the iron compounds did not increase the supply of nitrogen compounds in the area.
D: A few days after the iron compounds were released, ocean currents displaced the iron-rich water from the surface.
E: The iron compounds released into the area occur naturally in areas of the ocean where plankton thrive.
b还是D?
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