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TEST 19
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. The city’s center for disease control reports that the rabies epidemic is more serious now than it was two years ago: two years ago less than 25 percent of the local raccoon population was infected, whereas today the infection has spread to more than 50 percent of the raccoon population. However, the newspaper reports that whereas two years ago 32 cases of rabid raccoons were confirmed during a 12-month period, in the past 12 months only 18 cases of rabid raccoons were confirmed.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy between the two reports?
(A) The number of cases of rabies in wild animals other than raccoons has increased in the past 12 months.
(B) A significant proportion of the raccoon population succumbed to rabies in the year before last.
(C) The symptoms of distemper, another disease to which raccoons are susceptible, are virtually identical to those of rabies.
(D) Since the outbreak of the epidemic, raccoons, which are normally nocturnal, have increasingly been seen during daylight hours.（B）
(E) The number of confirmed cases of rabid raccoons in neighboring cities has also decreased over the past year.
2. Recently, reviewers of patent applications decided against granting a patent to a university for a genetically engineered mouse developed for laboratory use in studying cancer. The reviewers argued that the mouse was a new variety of animal and that rules governing the granting of patents specifically disallow patents for new animal varieties.
Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the patent reviewers’ argument?
(A) The restrictions the patent reviewers cited pertain only to domesticated farm animals.
(B) The university’s application for a patent for the genetically engineered mouse was the first such patent application made by the university.
(C) The patent reviewers had reached the same decision on all previous patent requests for new animal varieties.
(D) The patent reviewers had in the past approved patents for genetically engineered plant varieties.（A）
(E) The patent reviewers had previously decided against granting patents for new animal varieties that were developed through conventional breeding programs rather than through genetic engineering.
Questions 3-4
Although water in deep aquifers does not contain disease-causing bacteria, when public water supplies are drawn from deep aquifers, chlorine is often added to the water as a disinfectant because contamination can occur as a result of flaws in pipes or storage tanks. Of 50 municipalities that all pumped water from the same deep aquifer 30 chlorinated their water and 20 did not. The water in all of the municipalities met the regional government’s standards for cleanliness, yet the water supplied by the 20 municipalities that did not chlorinated had less bacterial contamination than the water supplied by the municipalities that added chlorine.
3. Which one of the following can properly be concluded from the information given above?
(A) A municipality’s initial decision whether or not to use chlorine is based on the amount of bacterial contamination in the water source.
(B) Water in deep aquifers does not contain any bacteria of any kind.
(C) Where accessible, deep aquifers are the best choice as a source for a municipal water supply.
(D) The regional government’s standards allow some bacteria in municipal water supplies.（D）
(E) Chlorine is the least effective disinfecting agent.
4. Which one of the following, if true, most helps explain the difference in bacterial contamination in the two groups of municipalities?
(A) Chlorine is considered by some experts to be dangerous to human health, even in the small concentrations used in municipal water supplies.
(B) When municipalities decide not to chlorinate their water supplies, it is usually because their citizens have voiced objections to the taste and smell of chlorine.
(C) The municipalities that did not add chlorine to their water supplies also did not add any of the other available water disinfectants which are more expensive than chlorine.
(D) Other agents commonly added to public water supplies such as fluoride and sodium hydroxide were not used by any of the 50 municipalities.（E）
(E) Municipalities that do not chlorinate their water supplies are subject to stricter regulation by the regional government in regard to pipes and water tanks than are municipalities that use chlorine.
5. The population of songbirds throughout England has decreased in recent years. Many people explain this decrease as the result of an increase during the same period in the population of magpies, which eat the eggs and chicks of songbirds.
Which one of the following, if true, argues most strongly against the explanation reported in the passage?
(A) Official records of the population of birds in England have been kept for only the past 30 years.
(B) The number of eggs laid yearly by a female songbird varies widely according to the songbird’s species.
(C) Although the overall population of magpies has increased, in most areas of England in which the songbird population has decreased the number of magpies has remained stable.
(D) The population of magpies has increased because farmers no longer shoot or trap magpies to any great extent, though farmers still consider magpies to be pests.（C）
(E) Although magpies eat the eggs and chicks of songbirds, magpies’ diets consist of a wide variety of other foods as well.
6. The introduction of symbols for numbers is an event lost in prehistory, but the earliest known number symbols, in the form of simple grooves and scratches on bones and stones date back 20,000 years or more. Nevertheless, since it was not until 5,500 years ago that systematic methods for writing numerals were invented, it was only then that any sort of computation became possible.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument relies?
(A) Grooves and scratches found on bones and stones were all made by people, and none resulted from natural processes.
(B) Some kinds of surfaces upon which numeric symbols could have been made in the period before 5,500 years ago were not used for that purpose.
(C) Grooves and scratches inscribed on bones and stones do not date back to the time of the earliest people.
(D) Computation of any sort required a systematic method for writing numerals.（D）
(E) Systematic methods for writing numerals were invented only because the need for computation arose.
7. Politician: Now that we are finally cleaning up the industrial pollution in the bay, we must start making the bay more accessible to the public for recreational purposes.
Reporter: But if we increase public access to the bay, it will soon become polluted again.
Politician: Not true. The public did not have access to the bay, and it got polluted. Therefore, if and when the public is given access to the bay, it will not get polluted.
Which one of the following most closely parallels the flawed pattern of reasoning in the politician’s reply to the reporter?
(A) If there had been a full moon last night, the tide would be higher than usual today. Since the tide is no higher than usual, there must not have been a full moon last night.
(B) The detective said that whoever stole the money would be spending it conspicuously by now. Jones is spending money conspicuously, so he must be the thief.
(C) When prisoners convicted of especially violent crimes were kept in solitary confinement, violence in the prisons increased. Therefore, violence in the prisons will not increase if such prisoners are allowed to mix with fellow prisoners.
(D) To get a driver’s license, one must pass a written test. Smith passed the written test, so she must have gotten a driver’s license.（C）
(E) In order to like abstract art, you have to understand it. Therefore, in order to understand abstract art, you have to like it.
8. Because learned patterns of behavior, such as the association of a green light with “go” or the expectation that switches will flip up for “on,” become deeply ingrained, designers should make allowances for that fact, in order not to produce machines that are inefficient or dangerous.
In which one of the following situations is the principle expressed most clearly violated?
(A) Manufacturers have refused to change the standard order of letters on the typewriter keyboard even though some people who have never learned to type find this arrangement of letters bewildering.
(B) Government regulations require that crucial instruments in airplane cockpits be placed in exactly the same array in all commercial aircraft.
(C) Automobile manufacturers generally design for all of their automobiles a square or oblong ignition key and a round or oval luggage compartment key.
(D) The only traffic signs that are triangular in shape are “yield” signs.（E）
(E) On some tape recorders the “start” button is red and the “stop” button is yellow.
9. From 1973 to 1989 total energy use in this country increased less than 10 percent. However, the use of electrical energy in this country during this same period grew by more than 50 percent as did the gross national product—the total value of all goods and services produced in the nation.
If the statements above are true, then which one of the following must also be true?
(A) Most of the energy used in this country in 1989 was electrical energy.
(B) From 1973 to 1989 there was a decline in the use of energy other than electrical energy in this country.
(C) From 1973 to 1989 there was an increase in the proportion of energy use in this country that consisted of electrical energy use.
(D) In 1989 electrical energy constituted a larger proportion of the energy used to produce the gross national product than did any other form of energy.（C）
(E) In 1973 the electrical energy that was produced constituted a smaller proportion of the gross national product than did all other forms of energy combined.
10. A fundamental illusion in robotics is the belief that improvements in robots will liberate humanity from “hazardous and demeaning work.” Engineers are designing only those types of robots that can be properly maintained with the least expensive, least skilled human labor possible. Therefore, robots will not eliminate demeaning work—only substitute one type of demeaning work for another.
The
reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to the criticism that it
(A) ignores the consideration that in a competitive business environment some jobs might be eliminated if robots are not used in the manufacturing process
(B) assumes what it sets out to prove, that robots create demeaning work
(C) does not specify whether or not the engineers who design robots consider their work demeaning
(D) attempts to support its conclusion by an appeal to the emotion of fear, which is often experienced by people faced with the prospect of losing their jobs to robots（E）
(E) fails to address the possibility that the amount of demeaning work eliminated by robots might be significantly greater than the amount they create
11. If the needle on an industrial sewing machine becomes badly worn, the article being sewn can be ruined. In traditional apparel factories, the people who operate the sewing machines monitor the needles and replace those that begin to wear out. Industrial sewing operations are becoming increasingly automated, however, and it would be inefficient for a factory to hire people for the sole purpose of monitoring needles. Therefore a sophisticated new acoustic device that detects wear in sewing machine needles is expected to become standard equipment in the automated apparel factories of the future.
Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?
(A) In automated apparel factories, items will be ruined by faulty needles less frequently than happens in traditional apparel factories.
(B) In the automated apparel factories of the future, each employee will perform only one type of task.
(C) Traditional apparel factories do not use any automated equipment.
(D) The needles of industrial sewing machines wear out at unpredictable rates.（D）
(E) As sewing machine needles become worn, the noise they make becomes increasingly loud.
Questions 12-13
Alexander: The chemical waste dump outside our town should be cleaned up immediately. Admittedly, it will be very costly to convert that site into woodland, but we have a pressing obligation to redress the harm we have done to local forests and wildlife.
Teresa: But our town’s first priority is the health of its people. So even if putting the dump there was environmentally disastrous, we should not spend our resources on correcting it unless it presents a significant health to people. If it does, then we only need to remove that hazard.
12. Teresa’s statement most closely conforms to which one of the following principles?
(A) Environmental destruction should be redressed only if it is in the economic interest of the community to do so.
(B) Resources should be allocated only to satisfy goals that have the highest priority.
(C) No expense should be spared in protecting the community’s health.
(D) Environmental hazards that pose slight health risks to people should be rectified if the technology is available to do so.（B）
(E) It is the community as a whole that should evaluate the importance of eliminating various perceived threats to public health.
13. Which one of the following is the point at issue between Alexander and Teresa?
(A) whether the maintenance of a chemical waste dump inflicts significant damage on forests and wildlife
(B) whether it is extremely costly to clean up a chemical waste dump in order to replace it by a woodland
(C) whether the public should be consulted in determining the public health risk posed by a chemical waste dump
(D) whether the town has an obligation to redress damage to local forests and wildlife if that damage poses no significant health hazard to people（D）
(E) whether destroying forests and wildlife in order to establish a chemical waste dump amounts to an environmental disaster
14. In 1980, Country A had a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) that was $5,000 higher than that of the European Economic Community. By 1990, the difference, when adjusted for inflation, had increased to $6,000. Since a rising per capita GDP indicates a rising average standard of living, the average standard of living in Country A must have risen between 1980 and 1990.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) Between 1980 and 1990, Country A and the European Economic Community experienced the same percentage increase in population.
(B) Between 1980 and 1990 the average standard of living in the European Economic Community fell.
(C) Some member countries of the European Economic Community had, during the 1980s, a higher average standard of living than Country A.
(D) The per capita GDP of the European Economic Community was not lower by more that $1,000 in 1990 than it had been in 1980.（D）
(E) In 1990, no member country of the European Economic Community had a per capita GDP higher than that of Country A.
15. Municipal officials originally estimated that it would be six months before municipal road crews could complete repaving a stretch of road. The officials presumed that private contractors could not finish any sooner. However, when the job was assigned to a private contractor, it was completed in just 28 days.
Which one of the following, if true, does most to resolve the discrepancy between the time estimated for completion of the repaving job and the actual time taken by the private contractor?
(A) Road repaving work can only be done in the summer months of June, July and August.
(B) The labor union contract for road crews employed by both municipal agencies and private contractors stipulates that employees can work only eight hours a day, five day a week, before being paid overtime.
(C) Many road-crew workers for private contractors have previously worked for municipal road crews and vice versa.
(D) Private contractors typically assign 25 workers to each road-repaving job site whereas the number assigned to municipal road crews is usually 30.（E）
(E) Municipal agencies must conduct a lengthy bidding process to procure supplies after repaving work is ordered and before they can actually start work, whereas private contractors can obtain supplies readily as needed.
16. Researchers in South Australia estimate changes in shark populations inhabiting local waters by monitoring what is termed the “catch per unit effort” (CPUE). The CPUE for any species of shark is the number of those sharks that commercial shark-fishing boats catch per hour for each kilometer of gill net set out in the water. Since 1973 the CPUE for a particular species of shark has remained fairly constant. Therefore, the population of that species in the waters around South Australia must be at approximately its 1973 level.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
(A) The waters around South Australia are the only area in the world where that particular species of shark is found.
(B) The sharks that are the most profitable to catch are those that tend to remain in the same area of ocean year after year and not migrate far from where they were born.
(C) A significant threat to shark populations, in addition to commercial shark fishing, is “incidental mortality” that results from catching sharks in nets intended for other fish.
(D) Most of the quotas designed to protect shark populations limit the tonnage of sharks that can be taken and not the number of individual sharks.（E）
(E) Since 1980 commercial shark-fishing boats have used sophisticated electronic equipment that enables them to locate sharks with greater accuracy.
Questions 17-18
Winston: The Public Transportation Authority (PTA) cannot fulfill its mandate to operate without a budget deficit unless it eliminates service during late-night periods of low ridership. Since the fares collected during these periods are less than the cost of providing the service, these cuts would reduce the deficit and should be made. Transit law prohibits unauthorized fare increases, and fare-increase authorization would take two years.
Ping: Such service cuts might cost the PTA more in lost fares than they would save in costs, for the PTA would lose those riders who leave home during the day but must return late at night. Thus the PTA would lose two fares while realizing cost savings for only one leg of such trips.
17. The relationship of Ping’s response to Winston’s argument is that Ping’s response
(A) carefully redefines a term used in Winston’s argument
(B) questions Winston’s proposal by raising considerations not addressed by Winston
(C) supplies a premise that could have been used as part of the support for Winston’s argument
(D) introduces detailed statistical evidence that is more persuasive than that offered by Winston（B）
(E) proposes a solution to the PTA’s dilemma by contradicting Winston’s conclusion
18. Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports Ping’s conclusion?
(A) Over 23 percent of the round trips made by PTA riders are either initiated or else completed during late-night periods.
(B) Reliable survey results show that over 43 percent of the PTA’s riders oppose any cut in PTA services.
(C) The last time the PTA petitioned for a 15 percent fare increase, the petition was denied.
(D) The PTA’s budget deficit is 40 percent larger this year than it was last year.（A）
(E) The PTA’s bus drivers recently won a new contract that guarantees them a significant cash bonus each time they work the late-night shifts.
19. The Volunteer for Literacy Program would benefit if Dolores takes Victors place as director, since Dolores is far more skillful than Victor is at securing the kind of financial support the program needs and Dolores does not have Victor’s propensity for alienating program’s most dedicated volunteers.
The pattern of reasoning in the argument above is most closely paralleled in which one of the following?
(A) It would be more convenient for Dominique to take a bus to school than to take the subway, since the bus stops closer to her house than does the subway and, unlike the subway, the bus goes directly to the school.
(B) Joshua’s interest would be better served by taking the bus to get to his parent’s house rather than by taking an airplane, since his primary concern is to travel as cheaply as possible and taking the bus is less expensive than going by airplane.
(C) Belinda will get to the concert more quickly by subway than by taxi since the concert takes place on a Friday evening and on Friday evenings traffic near the concert hall is exceptionally heavy.
(D) Anita would benefit financially by taking the train to work rather than driving her car, since when she drives she has to pay parking fees and the daily fee for parking a car is higher than a round-trip train ticket.（A）
(E) It would be to Fred’s advantage to exchange his bus tickets for train tickets since he needs to arrive at his meeting before any of the other participants and if he goes by bus at least one of the other participants will arrive first.
20. Students from outside the province of Markland, who in any given academic year pay twice as much tuition each as do students from Markland, had traditionally accounted for at least two-thirds of the enrollment at Central Markland College. Over the past 10 years academic standards at the college have risen and the proportion of students who are not Marklanders has dropped to around 40 percent.
Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the statements above?
(A) If it had not been for the high tuition paid by students from outside Markland, the college could not have improved its academic standards over the past 10 years.
(B) If academic standards had not risen over the past 10 years, students who are not Marklanders would still account for at least two-thirds of the college’s enrollment.
(C) Over the past 10 year the number of students from Markland increased and the number of students from outside Markland decreased.
(D) Over the past 10 years academic standards at Central Markland College have risen by more than academic standards at any other college in Markland.（E）
(E) If the college’s per capita revenue from tuition has remained the same, tuition fees have increased over the past 10 years.
21. Several years ago, as a measure to reduce the population of gypsy moths, which depend on oak leaves for food, entomologists introduced into many oak forests a species of fungus that is poisonous to gypsy moth caterpillars. Since then the population of both caterpillars and adult moths has significantly declined in those areas. Entomologists have concluded that the decline is attributable to the presence of the poisonous fungus.
Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the conclusion drawn by the entomologists?
(A) A strain of gypsy moth whose caterpillars are unaffected by the fungus has increased its share of the total gypsy moth population.
(B) The fungus that was introduced to control the gypsy moth population is poisonous to few insect species other than the gypsy moth.
(C) An increase in number of both gypsy moth caterpillars and gypsy moth adults followed a drop in the number of some of the species that prey on the moths.
(D) In the past several years, air pollution and acid rain have been responsible for a substantial decline in oak tree populations.（A）
(E) The current decline in the gypsy moth population in forests where the fungus was introduced is no greater than a decline that occurred concurrently in other forests.
22. Director of personnel: Ms. Tours has formally requested a salary adjustment on the grounds that she was denied merit raises to which she was entitled. Since such grounds provide a possible basis for adjustments, an official response is required. Ms. Tours presents compelling evidence that her job performance has been both excellent in itself and markedly superior to that of others in her department who were awarded merit raises. Her complaint that she was treated unfairly thus appears justified. Nevertheless, her request should be denied. To raise Ms. Tours’s salary because of her complaint would jeopardize the integrity of the firm’s merit-based reward system by sending the message that employees can get their salaries raised if they just complain enough.
The
personnel director’s reasoning is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds
that it
(A) fails to consider the possibility that Ms. Taurus’s complaint could be handled on an unofficial basis
(B) attempts to undermine the persuasiveness of Ms. Taurus’s evidence by characterizing it as “mere complaining”
(C) sidesteps the issue of whether superior job performance is a suitable basis for awarding salary increases
(D) ignores the possibility that some of the people who did receive merit increases were not entitled to them（E）
(E) overlooks the implications for the integrity of the firm’s merit-based reward system of denying Ms. Tours’s request
23. S: People who are old enough to fight for their country are old enough to vote for the people who make decisions about war and peace. This government clearly regards 17 year olds as old enough to fight, so it should acknowledge their right to vote.
T: Your argument is a good one only to the extent that fighting and voting are the same kind of activity. Fighting well requires strength, muscular coordination, and in a modern army, instant and automatic response to orders. Performed responsibly, voting, unlike fighting, is essentially a deliberative activity requiring reasoning power and knowledge of both history and human nature.
T responds to S’s argument by
(A) citing evidence overlooked by S that would have supported S’s conclusion
(B) calling into question S’s understanding of the concept of rights
(C) showing that S has ignored the distinction between having a right to do something and having an obligation to do that thing
(D) challenging the truth of a claim on which S’s conclusion is based（D）
(E) arguing for a conclusion opposite to the one drawn by S
24. The role of the Uplandian supreme court is to protect all human rights against abuses of government power. Since the constitution of Uplandia is not explicit about all human rights, the supreme court must sometimes resort to principles outside the explicit provisions of the constitution in justifying its decisions. However, human rights will be subject to the whim of whoever holds judicial power unless the supreme court is bound to adhere to a single objective standard, namely, the constitution. Therefore, nothing but the explicit provisions of the constitution can be used to justify the court’s decisions. Since these conclusions are inconsistent with each other, it cannot be true that the role of the Uplandian supreme court is to protect all human rights against abuses of government power.
The
reasoning that leads to the conclusion that the first sentence in the passage is
false is flawed because the argument
(A) ignores data that offer reasonable support for a general claim and focuses on a single example that argues against that claim
(B) seeks to defend a view on the grounds that the view is widely held and the decisions based on that view are often accepted as correct
(C) rejects a claim as false on the grounds that those who make that claim could profit if that claim is accepted by others
(D) makers an unwarranted assumption that what is true of each member of a group taken separately is also true of the group as a whole（E）
(E) concludes that a particular premise is false when it is equally possible for that premise to be true and some other premise false
SECTION III
Time 35 minutes 26 Questions
Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages...
1. The painted spider spins webs that are much stickier than the webs spun by the other species of spiders that share the same habitat. Stickler webs are more efficient at trapping insects that fly into them. Spiders prey on insects by trapping them in their webs therefore. It can be concluded that the painted spider is a more successful predator than its competitors.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
(A) Not all of the species of insects living in the painted spider’s habitat are flying insects.
(B) Butterflies and moths which can shed scales are especially unlikely to be trapped by spider webs that are not very sticky.
(C) Although the painted spider’s venom does not kill insects quickly, it paralyzes them almost instantaneously.
(D) Stickier webs reflect more light and so are more visible to insects than are less-sticky webs.（D）
(E) The webs spun by the painted spider are no larger than the webs spun by the other species of spiders in the same habitat.
2. Despite the best efforts of astronomers, no one has yet succeeded in exchanging messages with intelligent life on other planets or in other solar systems. In fact, no one has even managed to prove that any kind of extraterrestrial life exists. Thus, there is clearly no intelligent life anywhere but on Earth.
The argument’s reasoning is flawed because the argument
(A) fails to consider that there might be extraterrestrial forms of intelligence that are not living beings
(B) confuses an absence of evidence for a hypothesis with the existence of evidence against the hypothesis
(C) interprets a disagreement over a scientific theory as a disproof of that theory
(D) makes an inference that relies on the vagueness of the term “life”（B）
(E) relies on a weak analogy rather than on evidence to draw a conclusion
Questions 3-4
Bart: A mathematical problem that defied solution for hundreds of years has finally yielded to a supercomputer. The process by which the supercomputer derived the result is so complex, however, that no one can fully comprehend it. Consequently, the result is unacceptable.
Anne: In scientific research if the results of a test can be replicated in other tests, the results are acceptable even though the way they were derived might not be fully understood. Therefore, if a mathematical result derived by a supercomputer can be reproduced by other supercomputers following the same procedure, it is acceptable.
3. Bart’s argument requires which one of the following assumptions?
(A) The mathematical result in question is unacceptable because it was derived with the use of a supercomputer.
(B) For the mathematical result in question to be acceptable, there must be someone who can fully comprehend the process by which it was derived.
(C) To be acceptable, the mathematical result in question must be reproduced on another supercomputer.
(D) Making the mathematical result in question less complex would guarantee its acceptability.（B）
(E) The supercomputer cannot derive an acceptable solution to the mathematical problem in question.
4. The exchange between Bart and Anne most strongly supports the view that they disagree as to
(A) whether a scientific result that has not been replicated can properly be accepted
(B) whether the result that a supercomputer derives for a mathematical problem must be replicated on another supercomputer before it can be accepted
(C) the criterion to be used for accepting a mathematical result derived by a supercomputer
(D) the level of complexity of the process to which Bart refers in his statements（C）
(E) the relative complexity of mathematical problems as compared to scientific problems
5. It is commonly held among marketing experts that in a nonexpanding market a company’s best strategy is to go after a bigger share of the market and that the best way to do this is to run comparative advertisements that emphasize weaknesses in the products of rivals. In the stagnant market for food oil, soybean-oil and palm-oil producers did wage a two-year battle with comparative advertisements about the deleterious effect on health of each other’s products. These campaigns, however, had little effect on respective market shares; rather, they stopped many people from buying any edible oils at all.
The statements above most strongly support the conclusion that comparative advertisements
(A) increase a company’s market share in all cases in which that company’s products are clearly superior to the products of rivals
(B) should not be used in a market that is expanding or likely to expand
(C) should under no circumstances be used as a retaliatory measure
(D) carry the risk of causing a contraction of the market at which they are aimed（D）
(E) yield no long-term gains unless consumers can easily verify the claims made
6. Recent unexpectedly heavy rainfalls in the metropolitan area have filled the reservoirs and streams; water rationing, therefore, will not be necessary this summer.
Which one of the following, if true, most undermines the author’s prediction?
(A) Water rationing was imposed in the city in three of the last five years.
(B) A small part of the city’s water supply is obtained from deep underground water systems that are not reached by rainwater.
(C) The water company’s capacity to pump water to customers has not kept up with the increased demand created by population growth in the metropolitan area.
(D) The long-range weather forecast predicts lower-than-average temperatures for this summer.（C）
(E) In most years the city receives less total precipitation in the summer than it receives in any other season.
7. John: In 80 percent of car accidents the driver at fault was within five miles of home, so people evidently drive less safely near home than they do on long trips.
Judy: But people do 80 percent of their driving within five miles of home.
How is Judy’s response related to John’s argument?
(A) It shows that the evidence that John presents by itself is not enough to prove his claim.
(B) It restates the evidence that John presents in different terms.
(C) It gives additional evidence that is needed by John to support his conclusion.
(D) It calls into question John’s assumption that whenever people drive more than five miles from home they are going on a long trip.（A）
(E) It suggests that John’s conclusion is merely a restatement of his argument’s premise.
8. Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world: unreasonable people persist in trying to adapt the world to themselves. Therefore, all progress depends on unreasonable people.
If all of the statements in the passage above are true, which one of the following statements must also be true?
(A) Reasonable people and unreasonable people are incompatible.
(B) If there are only reasonable people there cannot be progress.
(C) If there are unreasonable people there will be progress.
(D) Some unreasonable people are unable to bring about progress.（B）
(E) Unreasonable people are more persistent than reasonable people.
9. Theater critic: The theater is in a dismal state. Audiences are sparse and revenue is down. Without the audience and the revenue, the talented and creative people who are the lifeblood of the theater are abandoning it. No wonder standards are deteriorating.
Producer: It’s not true that the theater is in decline. Don’t you realize that your comments constitute a self-fulfilling prophecy? By publishing these opinions, you yourself are discouraging new audiences from emerging and new talent from joining the theater.
Which one of the following is a questionable technique employed by the producer in responding to the critic?
(A) focusing on the effects of the critic’s evaluation rather than on its content
(B) accusing the critic of relying solely on opinion unsupported by factual evidence
(C) challenging the motives behind the critic’s remarks rather than the remarks themselves
(D) relying on emphasis rather than on argument（A）
(E) invoking authority in order to intimidate the critic
10. Michelangelo’s sixteenth-century Sistine Chapel paintings are currently being restored. A goal of the restorers is to uncover Michelangelo’s original work, and so additions made to Michelangelo’s paintings by later artists are being removed. However, the restorers have decided to make one exception: to leave intact additions that were painted by da Volterra.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to reconcile the restorers’ decision with the goal stated in the passage?
(A) The restorers believe that da Volterra stripped away all previous layers of paint before he painted his own additions to the Sistine Chapel.
(B) Because da Volterra used a type of pigment that is especially sensitive to light, the additions to the Sistine Chapel that ad Volterra painted have relatively muted colors.
(C) Da Volterra’s additions were painted in a style that was similar to the style used by Michelangelo.
(D) Michelangelo is famous primarily for his sculptures and only secondarily for his paintings, whereas da Volterra is known exclusively for his paintings.（A）
(E) Da Volterra’s work is considered by certain art historians to be just as valuable as the work of additions to Michelangelo’s work.
11. A controversial program rewards prison inmates who behave particularly well in prison by giving them the chance to receive free cosmetic plastic surgery performed by medical students. The program is obviously morally questionable, both in its assumptions about what inmates might want and in its use of the prison population to train future surgeons. Putting these moral issues aside, however, the surgery clearly has a powerful rehabilitative effect as is shown by the fact that, among recipients of the surgery, the proportion who are convicted of new crimes committed after release is only half that for the prison population as a whole.
A flaw in the reasoning of the passage is that it
(A) allows moral issues to be a consideration in presenting evidence about matters of fact
(B) dismisses moral considerations on the grounds that only matters of fact are relevant
(C) labels the program as “controversial” instead of discussing the issues that give rise to controversy
(D) asserts that the rehabilitation of criminals is not a moral issue（E）
(E) relies on evidence drawn from a sample that there is reason to believe is unrepresentative
12. The retina scanner, a machine that scans the web of tiny blood vessels in the retina, stores information about the pattern formed by the blood vessels. This information allows it to recognize any pattern it has previously scanned. No two eyes have identical patterns of blood vessels in the retina. A retina scanner can therefore be used successfully to determine for any person whether it has ever scanned a retina of that person before.
The reasoning in the argument depends upon assuming that
(A) diseases of the human eye do not alter the pattern of blood vessels in the retina in ways that would make the pattern unrecognizable to the retina scanner
(B) no person has a different pattern of blood vessels in the retina of the left eye than in the retina of the right eye
(C) there are enough retina scanners to store information about every person’s retinas
(D) the number of blood vessels in the human retina is invariant although the patterns they form differ from person to person（A）
(E) there is no person whose retinas have been scanned by two or more different retina scanners
13. There are just two ways a moon could have been formed from the planet around which it travels: either part of the planet’s outer shell spun off into orbit around the planet or else a large object, such as a comet or meteoroid struck the planet so violently that it dislodged a mass of material from inside the planet. Earth’s moon consists primarily of materials different from those of the Earth’s outer shell.
If the statements above are true, which one of the following, if also true, would most help to justify drawing the conclusion that Earth’s moon was not formed from a piece of the Earth?
(A) The moons of some planets in Earth’s solar system were not formed primarily from the planets’ outer shells.
(B) Earth’s moon consists primarily of elements that differ from those inside the Earth.
(C) Earth’s gravity cannot have trapped a meteoroid and pulled it into orbit as the Moon.
(D) The craters on the surface of Earth’s moon show that it has been struck by many thousands of large meteoroids.（B）
(E) Comets and large meteoroids normally move at very high speeds.
14. Caffeine can kill or inhibit the growth of the larvae of several species of insects. One recent experiment showed that tobacco hornworm larvae die when they ingest a preparation that consists in part of finely powdered tea leaves which contain caffeine. This result is evidence for the hypothesis that the presence of non-negligible quantities of caffeine in various parts of many diverse species of plants is not accidental but evolved as a defense for those plants.
The
argument assumes that
(A) caffeine-producing plants are an important raw material in the manufacture of commercial insecticides
(B) caffeine is stored in leaves and other parts of caffeine-producing plants in concentrations roughly equal to the caffeine concentration of the preparation fed to the tobacco hornworm larvae
(C) caffeine-producing plants grow wherever insect larvae pose a major threat to indigenous plants or once posed a major threat to the ancestors of those plants
(D) the tobacco plant is among the plant species that produce caffeine for their own defense（E）
(E) caffeine-producing plants or their ancestors have at some time been subject to being fed upon by creatures sensitive to caffeine
15. The only plants in the garden were tulips, but they were tall tulips. So the only plants in the garden were tall plants.
Which one of the following exhibits faulty reasoning most similar to the faulty reasoning in the argument above?
(A) The only dogs in the show were poodles and they were all black poodles. So all the dogs in the show were black.
(B) All the buildings on the block were tall. The only buildings on the block were office buildings and residential towers. So all the office buildings on the block were tall buildings.
(C) All the primates in the zoo were gorillas. The only gorillas in the zoo were small gorillas. Thus the only primates in the zoo were small primates.
(D) The only fruit in the kitchen was pears but the pears were not ripe. Thus none of the fruit in the kitchen was ripe.（C）
(E) All the grand pianos here are large. All the grand pianos here are heavy. Thus everything large is heavy.
16. Scientific research will be properly channeled whenever those who decide which research to fund give due weight to the scientific merits of all proposed research. But when government agencies control these funding decisions, political considerations play a major role in determining which research will be funded, and whenever political considerations play such a role, the inevitable result is that scientific research is not properly channeled.
Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the statements above?
(A) There is no proper role for political considerations to play in determining who will decide which scientific research to fund.
(B) It is inevitable that considerations of scientific merit will be neglected in decisions regarding the funding of scientific research.
(C) Giving political considerations a major role in determining which scientific research to fund is incompatible with giving proper weight to the scientific merits of proposed research.
(D) When scientific research is not properly channeled, governments tend to step in and take control of the process of choosing which research to fund.（C）
(E) If a government does not control investment in basic scientific research, political consideration will inevitably be neglected in deciding which research to fund.
17. A new silencing device for domestic appliances operates by producing sound waves that cancel out the sound waves produced by the appliance. The device, unlike conventional silencers, actively eliminates the noise the appliance makes, and for that reason vacuum cleaners designed to incorporate the new device will operate with much lower electricity consumption than conventional vacuum cleaners.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain why the new silencing device will make lower electricity consumption possible?
(A) Designers of vacuum cleaner motors typically have to compromise the motors’ efficiency in order to reduce noise production.
(B) The device runs on electricity drawn from the appliance’s main power supply.
(C) Conventional vacuum cleaners often use spinning brushes to loosen dirt in addition to using suction to remove dirt.
(D) Governmental standards for such domestic appliances as vacuum cleaners allow higher electricity consumption when vacuum cleaners are quieter.（A）
(E) The need to incorporate silencers in conventional vacuum cleaners makes them heavier and less mobile than they might otherwise be.
18. Because dinosaurs were reptiles, scientists once assumed that, like all reptiles alive today, dinosaurs were cold-blooded. The recent discovery of dinosaur fossils in the northern arctic, however, has led a number of researchers to conclude that at least some dinosaurs might have been warm-blooded. These researchers point out that only warm-blooded animals could have withstood the frigid temperatures that are characteristic of arctic winters, whereas cold-blooded animals would have frozen to death in the extreme cold.
Which one of the following, if true, weakens the researchers’ argument?
(A) Today’s reptiles are generally confined to regions of temperate or even tropical climates.
(B) The fossils show the arctic dinosaurs to have been substantially smaller than other known species of dinosaurs.
(C) The arctic dinosaur fossils were found alongside fossils of plants known for their ability to withstand extremely cold temperatures.
(D) The number of fossils found together indicates herds of dinosaurs so large that they would need to migrate to find a continual food supply.（D）
(E) Experts on prehistoric climatic conditions believe that winter temperatures in the prehistoric northern arctic were not significantly different from what they are today.
Questions 19-20
Maria: Calling any state totalitarian is misleading: it implies total state control of all aspects of life. The real world contains no political entity exercising literally total control over even one such aspect. This is because any system of control is inefficient, and, therefore, its degree of control is partial.
James: A one-party state that has tried to exercise control over most aspects of a society and that has, broadly speaking, managed to do so is totalitarian. Such a system’s practical inefficiencies do not limit the aptness of the term, which does not describe a state’s actual degree of control as much as it describes the nature of a state’s ambitions.
19. Which one of the following most accurately expresses Maria’s main conclusion?
(A) No state can be called totalitarian without inviting a mistaken belief.
(B) To be totalitarian a state must totally control society.
(C) The degree of control exercised by a state is necessarily partial.
(D) No existing state currently has even one aspect of society under total control.（A）
(E) Systems of control are inevitably inefficient.
20. James responds to Maria’s argument by
(A) pointing out a logical inconsistency between two statements she makes in support of her argument
(B) offering an alternative explanation for political conditions she mentions
(C) rejecting some of the evidence she presents without challenging what she infers from it
(D) disputing the conditions under which a key term of her argument can be appropriately applied（D）
(E) demonstrating that her own premises lead to a conclusion different from hers
21. The similarity between ichthyosaurs and fish is an example of convergence, a process by which different classes of organisms adapt to the same environment by independently developing one or more similar external body features. Ichthyosaurs were marine reptiles and thus do not belong to the same class of organisms as fish. However, ichthyosaurs adapted to their marine environment by converging on external body features similar to those of fish. Most strikingly, ichthyosaurs, like fish, had fins.
If the statements above are true, which one of the following is an inference that can be properly drawn on the basis of them?
(A) The members of a single class of organisms that inhabit the same environment must be identical in all their external body features.
(B) The members of a single class of organisms must exhibit one or more similar external body features that differentiate that class from all other classes of organisms.
(C) It is only as a result of adaptation to similar environments that one class of organisms develops external body features similar to those of another class of organisms.
(D) An organism does not necessarily belong to a class simply because the organism has one or more external body features similar to those of members of that class.（D）
(E) Whenever two classes of organisms share the same environment, members of one class will differ from members of the other class in several external body features.
22. Further evidence bearing on Jamison’s activities must have come to light. On the basis of previously available evidence alone, it would have been impossible to prove that Jamison was a party to the fraud, and Jamison’s active involvement in the fraud has now been definitively established.
The pattern of reasoning exhibited in the argument above most closely parallels that exhibited in which one of the following?
(A) Smith must not have purchased his house within the last year. He is listed as the owner of that house on the old list of property owners and anyone on the old list could not have purchased his or her property within the last year.
(B) Turner must not have taken her usual train to Nantes today. Had she done so, she could not have been in Nantes until this afternoon, but she was seen having coffee in Nantes at 11 o’clock this morning.
(C) Nofris must have lied when she said that she had not authorized the investigation. There is no doubt that she did authorize it, and authorizing and investigation is not something anyone is likely to have forgotten.
(D) Waugh must have known that last night’s class was canceled. Waugh was in the library yesterday and it would have been impossible for anyone in the library not to have seen the cancellation notices.（B）
(E) LaForte must have deeply resented being passed over for promotion. He maintains otherwise, but only someone who felt badly treated would have made the kind of remark LaForte made at yesterday’s meeting.
23. Reporting on a civil war, a journalist encountered evidence that refugees were starving because the government would not permit food shipments to a rebel-held area. Government censors deleted all mention of the government’s role in the starvation from the journalist’s report which had not implicated either nature or the rebels in the starvation. The journalist concluded that it was ethically permissible to file the censored report because the journalist’s news agency would precede it with the notice “Cleared by government censors.”
Which one of the following ethical criteria, if valid, would serve to support the journalist’s conclusion while placing the least constraint on the flow of reported information?
(A) It is ethical in general to report known facts but unethical to do so while omitting other known facts if the omitted facts would substantially alter an impression of a person or institution that would be congruent with the reported facts.
(B) In a situation of conflict, it is ethical to report known facts and unethical to fail to report known facts that would tend to exonerate one party to the conflict.
(C) In a situation of censorship, it is unethical make any report if the government represented by the censor deletes from the report material unfavorable to that government.
(D) It is ethical in general to report known facts but unethical to make a report in a situation of censorship if relevant facts have been deleted by the censor unless the recipient of the report is warned that censorship existed.（D）
(E) Although it is ethical in general to report known facts, it is unethical to make a report from which a censor has deleted relevant facts, unless the recipient of the report is warned that there was censorship and the reported facts do not by themselves give a misleading impression.
24. A birth is more like to be difficult when the mother is over the age of 40 than when she is younger. Regardless of the mother’s age, a person whose birth was difficult is more likely to be ambidextrous than is a person whose birth was not difficult. Since other causes of ambidexterity are not related to the mother’s age, there must be more ambidextrous people who were born to women over 40 than there are ambidextrous people who were born to younger women.
The argument is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?
(A) It assumes what it sets out to establish.
(B) It overlooks the possibility that fewer children are born to women over 40 than to women under 40.
(C) It fails to specify what percentage of people in the population as a whole are ambidextrous.
(D) It does not state how old a child must be before its handedness can be determined.（B）
(E) It neglects to explain how difficulties during birth can result in a child’s ambidexterity.
Questions 25-26
The government has no right to tax earnings from labor. Taxation of this kind requires the laborer to devote a certain percentage of hours worked to earning money for the government. Thus, such taxation forces the laborer to work, in part, for another’s purpose. Since involuntary servitude can be defined as forced work for another’s purpose, just as involuntary servitude is pernicious, so is taxing earnings from labor.
25. The argument uses which one of the following argumentative techniques?
(A) deriving a general principle about the rights of individuals from a judgment concerning the obligations of governments
(B) inferring what will be time case merely from a description of what once was the case
(C) inferring that since two institutions are similar in one respect they are similar in another respect
(D) citing the authority of an economic theory in order to justify a moral principle（C）
(E) presupposing the inevitability of a hierarchical class system in order to oppose a given economic practice
26. Which one of the following is an error of reasoning committed by the argument?
(A) It ignores a difference in how the idea of forced work for another’s purpose applies to the two cases.
(B) It does not take into account the fact that labor is taxed at different rates depending on income.
(C) It mistakenly assumes that all work is taxed.
(D) It ignores the fact that the government also taxes income from investment.（A）
(E) It treats definitions as if they were matters of subjective opinion rather than objective facts about language.
TEST 19
SECTION II
|
1. B |
2. A |
3. D |
4. E |
5. C |
|
6. D |
7. C |
8. E |
9. C |
10. E |
|
11. D |
12. B |
13. D |
14. D |
15. E |
|
16. E |
17. B |
18. A |
19. A |
20. E |
|
21. A |
22. E |
23. D |
24. E |
25.
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SECTION III
|
1. D |
2. B |
3. B |
4. C |
5. D |
|
6. C |
7. A |
8. B |
9. A |
10. A |
|
11. E |
12. A |
13. B |
14. E |
15. C |
|
16. C |
17. A |
18. D |
19. A |
20. D |
|
21. D |
22. B |
23. D |
24. B |
25. C |
|
26. A |
27.
|
28.
|
29.
|
30.
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Where's My Stuff? |
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