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TEST Oct 2002
SECTION
I
Time 35 minutes 24
Questions
Directions: The questions in
this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or
passages...
1. Physician: In itself, exercise does not cause heart attacks; rather, a sudden increase in an exercise regimen can be a cause. When people of any physical condition suddenly increase their amount of exercise, they also increase their risk of heart attack. As a result, there will be an increased risk of heart attack among employees of this company due to the new health program.
The conclusion drawn by the physician follows logically if which one of the flowing is assumed?
(A) Employees will abruptly increase their amount of exercise as a result of the new health program.
(B) The exercised involved in the new health program are more strenuous than those in the previous health program.
(C) The new health program will force employees of all levels of health to exercise regularly.
(D) The new health program constitutes a sudden change in the company’s policy.（A）
(E) All employees, no matter what their physical condition, will participate in the new health program.
2. Last month OCF, Inc., announced what it described as a unique new product: an adjustable computer workstation. Three days later ErgoTech unveiled an almost identical product. The two companies claim that the similarities are coincidental and occurred because the designers independently reached the same solution to the same problem. The similarities are too fundamental to be mere coincidence, however. The two products not only look alike, but they also work alike. Both are oddly shaped with identically placed control panels with the same types of controls. Both allow the same types of adjustments and the same types of optional enhancements.
The main point of the argument is that
(A) The two products have many characteristics in common.
(B) ErgoTech must have copied the design of its new product from OCF’s design.
(C) The similarities between the two products are not coincidental.
(D) Product designers sometimes reach the same solution to a given problem without consulting each other.（C）
(E) New products that at first appear to be unique are sometimes simply variations of other products.
Questions 3-4
An anthropologist hypothesized that a certain medicinal power contained a significant amount of the deadly toxin T. When the test she performed for the presence of toxin T was negative, the anthropologist did not report the results. A chemist who nevertheless learned about the test results charged the anthropologist with fraud. The anthropologist, however, countered that those results were invalid because the power had inadvertently been test in acidic solution.
3. In the absence of the anthropologist’s reply, which one of the following principles, if established, would most support the chemist’s charge?
(A) Reporting results for an experiment that was not conducted and reporting a false result for an actual experiment are both instances of scientific fraud.
(B) Scientists can commit fraud and yet report some disconfirmations of their hypothesis.
(C) Scientists can neglect to report some disconfirmations of their hypotheses and yet be innocent of fraud.
(D) Scientists commit fraud whenever they report as valid any test result they know to be invalid.（E）
(E) Scientists who neglect to report any experiment that could be interpreted as disconfirming their hypothesis have thereby committed fraud.
4. Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the anthropologist’s counterargument?
(A) The anthropologist had evidence from fieldwork that the medicinal powder was typically prepared using toxin T.
(B) The activity level of toxin T tends to decline if the powder is stored for a long time.
(C) When it is put into an acidic solution, toxin T becomes undetectable.
(D) A fresh batch of powder for a repeat analysis was available at the time of the test.（C）
(E) The type of analysis used was insensitive to very small amounts of toxin T.
5. Naima: The proposed new computer system, once we fully implemented it, would operate more smoothly and efficiently than the current system. So we should devote the resources necessary to accomplish the conversion as soon as possible.
Nakai: We should keep the current system for as long as we can. The cost in time and money of converting to the new system would be greater than any predicted benefits.
(A) The predicted benefits of the new computer system will be realized.
(B) It is essential to have the best computer system available.
(C) Accomplishing the conversion is technically impossible.
(D) The current computer system does not work well enough to do what it is supposed to do.（E）
(E) The conversion to a new computer system should be delayed.
6. Every year, new reports appear concerning the health risks posed by certain substances, such as coffee and sugar. One year an article claimed that coffee is dangerous to one’s health. The next year, another article argued that coffee has some benefits for one’s health. From these contradictory opinions, we see that experts are useless for guiding one’s decisions about one’s health.
Which one of the following most accurately describes a flaw in the argument above?
(A) The argument takes for granted that coffee is dangerous to one’s health.
(B) The argument presumes, without providing warrant, that one always wants expert guidance in making decisions about one’s health.
(C) The argument fails to consider the nature of expert opinion in areas other than health.
(D) The argument presumes, with out providing justification, that because expert opinion is trustworthy in one case, it must therefore be trustworthy in all cases.（E）
(E) The argument fails to consider that coffee may be harmful to one’s health in some respects and beneficial in others.
7. Because people are generally better at detecting mistakes in others’ work than in their own, a prudent principle is that one should always have one’s own work checked by someone else.
Which one of the following provides the best illustration of the principle above?
(A) The best elementary school math teachers are not those for whom math was always easy. Teachers who had to struggle through math themselves are better able to explain math to students.
(B) One must make a special effort to clearly explain one’s views to someone else; people normally find it easier to understand their own views than to understand others’ views.
(C) Juries composed of legal novices, rather than panels of lawyers, should be the final arbiters in legal proceedings. People who are not legal experts are in a better position to detect good legal arguments by lawyers than are other lawyers.
(D) People should always have their writing proofread by someone else. Someone who does not know in advance what is meant to be said is in a better position to spot typographical errors.（D）
(E) Two people going out for dinner will have a more enjoyable meal if they order for each other. By allowing someone else to choose, one opens oneself up to new and exciting dining experience.
8. Pundit: The only airline providing service for our town announces that because the service is unprofitable, it will discontinue this service next year. Town officials have urged the community to use the airline’s service more frequently so that the airline will change its decision. There is no reason to comply with their recommendation, however, for just last week these same officials drove to an out-of-town conference instead of flying.
The Pundit’s reasoning is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it presumes, without providing justification, that
(A) Increasing the number of tickets sold without increasing ticket prices will be sufficient to make continued air service economically feasible.
(B) Suspending service and losing money by continuing service are the airline’s only options.
(C) The town officials paid for their trip with taxpayers’ money rather than their own money.
(D) Ground transportation is usually no less expensive than airplane transportation.（E）
(E) If the town officials did not follow their own advice, then that advice is not worth following.
9. Some scientists believe that 65 million years ago an asteroid struck what is now the Yucatan Peninsula, thereby causing extinction of the dinosaurs. These scientists have established that such a strike could have hurled enough debris into the atmosphere to block sunlight and cool the atmosphere. Without adequate sunlight, food sources for herbivorous dinosaurs would have disappeared, and no dinosaurs could have survived a prolonged period of low temperatures. These same scientists, however, have also established that most debris launched by the asteroid would have settled to the ground within six months, too soon for the plants to disappear or the dinosaurs to freeze.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy between the scientists’ beliefs and the scientists’ results, as described above?
(A) Loss of the herbivorous dinosaurs would have deprived the carnivorous dinosaurs of their food source.
(B) Dinosaurs inhabited most landmasses on the planet but were not especially abundant in the area of the asteroid strike.
(C) A cloud of debris capable of diminishing sunlight by 20 percent would have cooled the earth’s surface by 7 to 10 degrees Celsius.
(D) The asteroid was at least 9.6 km in diameter, large enough for many dinosaurs to be killed by the strike itself and by subsequent tidal waves.（E）
(E) Dinosaurs were susceptible to fatal respiratory problems cause by contamination of the air by asteroid debris.
10. Bernand: For which language, and thus which frequency distribution of letters and letter sequences, was the standard typewriter keyboard designed?
Cora: To ask this question, you must be making a mistaken assumption: that typing speed was to be maximized. The real danger with early typewriters was that operators would hit successive keys too quickly, thereby crashing typebars into each other, bending connecting wires and so on. So the idea was to slow the operator down by making the most common letter sequences awkward to type.
Bernand: This is surely not right! These technological limitations have long since vanished, yet the keyboard is still as it was then.
Which one of the following, if true, could be used by Cora to counter Bernard’s rejection of her explanation?
(A) Typewriters and word-processing equipment are typically sold to people who have learned to use the standard keyboard and who, therefore, demand it in equipment they buy.
(B) Typewriters have been superseded in most offices by word-processing equipment, which has inherited the standard keyboard from typewriters.
(C) The standard keyboard allows skilled operators to achiever considerable typing speeds, thought it makes acquiring such skills relatively difficult.
(D) A person who has learned one keyboard layout can readily learn to use a second one in place of the first, but only with difficulty learn to use a second one alongside the first.（A）
(E) It is now possible to construct typewriter and word-processing equipment in which a single keyboard can accommodate two or even more different keyboard layouts, each accessible to the operator at will.
11. Some teachers claim that students would not learn curricular content without the incentive of grades. But students with intense interest in the material would learn it without this incentive, while the behavior of students lacking all interests in the material is unaffected by such an incentive. The incentive of grades, therefore, serves no essential academic purpose.
The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument
(A) take for granted that the only purpose of school is to convey a fixed body of information to students
(B) takes for granted that students who are indifferent to the grades they receive are genuinely interested in the curricular material
(C) fails to consider that the incentive of grades may serve some useful nonacademic purpose
(D) ignore the possibility that students who lack interest in the curricular material would be quite interested in it if allowed to choose their own curricular material（E）
(E) fails to consider that some students may be neither fascinated by nor completely indifferent to the subject being taught
12. Economist: Technology now changes so rapidly that workers need periodic retraining. Such retraining can be efficient only if it allows individual companies to meet their own short-term needs. Hence, large governmental job retraining programs are no longer a viable option in the effort to retrain workers efficiently.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the economist’s argument?
(A) Workers did not need to be retrained when the pace of technological change was slower than it is currently.
(B) Large job retraining programs will be less efficient than smaller programs if the pace of technological change slows.
(C) No single type of retraining program is most efficient at retraining technological workers.
(D) Large governmental job retraining programs do not meet the short-term needs of different individual companies.（D）
(E) Technological workers are more likely now than in the past to move in order to find work for which they are already trained.
13. Recent research indicates that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables by middle-aged people reduces their susceptibility to stroke in later years. The researchers speculate that this may be because fruits and vegetables are rich in folic acid. Low levels of folic acid are associated with high levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that contributes to blocked arteries.
Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by the information above?
(A) An increased risk of stroke is correlated with low levels of homocysteine.
(B) A decreased risk of stroke is correlated with increased levels of folic acid.
(C) An increased propensity for blocked arteries is correlated with decreased levels of homocysteine.
(D) A decreased propensity for blocked arteries is correlated with low levels of folic acid.（B）
(E) Stroke is prevented by ingestion of folic acid in quantities sufficient to prevent a decline in the levels of homocysteine.
14. Thirty years ago, the percentage of the British people who vacationed in foreign countries was very small compared with the large percentage of the British population who travel abroad for vacations now. Foreign travel is, and always has been, expensive from Britain. Therefore, British people must have, on average, more money to spend on vacations now than they did 30 years ago.
The argument requires assuming which one of the following?
(A) If foreign travel had been less expensive 30 years ago, British people would still not have had enough money to take vacation abroad.
(B) If travel to Britain were less expensive, more people of other countries would travel to Britain for their vacations.
(C) If the percentage of British people vacationing abroad was lower 30 years ago, then the British people of 30 years ago must have spent more money on domestic vacations.
(D) If more of the British people 30 years ago had had enough money to vacation abroad, more would have done so.（D）
(E) If British people are now wealthier than they were 30 years ago, then they must have more money to spend on vacations now than they did 30 years ago.
15. Mystery stories often feature a brilliant detective and the detective’s dull companion. Clues are presented in the story, and the companion wrongly infers an inaccurate solution to the mystery using the same clues that the detective uses to deduce the correct solution. Thus, the author’s strategy of including the dull companion gives readers a chance to solve the mystery while also diverting them from the correct solution.
Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?
(A) Most mystery stories feature a brilliant detective who solves the mystery presented in the story.
(B) Mystery readers often solve the mystery in a story simply by spotting the mistakes in the reasoning of the detective’s dull companion in that story.
(C) Some mystery stories give readers enough clues to infer the correct solution to the mystery.
(D) The actions of the brilliant detective in a mystery story rarely divert readers from the actions of the detective’s dull companion.（C）
(E) The detective’s dull companion in a mystery story generally uncovers the misleading clues that divert readers from the mystery’s correct solution.
16. Policy analyst: Increasing the size of a police force is only a stopgap method of crime prevention. It does not get at the root causes of crime. Therefore, city officials should not respond to rising crime rates by increasing the size of their city’s police force.
The flawed reasoning in which one of the following arguments most closely resembles the flawed reasoning in the policy analyst’s argument?
(A) Some people think that rules with higher standards than people can live up to, such as those enjoining total honesty, prevent some immoral behavior by giving people a guide to self-improvement. But such rules actually worsen behavior by make people cynical about rules. Thus, societies should not institute overly demanding rules.
(B) Swamps play an important role in allaying the harsh effects of floods because they absorb a great deal of water. Although dams prevent many floods, they worsen the effects of the greatest floods by drying up swamps. Thus dams should not be built.
(C) Although less effective in preventing theft than security guards, burglar alarm systems are more affordable to maintain. Because the greater loss from theft when alarms are used is outweighed by their lower cost, companies are advised always to use burglar alarm systems.
(D) Because taking this drug does not cure the disease for which it is prescribed, but only reduces the disease’s most harmful effects, doctors should not continue to prescribe this drug.（D）
(E) We will never fully understand what causes people to engage in criminal activity. Therefore, we should investigate other ways to improve society’s ability to combat crime.
Question 17-18
In order to determine automobile insurance premiums for a driver, insurance companies calculate various risk factors; as the risk factors increase, so does the premium. Certain factors, such as the driver’s age and past accident history, play an important role in these calculations. Yet these premiums should also increase drives. After all, a person’s chance of being involved in a mishap increases in proportion to the number of times that person drives.
17. Which one of the following, if true, most undermines the argument?
(A) People who drive in frequently are more likely to be involved accidents that occur on small roads than in highway accidents.
(B) People who drive infrequently are less likely to follow rules for safe driving than are people who drive frequently.
(C) People who drive infrequently are less likely to violate local speed limits than are people who drive frequently.
(D) People who drive frequently are more likely to make long-distance trips in the course of a year than are people who drive infrequently.（B）
(E) People who drive frequently are more likely to become distracted while driving than are people who drive infrequently.
18. The claim that insurance premiums should increase as the frequency with which a driver drives increases plays which one of the following roles in the argument?
(A) a premise of the argument
(B) the conclusion of the argument
(C) evidence offered in support of one of the premises
(D) an assertion phrased to preclude an anticipated objection（B）
(E) a clarification of a key term in the argument
19. Essayist: Only happiness is intrinsically valuable; other things are valuable only insofar as they contribute to happiness. Some philosophers argue that the fact that we do not approve of a bad person’s being happy shows that we value happiness only when it is deserved. This supposedly shows that we find something besides happiness to be intrinsically valuable. But the happiness people deserve is determined by the amount of happiness they bring to others. Therefore, ______
Which one of the following most logically completes the final sentence of the essayist’s argument?
(A) the notion that people can be deserving of happiness is ultimately incoherent
(B) people do not actually value happiness as much as they think they do
(C) the judgment that a person deserves to be happy is itself to be understood in terms of happiness
(D) the only way to be assured of happiness is to bring happiness to those who have done something to deserve it（C）
(E) a truly bad person cannot actually be very happy
20. Sociologist: Climate and geology determine where human industry can be
established . Drastic shifts in climate always result in migrations, and migrations
bring about the intermingling of ideas necessary for rapid advances in civilization.
The sociologist’s statements, if true, most strongly support which one of the
following?
(A) Climate is the primary cause of migration
(B) All shifts in climate produce a net gain in human progress
(C) A population remains settles only where the climate is fairly stable.
(D) Populations settle in every place where human industry can be established（C）
(E) Every migrations accompanies by rapid advances in civilization
21. Some educators claim that it is best that school courses cover only basic subject matter, but cover it in depth. These educators argue that if student achieve a solid grasp of the basic concepts and investigatory techniques in a subject, they will be able to explore the breadth of that subject on their own after the course is over. But if they simply learn a lot of factual information, without truly understanding its significance, they will not be well equipped for further study on their own.
The educator’s reasoning provides grounds for accepting which one of the following statements?
(A) It is easier to understand how plants and animals are classified after learning how plants and animals can be useful
(B) It is more difficult to recall the details of a dull and complicated lecture than of a lively and interesting one.
(C) It is easier to remember new ideas explained personally by a teacher than ideas that one explores independently.
(D) It is easier to understand any Greek tragedy after one has analyzed a few of them in detail.（D）
(E) It is easier to learn many simple ideas well than to learn a few complicated ideas well.
22. Damming the Merv River would provide irrigation for the dry land in its upstream areas; unfortunately, a dam would reduce agricultural productivity in the fertile land downstream by reducing the availability and quality of the water there. The productivity loss in the downstream area would be greater than the productivity gain upstream , so building a dam would yield no overall gain in agricultural productivity in the region as a whole.
The reasoning in the argument above most closely parallels that in which one of
the following?
(A) disease-causing bacteria in eggs can be destroyed by overcooking the eggs, but the eggs then become much less appetizing; health is more important than taste, however, so it is better to overcook eggs than not to do so.
(B) Increasing the price of transatlantic telephone calls will discourage many private individuals from making them. But since most transatlantic telephone calls are made by businesses, not by private individuals, a rate increase will not reduce telephone company profits.
(C) A new highway will allow suburban commuters to reach the city more quickly, but not without causing increased delays within the city that will more than offset any time saved on the highway. Therefore, the highway will not educe suburban commuters’ overall commuting time.
(D) Doctors can prescribe antibiotics fro many minor illnesses, but antibiotics are expensive, and these illnesses can often be cured by rest alone. Therefore, it is better to rest at home than to see a doctor for these illnesses.（C）
(E) A certain chemical will kill garden pest that damage tomatoes, but that chemical will damage certain other plants more severely than the pests damage the tomatoes, so the only garden that will benefit from the use of the chemical are those in which only tomatoes are grown.
23. Activist: Food producers irradiate food in order to prolong its shelf life. Five animal studies were recently conducted to investigate whether this process alters food in a way that could be dangerous to people who eat it. The studies concluded that irradiated food is safe for human to eat. However, because these studies were subsequently found by a panel of independent scientists to be seriously flawed in their methodology, it follows that irradiated food is not safe for human consumption.
The reasoning in the activist’s argument is flawed because that argument
(A) treats a failure to prove a claim as constituting proof of the denial of that claim
(B) treat methodological flaws in past studies as proof that it is currently not possible to devise methodologically adequate alternatives
(C) fails to consider the possibility that even a study whose methodology has no serious flaws nonetheless might provide only weak support for it’s conclusion
(D) fails to consider the possibility that what is safe for animals might not always be safe for human beings（A）
(E) fails to establish that the independent scientists know more about food irradiation than do the people who produced the five studies
24. One-year-olds ordinarily prefer the taste of sweet food to that of salty food. Yet if one feeds a one-year-old salty food rather than sweet food, then over a period of about a year he or she will develop a taste for the salty flavor and choose to eat salty food rather than sweet food. Thus, a young child’s taste preferences can be affected by the type of food he or she has been exposed to.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?
(A) Two-year-olds do not naturally prefer salty food to sweet food
(B) A child’s taste preferences usually changes between age one and age two.
(C) Two-year-olds do not naturally dislike salty food so much that they would not choose it over some other foods.
(D) The salty food fed to infants in order to change their taste preferences must taste pleasant（A）
(E) Sweet food is better for infant development than is salty food.
SECTION
IV
Time 35 minutes 27
Questions
Directions: The questions in
this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or
passages...
Question 1-2
Ms. Smith: I am upset that my son’s entire class lost two days of recess because some of the children were throwing raisins in the cafeteria. He was not throwing raisins, and it was clear to everyone just who the culprits were.
Principal: I’m sorry you’re upset, Ms. Smith, but your son’s situation is like being caught in a traffic jam caused by an accident. People who aren’t involved in the accident nevertheless have to suffer by sitting there in the middle of it.
1. If the principal is speaking sincerely, then it can be inferred from what the principal says that the principal believes that
(A) many children were throwing raisins in the cafeteria
(B) Ms. Smith’s son might not have thrown raisins in the cafeteria
(C) After an accident the resulting traffic jams are generally caused by police activity.
(D) Ms. Smith’s son know who it was that threw raisins in the cafeteria（B）
(E) Losing two days of recess will deter future disruptions.
2. The principal’s response to Ms. Smith’s complaint is most vulnerable to criticism on which one of the following grounds?
(A) it makes a generalization about all the children in the class which is not justified by the facts.
(B) It suggests that throwing raisins in the cafeteria produces as much inconvenience as does being caught in a traffic jam.
(C) It does not acknowledge the fact that a traffic jam following an accident is unavoidable while the mass punishment was avoidable.
(D) It assumes that Ms. Smith’s son is guilty when there is evidence to the contrary which the principal has disregarded.（C）
(E) It attempts to confuse the point at issue by introducing irrelevant facts about the incident.
3. Journalist: Obviously, though some animals are purely carnivorous, none would survive without plants. But eh dependence is mutual. Many plant species would never have come to be had there been no animals to pollinate, fertilize, and broadcast their seeds. Also, plants’ photosynthetic activity would deplete the carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere were it not constantly being replenished by the exhalation of animals, engine fumes, and smoke from fires, many set by human beings.
Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the journalist’s argument?
(A) The photosynthetic activity of plants is necessary for animal life, but animal life is also necessary for the occurrence of photosynthesis in plants.
(B) Some purely carnivorous animals would not survive without plants.
(C) The chemical composition of Earth and its atmosphere depends, at least to some extent, one the existence and activities of the animals that populate Earth.
(D) Human activity is part of what prevents plants from depleting the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere on which plants and animals alike depends.（E）
(E) Just as animals are dependent on plants for their survival, plants are dependent on animals for theirs.
4. The government-owned gas company has begun selling stoves and other gas appliances to create a larger market for its gas. Merchants who sell such products complain that the competition will hurt their businesses. That may well be; however, the government-owned gas company is within its rights. After all, the owner of a private gas company might will decide to sell such appliances and surely there would be nothing wrong with that.
Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps justify the reasoning above?
(A) Government-owned companies have the right to do whatever private businesses have the right to do.
(B) A government should always take seriously the complaints of merchants.
(C) Private businesses have not right to compete with government monopolies.
(D) There is nothing wrong with a government-owned company selling products so long as owners of private companies do not complain.（A）
(E) There is nothing wrong with private companies competing against each other.
5. Toxicologist: A survey of oil-refinery workers who work with MBTE, an ingredient currently used in some smog-reducing gasoline, found an alarming incidence of complaints about headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Since gasoline containing MBTE will soon be widely used, we can expect an increased incidence of headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
Each of the following, if true, strengthens the toxicologist’s argument EXCEPT:
(A) Most oil-refinery workers who do not work with MBTE do not have serious health problems involving headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
(B) Headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath are among the symptoms of several medical conditions that are potentially serious threats to public health.
(C) Since the time when gasoline containing MBTE was first introduced in a few metropolitan areas, those areas reported an increase in the number of complaints about headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
(D) Regions in which only gasoline containing MBTE is used have a much greater incidence of headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath than do similar regions in which only MBTE-free gasoline is used.（B）
(E) The oil-refinery workers surveyed were carefully selected to be representative of the broader population in their medical histories prior to exposure to MBTE, as well as in other relevant respects.
6. In any field, experience is required for a proficient person to become an expert. Through experience, a proficient person gradually develops a repertory of model situations that allows an immediate, intuitive response to each new situation. This is the hallmark of expertise, and or this reason computerized “expert systems” cannot be as good as human exerts. Although computers have the ability to store millions of bits of information, the knowledge of human experts, who benefit from the experience of thousands of situations, is not stored within their brains in the form of rules and facts.
The argument requires the assumption of which one of the following?
(A) Computers can show no more originality in responding to a situation than that built into them by their designers.
(B) The knowledge of human experts cannot be adequately rendered into the type of information that a computer can store.
(C) Human experts rely on information that can be expressed by rules and facts when they respond to new situations.
(D) Future advances in computer technology will not render computers capable of sorting through greater amounts of information.（B）
(E) Human experts rely heavily on intuition while they are developing a repertory of model situations.
7. When drivers are deprived of sleep there are definite behavioral changes, such as slower responses to stimuli and a reduced ability to concentrate, but people’s self-awareness of these changes is poor. Most drivers think they can tell when they are about to fall asleep, but they cannot.
Each of the following illustrates the principle that the passage illustrates EXCEPT:
(A) People who have been drinking alcohol are not good judges of whether they are too drunk to drive.
(B) Elementary school students who dislike arithmetic are not good judges of whether multiplication tables should be included in the school’s curriculum.
(C) Industrial workers who have just been exposed to noxious fumes are not good judges of whether they should keep working.
(D) People who have just donated blood and have become faint are not good judges of whether they are ready to walk out of the facility.（B）
(E) People who are being treated for schizophrenia are not good judges of whether they should continue their medical treatments.
8. Politician: My opponent says our zoning laws too strongly promote suburban single-family dwellings and should be changed to encourage other forms of housing like apartment buildings. Yet he lives in a house in the country. His lifestyle contradicts his own argument, which should therefore not be taken seriously.
The politician’s reasoning is most vulnerable to criticism on the ground that
(A) Its characterization of the opponent’s lifestyle reveals the politician’s own prejudice against constructing apartment buildings.
(B) It neglects the fact that apartment buildings can be built in the suburbs just as easily as in the center of the city.
(C) It fails to mention the politician’s own living situation
(D) Its discussion of the opponent’s lifestyle is irrelevant to the merits of the opponent’s argument.（D）
(E) It ignores the possibility that the opponent may have previously lived in an apartment building.
9. Consumers are deeply concerned about the quantity of plastic packaging on the market and have spurred manufacturers to find ways to recycle plastic materials. Despite their efforts, however, only 6.5 percent of plastic is not being recycled, as compared to 33 percent of container glass.
Each of the following, if true, helps to explain the relatively low rate of plastic recycling EXCEPT:
(A) Many factories are set up to accept and make economical use of recycled glass, whereas there are few factories that make products out of recycled plastic.
(B) Many plastic products are incompatible and cannot be recycled together, whereas most containers made of glass are compatible.
(C) The manufacture of new plastic depletes oil reserves, whereas the manufacture of new glass uses renewable resources.
(D) Unlike glass, which can be heated to thousands of degrees during the recycling process to burn off contaminants, recycled plastic cannot be heated enough to sterilize it.（C）
(E) Plastic polymers tend to break down during the recycling process and weaken the resulting product, whereas glass does not break down.
10. Technological progress makes economic growth and widespread prosperity possible; it also makes a worker’s particular skills less crucial to production. Yet workers’ satisfaction in their work depends on their believing that their work is difficult and requires uncommon skills. Clearly, then, technological progress ______
Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?
(A) deceases the quality of most products
(B) provides benefits only to those whose work is not directly affected by it
(C) is generally opposed by the workers whose work will be directly affected by it
(D) cause workers to feel less satisfaction in their work（D）
(E) eliminates many worker’s jobs
11. Environmentalist: The complex ecosystem of the North American prairie has largely been destroyed to produce cattle feed. But the prairie ecosystem once supported 30 to 70 million bison, whereas North American agriculture now supports about 50 million cattle. Since bison yield as much meat as cattle, and the natural prairie required neither pesticides, machinery, nor government subsidies, returning as much land as possible to an uncultivated state could restore biodiversity without a major decease in meat production.
Which one of the following most accurately expresses the environmentalist’s main conclusion?
(A) If earlier North American agricultural techniques were reintroduced, meat production would decrease only slightly.
(B) Protecting the habitat of wild animals so that we can utilize these animals as a food source is more cost effective than raising domesticated animals.
(C) The biodiversity of the North American prairie ecosystem should not be restored if doing so will have intolerable economic consequences.
(D) Preservation of the remaining North American bison would be a sensible policy.（E）
(E) The devastation of the North American prairie ecosystem could be largely reversed without significantly decreasing meat production.
12. Item removed from scoring.
13. A recent study reveals that television advertising does not significantly affect children’s preferences for breakfast cereals. The study compared two groups of children. One group had watched no television, and the other group had watched average amounts of television and its advertising. Both groups strongly preferred the sugary cereals heavily advertised on television.
Which one of the following statements, if true, most weakens the argument?
(A) The preferences of children who do not watch television advertising are influenced by the preferences of children who watch the advertising.
(B) The preference for sweets is not a universal trait in human and can be influenced by environmental factors such as television advertising.
(C) Most of the children in the group that had watched television were already familiar with the advertisements for these cereals.
(D) Both groups rejected cereals low in sugar even when these cereal were heavily advertised on television.（A）
(E) Cereal preferences of adults who watch television are known to be significantly different from the cereal preferences of adults who do not watch television.
14. Reducing speed limits neither saves lives nor protects the environment. This is
because the more slowly a car is driven, the more time it spends on the road spewing exhaust into the air and running the risk of colliding with other vehicles.
The argument’s reasoning is flawed because the argument
(A) neglects the fact that some motorists completely ignore speed limits.
(B) Ignore the possibility of benefits from lowering speed limits other than environmental and safety benefits.
(C) Fails to consider that if speed limits are reduced, increased driving times will increase the number of cars on the road at any given time.
(D) Presumes, without providing justification, that total emissions for a given automobile trip are determined primarily by the amount of time the trip takes（D）
(E) Presumes, without providing justification, that drivers run a significant risk of collision only if they spend a lot of time on the road.
15. Loggerhead turtles live and breed in distinct groups, of which some are in the Pacific Ocean and some are in the Atlantic. New evidence suggests that juvenile pacific loggerheads that feed near the Baja peninsula hatch in Japanese waters 10,000 kilometers away. Ninety-five percent of the DNA samples taken from the Baja turtles match those taken from turtles at the Japanese nesting sites.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the reasoning above?
(A) Nesting sites of loggerhead turtles have been found off the Pacific coast of North America several thousand kilometers north of the Baja peninsula.
(B) The distance between nesting sites and feeding sites of Atlantic loggerhead turtles is less than 5,000 kilometers.
(C) Loggerhead hatchlings in Japanese waters have been declining in number for the last decade while the number of nesting sites near the Baja peninsula had remained constant.
(D) Ninety-five percent of the DNA samples taken from the Baja turtles match those taken from Atlantic loggerhead turtles.（D）
(E) Commercial aquariums have been successfully breeding Atlantic loggerheads with Pacific loggerheads fro the last five years.
16. People who do not believe that others distrust them are confident in their own abilities, so people who tend to trust others think of a difficult task as a challenge rather than a threat, since this is precisely how people who are confident in their won abilities regard such tasks.
The conclusion above follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?
(A) People who believe that others distrust them tend to trust others.
(B) Confidence in one’s own abilities gives one confidence in the trustworthiness of others.
(C) People who tend to trust others do not believe that others distrust them.
(D) People who are not threatened by difficult tasks tend to find such tasks challenging.（C）
(E) People tend to distrust those who they believe lack self-confidence.
17. Mullen has proposed to raise taxes on the rich, who made so much money during the past decade. Yet Mullen’s tax records show heavy investment in business during that time and large profits; so Mullen’s proposal does not deserve our consideration.
The flawed reasoning in the argument above is most similar to the flawed reasoning in which one of the following?
(A) Do not vote for Smith’s proposed legislation to subsidize child care for working parents; Smith is a working parent.
(B) Do not put any credence in Dr. Han’s recent proposal to ban smoking in all public places; Dr. Han is a heavy smoker.
(C) The previous witness’s testimony ought to be ignored; he has been convicted of both forgery and mail fraud.
(D) Board member Timm’s proposal to raise the salaries of the company’s middle managers does not deserve to be considered; Timm’s daughter is a middle manager at the company’s headquarters.（B）
(E) Dr. Wasow’s analysis of the design of this bridge should not be taken seriously; after all, Dr. Wasow has previously only designed factory buildings.
Question 18—19
Anders: The physical structure of the brain plays an important role in thinking. So researchers developing “thinking machines”—computers that can make decisions based on both common sense and factual knowledge—should closely model those machines on the structure of the brain.
Yang: Important does not mean essential. After all, no flying machine closely modeled on birds has worked; workable aircraft are structurally very different from birds. So thinking machines closely modeled on the brain are also likely to fail. In developing a workable thinking machine, researchers would therefore increase their chances of success if they focus on the brain’s function and simply ignore its physical structure.
18. The statement “thinking machines closely modeled on the brain are also likely to fail’ serves which one of the following roles in yang’s argument?
(A) the main conclusion of the argument
(B) a subsidiary conclusion used in support of the main conclusion
(C) a principle of research invoked in support of the conclusion
(D) a particular example illustrating a general claim（B）
(E) background information providing a context for the argument
19. In evaluating Yang’s argument it would be most helpful to know whether
(A) studies of the physical structure of birds provided information crucial to the development of workable aircraft
(B) researchers currently working on thinking machines take all thinking to involve both common sense and factual knowledge
(C) as much time has been spent trying to develop a workable thinking machine as had been spent in developing the first workable aircraft
(D) researchers who specialize in the structure of the brain are among those who are trying to develop thinking machines（A）
(E) some flying machines that were not closely modeled on birds failed to work
20. Shy adolescents often devote themselves totally to a hobby to help distract them from the loneliness brought on by their shyness. Sometimes they are able to become friends with others who share their hobby. But if they lose interest in that hobby, their loneliness may be exacerbated. So developing an all-consuming hobby is not a successful strategy for overcoming adolescent loneliness.
Which one of the following assumptions does the argument depend on?
(A) Eventually, shy adolescents are going to want a wider circle of friends than is provided by their hobby.
(B) No successful strategy fro overcoming adolescent loneliness ever intensifies that loneliness.
(C) Shy adolescents will lose interest in their hobbies if they do not make friends through their engagement in those hobbies.
(D) Some other strategy for overcoming adolescent loneliness is generally more successful than is developing an all-consuming hobby.（B）
(E) Shy adolescents devote themselves to hobbies mainly because they want to make friends.
21. Political scientist: As a political system, democracy does not promote political freedom. There are historical examples of democracies that ultimately resulted in some of the most oppressive societies. Likewise, there have been enlightened despotisms and oligarchies that have provided a remarkable level of political freedom to their subjects.
The reasoning in the political scientist’s argument is flawed because it
(A) confuses the conditions necessary for political freedom with the conditions sufficient to bring it about
(B) fail to consider that a substantial increase in the level of political freedom might cause a society to become more democratic
(C) appeals to historical examples that are irrelevant to the causal claim being made
(D) overlooks the possibility that democracy promotes political freedom without being necessary or sufficient by itself to produce it（D）
(E) bases its historical case on a personal point of view
22. In humans, ingested protein is broken down into amino acids, all of which must compete to enter the brain. Subsequent ingestion of sugars leads to the production of insulin, a hormone that breaks down the sugars and also rids the bloodstream of residual amino acids, except for tryptophan, Tryptophan then slips into the brain uncontested and is transformed into the chemical serotonin, increasing ht brain’s serotonin level. Thus sugars can play a major role in mood elevation, helping one to feel relaxed and anxiety-free.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) Elevation of mood and freedom from anxiety require increasing the level of serotonin the brain.
(B) Failure to consume foods rich in sugars results in anxiety and a lowering of mood.
(C) Serotonin can be produced naturally only if tryptophan is presented in the bloodstream.
(D) Increasing the level of serotonin in the brain promotes relaxation and freedom from anxiety.（D）
(E) The consumption of protein-rich foods results in anxiety and a lowering of mood.
23. If an act of civil disobedience—willfully breaking a specific law in order to bring about legal reform—is done out of self-interest alone and not out of a concern for others, I t cannot be justified. But one is justified in performing an act of civil disobedience if one’s conscience requires one to do so.
Which one of the following judgments most closely conforms to the principles stated above?
(A) Keisha’s protest against what she perceived to be a brutal and repressive dictatorship in another country was an act of justified civil disobedience, because in organizing an illegal but peaceful demonstration calling for a return to democratic leadership in that country, she acted purely out of concern for the people of that country.
(B) Janice’s protest against a law that forbade labor strikes was motivated solely by a desire to help local mine workers obtain fair wages. But her conscience did not require her to protest this law, so Janice didn’t perform an act of justified civil disobedience.
(C) In organizing an illegal protest against the practice in her country of having prison inmates work eighteen hours per day, Georgette performed an act of justified civil disobedience: though she acted out of concern for her fellow inmates rather than out of concern for herself.
(D) Maria’s deliberate violation of a law requiring prepublication government approval of all printed materials was an act of justified civil disobedience: though her interest as an owner of a publishing company would be served by repeal of the law, she violated the law because her conscience required doing so on behalf of all publishers.（D）
(E) In organizing a parade of motorcyclists riding without helmets through the capital city, Louise’s act was not one of justified civil disobedience: she was willfully challenging a specific law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets, but her conscience did not require her to organize the parade.
24. Most land-dwelling vertebrates have rotating limbs terminating in digits, a characteristic useful for land movement. Biologists who assume that this characteristic evolved only after animals abandoned aquatic environments must consider the Acanthostega, a newly discovered ancestor of all land vertebrates. It possessed rotating limbs terminating in digits, but its skeleton was too feeble for land movement. It also breathed using only internal gills, indicating that it and its predecessors were exclusively aquatic.
The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?
(A) Many anatomical characteristics common to most land animals represent a disadvantage for survival underwater.
(B) None of the anatomical characteristics common to most aquatic animals represent an advantage for survival on land.
(C) Acanthostega originated as a land-dwelling species; but evolved gills only after moving to an underwater environment.
(D) All anatomical characteristics not useful for land movement but common to most land animals represent an advantage for survival underwater.（E）
(E) Certain anatomical characteristics common to some aquatic animals represent an advantage for survival on land.
25. One reason why European music has had such a strong influence throughout the world, and why it is a sophisticated achievement, is that over time the original function of the music—whether ritual, dance, or worship—gradually became an aspect of its style, not its defining force. Dance music could stand independent of dance, for example, and sacred music independent of religious worship, because each composition has so much internal coherence that the music ultimately depends on nothing but itself.
The claims made above are compatible with each of the following EXCEPT:
(A) African music has had a more powerful impact on the world than European music has had.
(B) European military and economic expansionism partially explains the global influence of European music.
(C) The original functions of many types of Chinese music are no longer their defining forces.
(D) Music that is unintelligible when it is presented independently of its original function tends to be the most sophisticated music.（D）
(E) Some works of art lose their appeal when they are presented to serve a function other than their original one.
26. Tony: A short story is little more than a novelist’s sketch pad. Only novels have narrative structures that allow writers to depict human lives accurately by portraying characters whose personalities gradually develop through life experience.
Raoul: Life consists not of a linear process of personality development, but rather of a series of completely disjointed vignettes, from many of which the discerning observer may catch glimpses of character. Thus, the short story depicts human lives more faithfully than does the novel.
The dialogue most supports the claim that Tony and Raoul disagree about whether
(A) human lives are best understood as series of completely disjointed vignettes
(B) novels and short stories employ the same strategies to depict human lives
(C) novels usually depict gradual changes in characters’ personalities
(D) only short stories are used as novelists’ sketch pads（A）
(E) short stories provide glimpses of facts of character that are usually kept hidden
TEST 2002.10
SECTION I
|
1. A |
2. C |
3. E |
4. C |
5. E |
|
6. E |
7. D |
8. E |
9. E |
10. A |
|
11. E |
12. D |
13. B |
14. D |
15. C |
|
16. D |
17. B |
18. B |
19. C |
20. C |
|
21. D |
22. C |
23. A |
24. A |
25.
|
SECTION IV
|
1. B |
2. C |
3. E |
4. A |
5. B |
|
6. B |
7. B |
8. D |
9. C |
10. D |
|
11. E |
12. N/A |
13. A |
14. D |
15. D |
|
16. C |
17. B |
18. B |
19. A |
20. B |
|
21. D |
22. D |
23. D |
24. E |
25. D |
|
26. A |
27.
|
28.
|
29.
|
30.
|
Where's My Stuff? |
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