TEST 16

SECTION II

Time 35 minutes 24 Questions

Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages...

1.     Walter: Although cigarette smoking is legal, it should be banned on all airline flights. Cigarette smoking in the confines of an aircraft exposes nonsmokers to harmful secondhand smoke that they cannot avoid.

Which one the following principles, if established, would justify the proposal put forth by Walter?

(A) People should be prohibited from engaging in an otherwise legal activity in those situations in which that activity would unavoidably expose others to harm.

(B) An activity should be banned only if most situations in which a person engaged in that activity would inevitably expose others to harm.

(C) A legal activity that has the potential for causing harm to others in certain situations should be modified in those situations to render it harmless.

(D) People who regularly engage in an activity that has the potential for harming others when that activity takes place in certain situations should be excluded from those situations.（A）

(E) If an activity is legal in some situations in which a person’s engaging in that activity could harm others, then that activity should be legal in all situations.

2.     Physicist: The claim that low-temperature nuclear fusion can be achieved entirely by chemical means is based on chemical experiments in which the measurements and calculations are inaccurate.

Chemist: But your challenge is ineffectual, since you are simply jealous at the thought that chemists might have solved a problem that physicists have been unable to solve.

Which one of the following is the strongest criticism of the chemist’s response to the physicist’s challenge?

(A) It restates a claim in different words instead of offering evidence for this claim.

(B) It fails to establish that perfect accuracy of measurements and calculations is possible.

(C) It confuses two different meanings of the word “solve.”

(D) It is directed against the proponent of a claim rather than against the claim itself.（D）

(E) It rests on a contradiction.

3.     A certain strain of bacteria was found in the stomachs of ulcer patients. A medical researcher with no history of ulcers inadvertently ingested some of the bacteria and within weeks developed an ulcer. Therefore, it is highly likely that the bacteria strain induces ulcers.

Which one of the following, if true, most supports the argument above?

(A) People who have the bacteria strain in their stomachs have been found to have no greater incidence of kidney disease that do people who lack the bacteria strain.

(B) The researcher did not develop any other serious health problems within a year after ingesting the bacteria strain.

(C) There is no evidence that the bacteria strain induces ulcers in laboratory animals.

(D) The researcher is a recognized expert in the treatment of diseases of the stomach.（E）

(E) A study of 2,000 people who do not have ulcers found that none of these people had the bacteria strain in their stomachs.

4.     A recent study monitored the blood pressure of people petting domestic animals in the laboratory. The blood pressure of some of these people lowered while petting the animals. Therefore, for anyone of the people so affected, owning a pet would result in that person having a lower average blood pressure.

The flawed pattern of reasoning in the argument above is most similar to that in which one of the following?

(A) Because a single dose of a drug acts as a remedy for a particular ailment, a healthy person can ward off that ailment by taking single doses regularly.

(B) Because buying an automobile is very expensive, people should hold on to an automobile, once bought, for as long as it can be maintained in running condition.

(C) Since pruning houseplants is enjoyable for some people, those people should get rid of houseplants that do not require frequent pruning.

(D) Since riding in a boat for a few minutes is relaxing for some people, those people would be more relaxed generally if those people owned boats.（D）

(E) Since giving a fence one coat of while paint makes the fence white, giving it two coats of white paint would make it even whiter.

5.     Of the five bill collectors at Apex Collection Agency, Mr. Young has the highest rate of unsuccessful collections. Yet Mr. Young is the best bill collector on the agency’s staff.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy?

(A) Mr. Young is assigned the majority of the most difficult cases at the agency.

(B) The other four bill collectors at the agency all consider Mr. Young to be a very capable bill collector.

(C) Mr. Young’s rate of collections per year has remained fairly steady in the last few years.

(D) Before joining the agency, Mr. Young was affiliated with the credit department of a large department store.（A）

(E) None of the bill collectors at the agency has been on the agency’s staff longer than Mr. Young has.

6.     A primate jawbone found in Namibia in southern Africa has been identified by anthropologists as that of an ape that lived between 10 million and 15 million years ago. Researchers generally agree that such ancient primates lived only in dense forests. Consequently, the dry, treeless expanses now dominating the landscape in and around Namibia must have replaced an earlier heavily forested terrain.

The argument assumes which one of the following?

(A) Modern apes also tend to live only in heavily forested terrain.

(B) The ape whose jawbone was found lived in or near the area that is now Namibia.

(C) There were no apes living in the area that is now Namibia prior to 15 million years ago.

(D) The ape whose jawbone was found was adapted to a diet that was significantly different from that of any modem ape.（B）

(E) The ancient primates were numerous enough to have caused severe damage to the ecology of the forests in which they lived.

7.     Workers may complain about many things at work, but stress is not high on the list. In fact, in a recent survey a majority placed boredom at the top of their list of complaints. The assumption that job-related stress is the most serious problem for workers in the corporate world is thus simply not warranted.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Those workers who are responsible for the planning and supervision of long-term projects are less likely to complain of either boredom or stress.

(B) Workers who complain of boredom exhibit more stress-related symptoms than do those who claim their work is interesting.

(C) Workers responding to opinion surveys tend to emphasize those experiences that have happened most recently.

(D) Workers who feel that their salaries are commensurate with the amount of work they do are less likely to complain of boredom.（B）

(E) Workers are less likely to complain about work if they feel that their jobs are secure.

8.     Would it be right for the government to abandon efforts to determine at what levels to allow toxic substances in our food supply? Only if it can reasonably be argued that the only acceptable level of toxic substances in food is zero. However, virtually all foods contain perfectly natural substances that are toxic but cause no harm because they do not occur in food in toxic concentrations. Furthermore, we can never be certain of having reduced the concentration of any substance to zero; all we can ever know is that it has been reduced to below the threshold of detection of current analytical methods.

The main conclusion of the argument is that

(A) the government should continue trying to determine acceptable levels for toxic substances in our food supply

(B) the only acceptable level of toxic substances in food is zero

(C) naturally occurring toxic substances in food present little danger because they rarely occur in toxic concentrations

(D) the government will never be able to determine with certainty that a food contains no toxic substances（A）

(E) the government needs to refine its methods of detecting toxic substances in our food supply

9.     Over the past twenty-five years the introduction of labor-saving technologies has greatly reduced the average amount of time a worker needs to produce a given output, potentially both reducing the number of hours each worker works each week and increasing workers’ leisure time correspondingly. The average amount of leisure time per worker, however, has increased at only half the rate at which the average hourly output per worker has grown.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following is most strongly supported by them?

(A) Workers on average spend more money on leisure activities today than they did twenty-five years ago.

(B) Labor-saving technologies have created fewer jobs than they have eliminated.

(C) The percentage of the population that is in the work force has grown over the past twenty-five years.

(D) The average hourly output per worker has not risen as much as had been anticipated when modern labor-saving technologies were first introduced.（E）

(E) Twenty-five years ago the average weekly output per worker was less than it is today.

10.   Ten thousand years ago many communities in western Asia stopped procuring food by hunting and gathering and began instead to cultivate food. Archaeological evidence reveals that compared to their hunter-gatherer forebears, the early agricultural peoples ate a poorly balanced diet and had diet-related health problems, yet these peoples never returned to hunting and gathering.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain why the agricultural peoples of western Asia never returned to hunting and gathering?

(A) The plants and animals that the agricultural peoples began to cultivate continued to exist in the wild.

(B) Both hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists sometimes depended on stored and preserved foods instead of fresh foods.

(C) An increase in population density at the time required a higher food production rate than hunting and gathering could provide.

(D) Thousands of years ago similar shifts from hunting and gathering to agriculture occurred in many other parts of the world.（C）

(E) The physical labor involved in agriculture burns more calories than does that needed for hunting and gathering.

11.   Should a Journalist’s story begin with the set phrase “in a surprise development,” as routinely happens? Well, not if the surprise was merely the journalist’s, since journalists should not intrude themselves into their stories, and not if the surprise was someone else’s, because if some person’s surprise was worth mentioning at all, it should have been specifically attributed. The one possibility remaining is that lots of people were surprised: in that case, however, there is no point in belaboring the obvious.

Which one of the following most accurately states the conclusion of the argument above?

(A) Journalists should reserve use of the phrase “in a surprise development” for major developments that are truly unexpected.

(B) The phrase “in a surprise development” is appropriately used only where someone’s being surprised is itself interesting.

(C) The phase “in a surprise development” is used in three distinct sorts of circumstances.

(D) Journalists should make the point that a development comes as a surprise when summing up, not when introducing a story.（E）

(E) Introducing stories with the phrase “in a surprise development” is not good journalistic practice.

12.   Individual pyrrole molecules readily join together into larger molecules called polypyrroles. If polypyrroles form from pyrrole in the presence of zeolites, they do so by attaching to the zeolite either in lumps on the outer surface of the zeolite or in delicate chains within the zeolite’s inner channels. When zeolite changes color from yellow to black, it means that on or in that zeolite polypyrroles have formed from pyrrole. Yellow zeolite free of any pyrrole was submerged in dissolved pyrrole. The zeolite turned black even though no polypyrroles formed on its outer surface.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must on the basis of them be true?

(A) Polypyrroles had already formed on or in the zeolite before it was submerged.

(B) Lumps of polypyrrole attached to the zeolite were responsible for its color change.

(C) At least some of the pyrrole in which the zeolite was submerged formed polypyrrole chains.

(D) None of the pyrrole in which the zeolite was submerged attached itself to the zeolite.（C）

(E) Little, if any, of the pyrrole in which the zeolite was submerged reached the zeolite’s inner channels.

Questions 13-14

Pedigreed dogs, including those officially classified as working dogs, must conform to standards set by organizations that issue pedigrees. Those standards generally specify the physical appearance necessary for a dog to be recognized as belonging to a breed but stipulate nothing about other genetic traits, such as those that enable breeds originally developed as working dogs to perform the work for which they were developed. Since dog breeders try to maintain only those traits specified by pedigree organizations, and traits that breeders do not try to maintain risk being lost, certain traits like herding ability risk being lost among pedigreed dogs. Therefore, pedigree organizations should set standards requiring working ability in pedigreed dogs classified as working dogs.

13.   Which one of the following principles, if valid, justifies the argument’s conclusion that pedigree organizations should set standards for working ability in dogs?

(A) Organizations that set standards for products or activities should not set standards calling for a particular characteristic if such standards increase the risk of some other characteristic being lost.

(B) Any standard currently in effect for a product or an activity should be rigorously enforced regardless of when the standard was first set.

(C) Organizations that set standards for products or activities should be responsible for seeing to it that those products or activities conform to all the specifications called for by those standards.

(D) Any standard that is set for a product or an activity should reflect the uses to which that product or activity will eventually be put.（E）

(E) Organizations that set standards for products or activities should attempt to ensure that those products or activities can serve the purposes for which they were originally developed.

14.   The phrase “certain traits like herding ability risk being lost among pedigreed dogs” serves which one of the following functions in the argument?

(A) It is a claim on which the argument depends but for which no support is given.

(B) It is a subsidiary conclusion used in support of the main conclusion.

(C) It acknowledges a possible objection to the proposal put forth in the argument.

(D) It summarizes the position that the argument as a whole is directed toward discrediting.（B）

(E) It provides evidence necessary to support a claim stated earlier in the argument.

15.   In rheumatoid arthritis, the body’s immune system misfunctions by attacking healthy cells in the joints, causing the release of a hormone that in turn causes pain and swelling. This hormone is normally activated only in reaction to injury or infection. A new arthritis medication will contain a protein that inhibits the functioning of the hormone that causes pain and swelling in the joints.

The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following conclusions?

(A) Unlike aspirin and other medications that reduce pain and swelling and that are currently available, the new medication would repair existing cell damage that had been caused by rheumatoid arthritis.

(B) The benefits to rheumatoid arthritis sufferers of the new medication would outweigh the medications possible harmful side effect.

(C) A patient treated with the new medication for rheumatoid arthritis could sustain a joint injury without becoming aware of it.

(D) The new medication could be adapted for use against a variety of immune system disorders, such as diabetes and lupus.（C）

(E) Joint diseases other than rheumatoid arthritis would not be affected by the new medication.

16.   In their native habit, amaryllis plants go dormant when the soil in which they are growing dries out during the dry season. Therefore, if amaryllis plants kept as houseplants are to thrive, water should be withheld from them during part of the year so that the plants go dormant.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) Most kinds of plants go dormant at some time or other during the year.

(B) Amaryllis are more difficult keep as houseplants than other kinds of plants are.

(C) Water should be withheld from amaryllis plants kept as houseplants during the exact time of year that corresponds to the dry season in their native habitat.

(D) Any amaryllis plant that fails to thrive is likely to have been dormant for too short a time.（E）

(E) Going dormant benefits amaryllis plants in their native habitat in some way other than simply preventing death during overly dry periods.

17.   Most people believe that yawning is most powerfully triggered by seeing someone else yawn. This belief about yawning is widespread not only today, but also has been commonplace in many parts of the world in the past, if we are to believe historians of popular culture. Thus, seeing someone else yawn must be the most irresistible cause of yawning.

The argument is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?

(A) It attempts to support its conclusion solely by restating that conclusion in other words.

(B) It cites the evidence of historians of popular culture in direct support of a claim that lies outside their area of expertise.

(C) It makes a sweeping generalization about yawning based on evidence drawn from a limited number of atypical cases.

(D) It supports its conclusion by appealing solely to opinion in a matter that is largely factual.（D）

(E) It takes for granted that yawns have no cause other than the one it cites.

18.   Everyone who is a gourmet cook enjoys a wide variety foods and spices. Since no one who enjoys a wide variety of foods and spices prefers bland foods to all her foods, it follows that anyone who prefers bland foods to all other foods is not a gourmet cook.

The pattern of reasoning displayed in the argument above is most similar to that displayed in which one of the following?

(A) All of the paintings in the Huang Collection will be put up for auction next week. Since the paintings to be auctioned next week are by a wide variety of artists, it follows that the paintings in the Huang Collection are by a wide variety of artists.

(B) All of the paintings in the Huang Collection are abstract. Since no abstract painting will be included in next week’s art auction, nothing to be included in next week’s art auction is a painting in the Huang Collection.

(C) All of the paintings in the Huang Collection are superb works of art. Since none of the paintings in the Huang Collection is by Roué, it stands to reason that no painting by Roué is a superb work of art.

(D) Every postimpressionist painting from the Huang Collection will be auctioned off next week. No pop art paintings from the Huang Collection will be auctioned off next week. Hence none of the pop art paintings to be auctioned off next week will be from the Huang Collection.（B）

(E) Every painting from the Huang Collection that is to be auctioned off next week is a major work of art. No price can adequately reflect the true value of a major work of art. Hence the prices that will be paid at next week’s auction will not adequately reflect the true value of the paintings sold.

19.   Without information that could only have come from someone present at the secret meeting between the finance minister and the leader of the opposition party, the newspaper story that forced the finance minister to resign could not have been written. No one witnessed the meeting, however, except the minister’s aide. It is clear, therefore, that the finance minister was ultimately brought down, not by any of his powerful political enemies, but by his own trusted aide.

The argument commits which one of the following errors of reasoning?

(A) drawing a conclusion on the basis of evidence that provides equally strong support for a competing conclusion

(B) assuming without warrant that if one thing cannot occur without another thing’s already having occurred, then the earlier thing cannot occur without bringing about the later thing

(C) confusing evidence that a given outcome on one occasion was brought about in a certain way with evidence that the same outcome on a different occasion was brought about in that way

(D) basing its conclusion on evidence that is almost entirely irrelevant to the point at issue（A）

(E) treating evidence that a given action contributed to bringing about a certain effect as though that evidence established that the given action by itself was sufficient to bring about that effect

20.   S. R. Evans: A few critics have dismissed my poems as not being poems and have dismissed me as not being a poet. But one principle of criticism has it that only true poets can recognize poetic creativity or function as critics of poetry—and that the only true poets are those whose work conveys genuine poetic creativity. But I have read the work of these critics; none of it demonstrated poetic creativity. These critics’ judgments should be rejected, since these critics are not true poets.

The argument above is vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it

(A) presupposes what it sets out to conclude, since the principle requires that only true poets can determine whether the critics’ work demonstrates poetic creativity

(B) uses the distinction between poets and critics as though everyone fell into one category or the other

(C) gives no justification for the implicit claim that the standing of a poet can be judged independently of his or her poetry

(D) makes an unjustifiable distinction, since it is possible that some critics are also poets（A）

(E) inevitably leads to the conclusion that poets can never learn to improve their poetry, since no poet is in a position to criticize his or her own work

21.   Claim: Country X’s government lowered tariff barriers because doing so served the interests of powerful foreign companies.

Principle: In order for a change to be explained by the advantage some person or group gained from it, it must be shown how the interests of the person or group played a role in bringing about the change.

Which one of the following, if true, can most logically serve as a premise for an argument that uses the principle to counter the claim?

(A) Foreign companies did benefit when Country X lowered tariff barriers, but consumers in Country X benefited just as much.

(B) In the period since tariff barriers were lowered, price competition among importers has severely limited importers’ profits from selling foreign companies’ products in Country X.

(C) It was impossible to predict how Country X’s economic reforms, which included lowering tariff barriers, would affect the economy in the short term.

(D) Many of the foreign companies that benefited from Country X’s lowering tariff barriers compete fiercely among themselves both in Country X and in other markets.（E）

(E) Although foreign companies benefited when Country X lowered tariff barriers, there is no other evidence that these foreign companies induced the change.

22.   A scientist made three observations: (1) in the world’s temperate zones, food is more plentiful in the ocean than it is in fresh water; (2) migratory fish in temperate zones generally mature in the ocean and spawn in fresh water; and (3) migratory fish need much nourishment as they mature but little or none during the part of their lives when they spawn. On the basis of those observations, the scientist formulated the hypothesis that food availability is a determining factor in the migration of migratory fish. Subsequently the scientist learned that in the tropics migratory fish generally mature in fresh water and spawn in the ocean.

Which one of the following would it be most helpful to know in order to judge whether what the scientist subsequently learned calls into question the hypothesis?

(A) whether in the world’s temperate zones, the temperatures of bodies of fresh water tend to be lower than those of the regions of the oceans into which they flow

(B) whether the types of foods that migratory fish eat while they inhabit the ocean are similar to those that they eat while they inhabit bodies of fresh water

(C) whether any species of fish with populations in temperate zones also have populations that live in the tropics

(D) whether there are more species of migratory fish in the tropics than there are in temperate zones（E）

(E) whether in the tropics food is less plentiful in the ocean than in fresh water

23.   No computer will ever be able to do everything that some human minds can do, for there are some problems that cannot be solved by following any set of mechanically applicable rules. Yet computers can only solve problems by following some set of mechanically applicable rules.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) At least one problem solvable by following some set of mechanically applicable rules is not solvable by any human mind.

(B) At least one problem not solvable by following any set of mechanically applicable rules is solvable by at least one human mind.

(C) At least one problem solvable by following some set of mechanically applicable rules is solvable by every human mind.

(D) Every problem that is solvable by following more than one set of mechanically applicable rules is solvable by almost every human mind.（B）

(E) Every problem that is solvable by following at least one set of mechanically applicable rules is solvable by at least one human mind.

24.   People were asked in a survey how old they felt. They replied, almost unanimously despite a great diversity of ages, with a number that was 75 percent of their real age. There is, however, a problem in understanding this sort of response. For example, suppose it meant that a 48-year-old man was claiming to feel as he felt at 36. But at age 36 he would have said he felt like a man of 27, and at 27 he would have said he felt just over 20, and so on into childhood. And surely, that 48-year-old man did not mean to suggest that he felt like a child!

Which one of the following techniques of reasoning is employed in the argument?

(A) projecting from responses collected at one time from many individuals of widely different ages to hypothetical earlier responses of a single individual at some of those ages

(B) reinterpreting what certain people actually said in the light of what would, in the circumstances, have been the most reasonable thing for them to say

(C) qualifying an overly sweeping generalization in light of a single well chosen counterexample

(D) deriving a contradiction from a pair of statements in order to prove that at least one of those statements is false（A）

(E) analyzing an unexpected unanimity among respondents as evidence, not of a great uniformity of opinion among those respondents, but of their successful manipulation by their questioners

SECTION III

Time 35 minutes 26 Questions

Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages...

Questions 1-2

Those who support the continued reading and performance of Shakespeare’s plays maintain that in England appreciation for his work has always extended beyond educated elites and that ever since Shakespeare’s own time his plays have always been known and loved by comparatively uneducated people. Skepticism about this claim is borne out by examining early eighteen-century editions of the plays. These books, with their fine paper and good bindings, must have been far beyond the reach of people of ordinary means.

1.     The main point of the argument is to

(A) suggest that knowledge of Shakespeare’s play is a suitable criterion for distinguishing the educated elite from other members of English society

(B) provide evidence that at some time in the past appreciation for Shakespeare’s play was confined to educated elites

(C) prove that early eighteenth-century appreciation for Shakespeare’s works rested on aspects of the works that are less appreciated today

(D) demonstrate that since Shakespeare’s time the people who have known and loved his work have all been members of educated elites（B）

(E) confirm the skepticism of the educated elite concerning the worth of Shakespeare’s plays

2.     Which one of the following describes a reasoning error in the argument?

(A) The argument uses the popularity of Shakespeare’s plays as a measure of their literary quality.

(B) The argument bases an aesthetic conclusion about Shakespeare’s plays on purely economic evidence.

(C) The argument anachronistically uses the standards of the twentieth century to judge events that occurred in the early eighteenth century.

(D) The argument judges the literary quality of a book’s text on the basis of the quality of the volume in which the text is printed.（E）

(E) The argument does not allow for the possibility that people might know Shakespeare’s plays without having read them.

3.     Organization president: The stationery and envelopes used in all of the mailings from our national headquarters are made from recycled paper, and we never put anything but letters in the envelopes. When the envelopes have windows, these windows are also made from recycled material. Therefore the envelopes, and thus these mailings, are completely recyclable.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the organization president’s argument depends?

(A) All the paper used by the organization for purposes other than mailings is recycled.

(B) The mailings from the organization’s national headquarters always use envelopes that have windows.

(C) The envelope windows made from recycled material are recyclable.

(D) The envelopes and stationery used in the organization’s mailings are always recycled.（C）

(E) The organization sends mailings only from its national headquarters.

Questions 4-5

The frequently expressed view that written constitutions are inherently more liberal than unwritten ones is false. No written constitution is more than a paper with words on it until those words are both interpreted and applied. Properly understood, then, a constitution is the sum of those procedures through which the power of the state is legitimately exercised and limited. Therefore, even a written constitution becomes a liberal constitution only when it is interpreted and applied in a liberal way.

4.     The main point of the argument above is that

(A) written constitutions are no more inherently liberal than are unwritten constitutions

(B) the idea of a written constitution, properly understood, is inherently self-contradictory

(C) unwritten constitutions are less subject to misinterpretation than are constitutions that have been written down

(D) liberal constitutions are extremely difficult to preserve（A）

(E) there are criteria for evaluating the interpretation and application of a constitution

5.     If the statements in the argument are all true, which one of the following must also be true on the basis of them?

(A) A careful analysis of the written text of a constitution can show that the constitution is not a liberal one.

(B) It is impossible to determine that a written constitution is liberal merely through careful analysis of the written text.

(C) There are no advantages to having a written rather than an unwritten constitution.

(D) Constitutions that are not written are more likely to be liberal than are constitutions that are written.（B）

(E) A constitution is a liberal constitution if it is possible to interpret it in a liberal way.

6.     As far as we know, Earth is the only planet on which life has evolved, and all known life forms are carbon-based. Therefore, although there might exist noncarbon-based life on planets very unlike Earth, our scientific estimates of the probability of extraterrestrial life should be generated from estimates of the number of planets like Earth and the likelihood of carbon-based life on those planets.

Which one of the following general principles most strongly supports the recommendation?

(A) There is no good reason to think that unobserved phenomena closely resemble those that have been observed.

(B) A scientific theory that explains a broad range of phenomena is preferable to a competing theory that explains only some of those phenomena.

(C) It is preferable for scientists to restrict their studies to phenomena that are observable and forego making estimates about unobservable things.

(D) A scientific theory that explains observed phenomena on the basis of a few principles that are independent of each other is preferable to a theory that explains those same phenomena on the basis of many independent principles.（E）

(E) Estimations of probability that are more closely tied to what is known are preferable to those that are less closely tied to what is known.

7.     Politician: Unless our nation redistributes wealth, we will be unable to alleviate economic injustice and our current system will lead inevitably to intolerable economic inequities. If the inequities become intolerable, those who suffer from the injustice will resort to violence to coerce social reform. It is our nation’s responsibility to do whatever is necessary to alleviate conditions that would otherwise give rise to violent attempts at social reform.

The statements above logically commit the politician to which one of the following conclusions?

(A) The need for political reform never justifies a resort to violent remedies.

(B) It is our nation’s responsibility to redistribute wealth.

(C) Politicians must base decisions on political expediency rather than on abstract moral principles.

(D) Economic injustice need not be remedied unless it leads to intolerable social conditions.（B）

(E) All that is required to create conditions of economic justice is the redistribution of wealth.

8.     Delta green ground beetles sometimes remain motionless for hours at a stretch, although they are more active in wet years than in dry years. In 1989 an observer spotted ten delta green ground beetles in nine hours; in 1985 the same observer at the same location had counted 38 in about two hours. This difference probably does not reflect a drop in the population of these rare beetles over this period, however, because 1985 was a wet year and 1989 was relatively dry.

Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the conclusion drawn above?

(A) Because of their excellent camouflage, delta green ground beetles are almost impossible to see if they are not moving.

(B) The only habitat of delta green ground beetles is around pools formed by the collection of winter rains in low-lying areas.

(C) Della green ground beetles move about very little to get food; most of their moving from one place to another is related to their reproductive behavior.

(D) Della green ground beetles are so rare that, although the first specimen was found in 1878, a second was not found until 1974.（A）

(E) No predator relies on the delta green ground beetle for a major portion of its food supply.

9.     Chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition that afflicts thousands of people, is invariably associated with lower-than-normal concentrations of magnesium in the blood. Further, malabsorption of magnesium from the digestive tract to the blood is also often associated with some types of fatigue. These facts in themselves demonstrate that treatments that raise the concentration of magnesium in the blood would provide an effective cure for the fatigue involved in the syndrome.

The argument is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?

(A) It fails to establish that lower-than-normal concentrations of magnesium in the blood are invariably due to malabsorption of magnesium.

(B) It offers no evidence that fatigue itself does not induce lowered concentrations of magnesium in the blood.

(C) It ignores the possibility that even in people who are not afflicted with chronic fatigue syndrome, concentration of magnesium in the blood fluctuates.

(D) It neglects to state the exact concentration of magnesium in the blood which is considered the normal concentration.（B）

(E) It does not specify what methods would be most effective in raising the concentration of magnesium in the blood.

Questions 10-11

Consumer advocate: The toy-labeling law should require manufacturers to provide explicit safety labels on toys to indicate what hazards the toys pose. The only labels currently required by law are labels indicating the age range for which a toy is intended. For instance, a “three and up” label is required on toys that pose a choking hazard for children under three years of age. Although the current toy-labeling law has indeed reduced the incidence of injuries to children from toys, parents could prevent such injuries almost entirely if toy labels provided explicit safety information.

10.   Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the consumer advocate’s argument?

(A) Certain types of toys have never been associated with injury to children.

(B) Most parents believe that the current labels are recommendations regarding level of cognitive skill.

(C) The majority of children injured by toys are under three years of age.

(D) Many parents do not pay attention to manufacturers’ labels when they select toys for their children.（B）

(E) Choking is the most serious hazard presented to children by toys.

11.   The statement that the law should require explicit safety labels on toys serves which one of the following functions in the consumer advocate’s argument?

(A) It is a general principle supporting the conclusion of the argument.

(B) It is a proposed compromise between two conflicting goals.

(C) It is the conclusion of the argument.

(D) It is evidence that must be refuted in order to establish the conclusion of the argument.（C）

(E) It is a particular instance of the general position under discussion.

12.   Proponents of organic farming claim that using chemical fertilizers and pesticide in farming is harmful to local wildlife. To produce the same amount of food, however, more land must be under cultivation when organic farming techniques are used than when chemicals are used. Therefore, organic farming leaves less land available as habitat for local wildlife.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the author’s argument depends?

(A) Chemical fertilizers and pesticides pose no health threat to wildlife.

(B) Wildlife living near farms where chemicals are used will not ingest any food or water containing those chemicals.

(C) The only disadvantage to using chemicals in farming is their potential effect on wildlife.

(D) The same crops are grown on organic farms as on farms where chemicals are used.（E）

(E) Land cultivated by organic farming methods no longer constitutes a habitat for wildlife.

13.   Reptiles are air-breathing vertebrates with completely ossified skeletons; so alligators must be air-breathing vertebrates with completely ossified skeletons.

In terms of its logical features, the argument above most resembles which one of the following?

(A) Green plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the air; so it follows that grass takes in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen into the air.

(B) Some red butterflies are poisonous to birds that prey on them; so this particular red butterfly is poisonous to birds that prey on it.

(C) Knowledge about the empirical world can be gained from books; so Virginia Woolf’s book A Room of One’s Own must provide knowledge about the empirical world.

(D) Dierdre has seen every film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder; so Dierdre must have seen Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, a film directed by Fassbinder.（A）

(E) Skiers run a high risk of bone fracture; so it is likely that Lindsey, who has been an avid skier for many years, has suffered a broken bone at some point.

14.   Although inflated government spending for weapons research encourages waste at weapons research laboratories, weapons production plants must be viewed as equally wasteful of taxpayer dollars. After all, by the government’s own admission, the weapons plant it plans to reopen will violate at least 69 environmental, health, and safety laws. The government has decided to reopen the plant and exempt it from compliance, even though the weapons to be produced there could be produced at the same cost at a safer facility.

The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on which one of the following grounds?

(A) It offers no evidence that the “safer” alternative production site actually complies with any of the laws mentioned.

(B) It concedes a point regarding weapons research laboratories that undermines its conclusion about weapons production plants.

(C) It relies on evidence that does not directly address the issue of wasteful spending.

(D) It confuses necessary expenditures for research with wasteful spending on weapons.（C）

(E) It fails to establish that research laboratories and weapons production plants are similar enough to be meaningfully compared.

Questions 15-16

Dr. Godfrey: Now that high school students are allowed to work more than 15 hours per week at part-time jobs, those who actually do so show less interest in school and get lower grades than those who do not work as many hours at part-time jobs. Obviously, working long hours at part-time jobs during the school year contributes to the academic problems that many of our high school students experience.

Dr. Nash: That’s not so. Many of our high school students set out to earn as much money as they can simply to compensate for their lack of academic success.

15.   Dr. Nash responds to Dr. Godfrey’s argument by doing which one of the following?

(A) attempting to downplay the seriousness of the problems facing academically troubled high school students

(B) offering an alternative interpretation of the evidence cited by Dr. Godfrey

(C) questioning the accuracy of the evidence on which Dr. Godfrey bases his conclusion

(D) proposing that the schools are not at fault for the academic problems facing many high school students（B）

(E) raising the possibility that there is no relationship between academic problems among high school students and part-time employment

16.   The answer to which one of the following would be the most helpful in determining whether the conclusion that Dr. Godfrey draws could be logically defended against Dr. Nash’s counterargument?

(A) whether people who have had academic problems in high school are ultimately less successful in their careers than people who have not had such problems

(B) whether students are allowed to spend more than 15 hours per week at school-sponsored nonacademic extracurricular activities such as team sports or clubs

(C) whether the students who work more than 15 hours per week and have academic problems had such problems before they began to work that many hours

(D) whether employers and high school students typically obey all the laws that regulate the conditions under which young people may legally be employed（C）

(E) whether high school students who have after-school jobs continue to work at those jobs after graduating from high school

17.   X: Medical research on animals should not be reduced in response to a concern for animals, because results of such research serve to avert human suffering. In such research a trade-off between human and animal welfare is always inevitable, but we should give greater weight to human welfare.

Y: With technology that is currently available, much of the research presently performed on animals could instead be done with computer modeling or human subjects without causing any suffering.

The relationship of Y’s response to X’s argument is that Y’s response

(A) contradicts a premise on which X’s argument relies

(B) disagrees with X about the weight to be given to animal suffering as opposed to human suffering

(C) presents a logical consequence of the premises of X’s argument

(D) strengthens X’s argument by presenting evidence not mentioned by X’s argument（A）

(E) supplies a premise to X’s argument that was not explicitly stated

18.   In experiments in which certain kinds of bacteria were placed in a generous supply of nutrients, the populations of bacteria grew rapidly, and genetic mutations occurred at random in the populations. These experiments show that all genetic mutation is random.

Which one of the following, if true, enables the conclusion to be properly drawn?

(A) Either all genetic mutations are random or none are random.

(B) The bacteria tested in the experiments were of extremely common forms.

(C) If all genetic mutations in bacteria are random, then all genetic mutations in every other life form are random also.

(D) The kind of environment in which genetic mutation takes place has no effect on the way genetic mutation occurs.（A）

(E) The nutrients used were the same as those that nourish the bacteria in nature.

19.   Thomas: The club president had no right to disallow Jeffrey’s vote. Club rules say that only members in good standing may vote. You’ve admitted that club rules also say that all members whose dues are fully paid are members in good standing. And since, as the records indicate, Jeffrey has always paid his dues on time, clearly the president acted in violation of club rules.

Althea: By that reasoning my two-year-old niece can legally vote in next month’s national election since she is a citizen of this country, and only citizens can legally vote in national elections.

The reasoning in Thomas’ argument is flawed because his argument

(A) fails to take into account the distinction between something not being prohibited and its being authorized

(B) offers evidence that casts doubt on the character of the club president and thereby ignores the question of voting eligibility

(C) wrongly assumes that if a statement is not actually denied by someone, that statement must be regarded as true

(D) does not specify the issue with respect to which the disputed vote was cast（A）

(E) overlooks the possibility that Althea is not an authority on the club’s rules

20.   Calories consumed in excess of those with which the body needs to be provided to maintain its weight are normally stored as fat and the body gains weight. Alcoholic beverages are laden with calories. However, those people who regularly drink two or three alcoholic beverages a day and thereby exceed the caloric intake necessary to maintain their weight do not in general gain weight.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy?

(A) Some people who regularly drink two or three alcoholic beverages a day avoid exceeding the caloric intake necessary to maintain their weight by decreasing caloric intake from other sources.

(B) Excess calories consumed by people who regularly drink two or three alcoholic beverages a day tend to be dissipated as heat.

(C) Some people who do not drink alcoholic beverages but who eat high-calorie foods do not gain weight.

(D) Many people who regularly drink more than three alcoholic beverages a day do not gain weight.（B）

(E) Some people who take in fewer calories than are normally necessary to maintain their weight do not lose weight.

21.   When a person with temporal lobe epilepsy is having an epileptic seizure, part of the brain’s temporal lobe produces abnormal electrical impulses, which can often, but not always, be detected through a test called an electroencephalogram (EEG). Therefore, although a positive EEG reading—that is, evidence of abnormal electrical impulses—during an apparent seizure is a reasonably reliable indicator of temporal lobe epilepsy, ______

Of the following, which one logically completes the conclusion above?

(A) a positive reading is just as reliable an indicator of the absence of temporal lobe epilepsy

(B) a positive reading can also indicate the presence of other forms of epilepsy

(C) a positive reading is more frequently an erroneous reading than is a negative one

(D) a negative reading does not mean that temporal lobe epilepsy can be ruled out（D）

(E) a negative reading is just as reliable an indicator of the presence of temporal lobe epilepsy

22.   In Sheldon most bicyclists aged 18 and over have lights on their bicycles, whereas most bicyclists under the age of 18 do not. It follows that in Sheldon most bicyclists who have lights on their bicycles are at least 18 yean old.

Which one of the following exhibits a pattern of flawed reasoning most similar to that in the argument above?

(A) Most of the people in Sheldon buy gasoline on Mondays only. But almost everyone in Sheldon buys groceries on Tuesdays only. It follows that fewer than half of the people in Sheldon buy gasoline on the same day on which they buy groceries.

(B) The Sheldon Library lent more books during the week after it began lending videos than it had in the entire preceding month. It follows that the availability of videos was responsible for the increase in the number of books lent.

(C) Most of the residents of Sheldon who voted in the last election are on the Conservative party’s mailing list, whereas most of Sheldon’s residents who did not vote are not on the list. It follows that most of the residents of Sheldon on the Conservative party’s mailing list voted in the last election.

(D) In the country where Sheldon is located, every town that has two or more fire trucks has a town pool, whereas most towns that have fewer than two fire trucks do not have a town pool. It follows that Sheldon, which has a town pool, must have at least two fire trucks.（C）

(E) In Sheldon everyone over the age of 60 who knits also sews, but not everyone over the age of 60 who sews also knits. It follows that among people over the age of 60 in Sheldon there are more who sew than there are who knit.

23.   Asbestos, an almost indestructible mineral once installed as building insulation, poses no health risk unless the asbestos is disturbed and asbestos fibers are released into the environment. Since removing asbestos from buildings disturbs it, thereby releasing asbestos fibers, the government should not require removal of all asbestos insulation.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

(A) Asbestos poses far less risk to health than does smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, improper diet or lack of exercise.

(B) Asbestos can post a health threat to workers who remove it without wearing required protective gear.

(C) Some kinds of asbestos, when disturbed, pose greater health risks than do other kinds.

(D) Asbestos is inevitably disturbed by building renovations or building demolition.（E）

(E) Much of the time, removed asbestos is buried in landfills and forgotten with no guarantee that it will not be disturbed again.

Question 24-25

When volcanic lava solidifies, it becomes uniformly magnetized in the direction in which the Earth’s magnetic field points. There are significant differences in the direction of magnetization among solidified lava flows from different volcanoes that erupted at different times over the past several million years. Therefore, it must be that the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field has changed over time. Since lava flows differing by thousands of years in age often have very similar directions of magnetization, the change in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field must take place very gradually over hundreds of thousands of years.

24.   The argument that the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field has changed over time requires the assumption that

(A) only lava can be used to measure the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field as it existed in the distant past

(B) a single volcano can produce lava of differing consistencies during different eruptions

(C) not all solidified lava has changed the direction of its magnetization unpredictably

(D) there are fewer volcanic eruptions now than there were millions of years ago（C）

(E) as lava flows down the side of a volcano, it picks up magnetized rocks

25.   Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the conclusion that the change in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field happened very slowly?

(A) The changes in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field are determined by the chaotic movement of iron-containing liquids in the Earth’s outer core.

(B) There has not been a change in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field since scientists have begun measuring the direction of magnetization of lava flows.

(C) The direction of the Earth’s magnetic field has undergone a complete reversal several times over the past few million years.

(D) A lava flow has been found in which the direction of magnetization in the center of the flow differs significantly from that on the surface, even though the flow took only two weeks to solidity completely.（D）

(E) Since the rate at which molten lava solidifies depends on the temperature and altitude of the environment, some lava flows from volcanoes in certain areas will take years to solidity completely.

26.   When the manufacturers in a given country are slower to adopt new technologies than their foreign competitors are, their production costs will fall more slowly than their foreign competitors’ costs will. But if manufacturers’ production costs fall less rapidly than their foreign competitors’ costs do, those manufacturers will be unable to lower their prices as rapidly as their foreign competitors can; and when a country’s manufacturers cannot lower their-prices as rapidly as their foreign competitors can, that country gets squeezed out of the global market.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true on the basis of them?

(A) If the manufacturers in one country raise their prices, it is because they have squeezed their foreign competitors out of the global market.

(B) If manufacturers in one country have been squeezed out of the global market, this shows that their foreign competitors have adopted new technologies more rapidly than they have.

(C) If a country’s foreign competitors can lower their production costs more rapidly than the country’s own manufacturers can, then their foreign competitors must have adopted new manufacturing techniques.

(D) If a country’s manufacturers adopt new technologies at the same rate as their foreign competitors, neither group will be able to squeeze the other out of the global market.（E）

(E) If a country’s manufacturers can lower their prices as rapidly as their foreign competitors can, this shows that they adopt new technology at least as fast as their foreign competitors do.

TEST 16

SECTION II

1.        A	2.        D	3.        E	4.        D	5.        A
6.        B	7.        B	8.        A	9.        E	10.    C
11.    E	12.    C	13.    E	14.    B	15.    C
16.    E	17.    D	18.    B	19.    A	20.    A
21.    E	22.    E	23.    B	24.    A	25.

SECTION III

1.        B	2.        E	3.        C	4.        A	5.        B
6.        E	7.        B	8.        A	9.        B	10.    B
11.    C	12.    E	13.    A	14.    C	15.    B
16.    C	17.    A	18.    A	19.    A	20.    B
21.    D	22.    C	23.    E	24.    C	25.    D
26.    E	27.	28.	29.	30.

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