SECTION IV
Time-35 minutes
25 Questions
Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages. For some questions, More than one of the choices could conceivably answer the question. However, You are to choose the best answer; that is the response that most accurately and completely answers the questions. You should not make assumptions that are by commonsense standards implausible, superfluous. or incompatible with the passage. After you have chosen the best answer; blacken the corresponding space on your answer sheet.
1. A major art theft from a museum was remarkable in that the pieces stolen clearly had been carefully selected. The criterion for selection, however, clearly had not been greatest estimated market value. It follows that the theft was specifically carried out to suit the taste of some individual collector for whose private collection the pieces were destined.
The argument tacitly appeals to which one of the following principles?
(A) Any art theft can, on the evidence of the selection of pieces stolen, be categorized as committed either at the direction of a single known individual or at the direction of a group of known individuals.
(B) Any art theft committed at the direction of a single individual results in a pattern of works taken and works left alone that defies rational analysis.
(C) The pattern of works taken and works left alone can sometimes distinguish one type of art theft from another.
(D) Art thefts committed with no preexisting plan for the disposition of the stolen works do not always involve theft of the most valuable pieces only.
(E) The pattern of works taken and works left alone in an art theft can be particularly damaging to the integrity of the remaining collection.
2. The teeth of some mammals show “growth rings” that result from the constant depositing of layers of cementum as opaque bands in summer and translucent bands in winter. Cross sections of pigs teeth found in an excavated Stone Age trash pit revealed bands of remarkably constant width except tat the band deposited last, which was invariably that the band deposited last, which was invariably translucent, was only about half the normal width.
The statements above most strongly support the conclusion that the animals died
(A) in an unusually early winter
(B) at roughly the same age
(C) roughly in midwinter
(D) in a natural catastrophe
(E) from starvation
3. The United States has never been a great international trader. It found most of its raw materials and customers for finished products within its own borders. The terrible consequences of this situation have become apparent, as this country now owes the largest foreign debt in the world and is a playground for wealthy foreign investors. The moral is clear: a country can no more live without foreign trade than a dog can live by eating its own tail.
In order to advance her point of view, the author does each of the following EXCEPT
(A) draw on an analogy
(B) appeal to historical fact
(C) identify a cause and an effect
(D) suggest a cause of the current economic situation
(E) question the ethical basis of an economic situation
4. Giselle: The government needs to ensure that the public consumes less petroleum. When things cost more, people buy and use less of them. Therefore, the government should raise the sales tax on gasoline, a major petroleum product.
Antoine: The government should not raise the sales tax on gasoline. Such an increase would be unfair to gasoline users. If taxes are to be increased, the increases should be applied in such a way that they spread the burden of providing the government with increased revenues among many people, not just the users of gasoline.
As a rebuttal of Giselle’s argument, Antoine’s response is ineffective because
(A) he ignores the fact that Giselle does not base her argument for raising the gasoline sales tax on the government’s need for increase revenues
(B) he fails to specify how many taxpayers there are who are not gasoline users
(C) his conclusion is based on an assertion regarding unfairness, and unfairness is a very subjective concept
(D) he mistakenly assumes that Giselle wants a sales tax increase only on gasoline
(E) he makes the implausible assumption that the burden of increasing government revenues can be more evenly distributed among the people through other means besides increasing the gasoline sales tax
5. A government agency publishes ratings of airlines, ranking highest the airlines that have the smallest proportion of late flights. The agency’s purpose is to establish an objective measure of the relative efficiency of different airlines’ personnel
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] 下一页
in meeting published flight schedules.
Which one of the following, if true, would tend to invalidate use of the ratings for the agency’s purpose?
(A) Travelers sometimes have no choice of airlines for a given trip at a given time.
(B) Flights are often made late by bad weather conditions that affect some airlines more that others.
(C) The flight schedules of all airlines allow extra time for flights that go into or out of very busy airports.
(D) Airline personnel are aware that the government agency is monitoring all airline flights for lateness.
(E) Flights are defined as “late” only if they arrive more that fifteen minutes past their scheduled arrival time, and a record is made of how much alter than fifteen minutes they are.
6. Although this bottle is labeled “vinegar.” no fizzing occurred when some of the liquid in it was added to powder from this box labeled “baking soda.” But when an acidic liquid such as vinegar is added to baking soda the resulting mixture fizzes, so this bottle clearly has been mislabeled.
A flaw in the reasoning in the argument above is that this argument
(A) ignores the possibility that the bottle contained an acidic liquid other than vinegar
(B) fails to exclude an alternative explanation for the observed effect.
(C) depends on the use of the imprecise term “fizz”
(D) does not take into account the fact that scientific principles can be definitively tested only under controlled laboratory conditions
(E) assumes that the fact of a labeling error is proof of an intention to deceive
7. Marine biologists have long thought that variation in the shell color of aquatic snails evolved as a protective camouflage against birds and other predators. Brown shells seem to be more frequent when the underlying seafloor is dark-colored and white shells more frequent when the underlying seafloor is light-colored. A new theory has been advanced, however, that claims that shell color is related to physiological stress associated with heat absorption. According to this theory, brown shells will be more prevalent in areas where the wave action of the sea is great and thus heat absorption from the Sun is minimized, whereas white shells will be more numerous in calmer waters where the snails will absorb more heat from the Sun’s rays.
Evidence that would strongly favor the new theory over the traditional theory would be the discovery of a large majority of
(A) dark-shelled snails in a calm inlet with a dark, rocky bottom and many predators
(B) dark-shelled snails in a calm inlet with a white, sandy bottom
(C) light-shelled snails in an inlet with much wave action and a dark, rocky bottom
(D) light-shelled snails in a calm inlet with a dark, rocky bottom and many predators
(E) light-shelled snails in a calm inlet with a white, sandy bottom and many predators
8. Measurements of the extent of amino-acid decomposition in fragments of eggshell found at archaeological sites in such places as southern Africa can be used to obtain accurate dates for sites up to 200,000 years old. Because the decomposition is slower in cool climates, the technique can be used to obtain accurate dates for sites almost a million years old in cooler regions.
The information above provides the most support for which one of the following conclusions?
(A) The oldest archaeological sites are not in southern Africa, but rather in cooler regions of the world.
(B) The amino-acid decomposition that enables eggshells to be used in dating does not take place in other organic matter found at ancient archaeological sites.
(C) If the site being dated had been subject to large unsuspected climatic fluctuations during the time the eggshell has been at the site, application of the technique is less likely to yield accurate results.
(D) After 200,000 ears in a cool climate, less than one-fifth of the amino acids in a fragment of eggshell that would provide material for dating with the technique will have decomposed and will thus no longer be suitable for examination by the technique.
(E) Fragments of eggshell are more likely to be found at ancient archaeological sites in warm regions of the world than at such sites in cooler regions.
9. Advertisement: Clark brand-name parts are made for cars manufactured in this country. They satisfy al of our government automotive test-the toughest such tests in the world. With foreign-made parts, you never know which might be reliable and which are cheap look-alikes that are poorly constructed and liable to cost you hundreds of dollars in repairs. Therefore, be smart and insist on brand-name parts by Clark for your car.
The argument requires the assumption that
(A) Clark parts are available only in this country
(B) foreign-made parts are not suitable for cars manufactur
上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] 下一页
ed in this country
(C) no foreign-made parts satisfy our government standards
(D) parts that satisfy our government standards are not as poorly constructed as cheap foreign-made parts
(E) if parts are made for cars manufactured in our country, they are not poorly constructed
10. Even if a crime that has been committed by computer is discovered and reported, the odds of being both arrested and convicted greatly favor the criminal.
Each of the following, if true, supports the claim above EXCEPT:
(A) The preparation of computer-fraud cases takes much more time than is required for average fraud cases, and the productivity of prosecutors is evaluated by the number of good cases made.
(B) In most police departments, officers are rotated through different assignments every two or three years, a shorter time than it takes to become proficient as a computer-crime investigator.
(C) The priorities of local police departments, under whose jurisdiction most computer crime falls, are weighted toward visible street crime that communities perceive as threatening.
(D) Computer criminals have rarely been sentenced to serve time in prison, because prisons are overcrowded with violent criminals and drug offenders.
(E) The many police officers who are untrained in computers often inadvertently destroy the physical evidence of computer crime.
11. Every week, the programming office at an FM radio station reviewed unsolicited letters from listeners who were expressing comments on the station’s programs,. One week, the station received 50 letters with favorable comments about the station’s news reporting and music selection and 10 letters with unfavorable comments on the station’s new movie review segment of the evening program. Faced with this information, the programming director assumed that if some listeners died not like the movie review segment, then there must be other listeners who did like it. Therefore, he decided to continue the movie review segment of the evening program.
Which on e of the following identifies a problem with the programming director’s decision process?
(A) He failed to recognize that people are more likely to write letters of criticism than of praise.
(B) He could not properly infer from the fact that some listeners did not like the movie review segment that some others did.
(C) He failed to take into consideration the discrepancy in numbers between favorable and unfavorable letters received.
(D) He failed to take into account the relation existing between the movie review segment and the news.
(E) He did not wait until he received at least 50 letters with unfavorable comments about the movie review segment before making his decision.
12. “Though they soon will, patients should not have a legal right to see their medical records. As a doctor, I see two reasons for this. First, giving them access will be time-wasting because it will significantly reduce the amount of time that medical staff can spend on more important duties, by forcing them to retrieve and return files. Second, if my experience is anything to go by, no patients are going to ask for access to their records anyway.”
Which one of the following, if true, establishes that the doctor’s second reason does not cancel out the first?
(A) The new law will require that doctors, when seeing a patient in their office, must be ready to produce the patient’s records immediately, not just ready to retrieve them.
(B) The task of retrieving and returning files would fall to the lowest-paid member of a doctor’s office staff.
(C) Any patients who asked to see their medical records would also insist on having details they did not understand explained to them.
(D) The new law does not rule out that doctors may charge patients for extra expenses incurred specifically in order to comply with the new law.
(E) Some doctors have all allowing their patients access to their medical records, but those doctors’ patients took no advantage of this policy.
13. Alia: Hawthorne admits that he has influence with high government officials. He further admits that he sold that influence to an environmental interest group. There can be no justification for this kind of unethical behavior.
Martha: I disagree that he was unethical. The group that retained Hawthorne’s services is dedicated to the cause of preventing water pollution. So, in using his influence to benefit this group, Hawthorne also benefited the public.
Alia and Martha disagree on whether
(A) the meaning of ethical behavior has changed over time
(B) the consequences of Hawthorne’s behavior can ethically justify that behavior
(C) the standards for judging ethical behavior can be imposed on Hawthorne by another
(D) the meaning of ethical behavior is the same in a public sit
上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] 下一页
uation as in a private one
(E) the definition of ethical behavior is rooted I philosophy or religion
14. The mayor boasts that the average ambulance turnaround time, the time from summons to delivery of the patient, has been reduced this year for top-priority emergencies. This is a serious misrepresentation. This “reduction” was produced simply by redefining “top priority.” Such emergencies used to include gunshot wounds and electrocutions, the most time-consuming cases. Now they are limited strictly to heart attacks and strokes.
Which one of the following would strengthen the author’s conclusion that it was the redefinition of “top priority” that produced the reduction in turnaround time?
(A) The number of heart attacks and strokes declined this year.
(B) The mayor redefined the city’s financial priorities this year.
(C) Experts disagree with the mayor’s definition of “top-priority emergency.”
(D) Other cities include gunshot wound cases in their category o top-priority emergencies.
(E) One half of all of last year’s top-priority emergencies were gunshot wounds and electrocution cases.
15. In a large residential building, there is a rule that no pets are allowed. A group of pet lovers tried to change that rule but failed. The rule-changing procedure outlined in the building’s regulations states that only if a group of tenants can obtain the signatures of 10 percent of the tenants on a petition to change a rule will the proposed change be put to a majority vote of all the tenants in the building. It follows that the pet lovers were voted down on their proposal by the majority of the tenants.
The argument depends on which one of the following assumptions?
(A) The pet lovers succeeded in obtaining the signatures of 10 percent of the tenants on their petition.
(B) The signatures of less than 10 percent of the tenants were obtained on the pet lovers’ petition.
(C) Ninety percent of the tenants are against changing the rule forbidding pets.
(D) The support of 10 percent of the tenants for a rule change ensures that the rule change will be adopted.
(E) The failure of the pet lovers to obtain the signatures of 10 percent of the tenants on their petition for a rule change ensures that the rule change will be voted down by a majority of the tenants.
16. Nuclear fusion is a process whereby the nuclei of atoms are joined, or “fused,” and in which energy is released. One of the by-products of fusion is helium-4 gas. A recent fusion experiment was conducted using “heavy” water contained in a sealed flask. The flask was, in turn, contained in an air-filled chamber designed to eliminate extraneous vibration. After the experiment, a measurable amount of helium-4 gas was found in the air of the chamber. The experimenters cited this evidence in support of their conclusion that fusion ad been achieved.
Which one of the following, if true, would cast doubt on the experimenters’ conclusion?
(A) Helium-4 was not the only gas found in the experiment chamber.
(B) When fusion is achieved, it normally produces several by-products, including tritium and gamma rays.
(C) The amount of helium-4 found in the chamber’s air did not exceed the amount of elium-4 that is found in ordinary air.
(D) Helium-4 gas rapidly breaks down, forming ordinary helium gas after a few hours.
(E) Nuclear fusion reactions are characterized by the release of large amounts of heat.
17. Every photograph, because it involves the light rays that something emits hitting film, must in some obvious sense be true. But because it could always have been made to show things differently than it does, it cannot express the whole truth and, in that sense, is false. Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph.
Which one of the following is an assumption that would permit the conclusion above to be properly drawn?
(A) Whatever is false in the sense that it cannot express the whole truth cannot furnish definitive proof.
(B) The whole truth cannot be known.
(C) It is not possible to determine the truthfulness of a photograph in any sense.
(D) It is possible to use a photograph as corroborative evidence if there is additional evidence establishing the truth about the scene photographed.
(E) If something is being photographed, then it is possible to prove definitively the truth about it.
Questions 18-19
Some cleaning fluids, synthetic carpets, wall paneling, and other products release toxins, such as formaldehyde and benzene, into the household air supply. This is not a problem in well-ventilated houses, but it is a problem I houses that are so well insulated that they trap toxins as well as heat. Recent tests, however, demonstrate that houseplants remove some household toxins from the air and thereby eliminate
上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] 下一页
their danger. In one test, 20 large plants eliminated formaldehyde from a small, well-insulated house.
18. Assume that a person who lives in a small, well-insulated house that contains toxin-releasing products places houseplants, such as those tested, in the house. Which one of the following can be expected as a result?
(A) There will no longer be any need to ventilate the house.
(B) The concentration of toxins in the household air supply will remain the same.
(C) The house will be warm and have a safe air supply.
(D) If there is formaldehyde in the household air supply, its level will decrease.
(E) If formaldehyde and benzene are being released into the household air supply, the quantities released of each will decrease.
19. The passage is structured to lead to which one of the following conclusions?
(A) Houseplants can remove benzene from the air.
(B) Nonsynthetic products do not release toxins into houses.
(C) Keeping houseplants is an effective means of trapping heat in a poorly insulated house.
(D) Keeping houseplants can compensate for some of the negative effects of poor ventilation.
(E) The air in a well-insulated house with houseplants will contain fewer toxins than the air in a well-ventilated house without houseplants.
20. Normal full-term babies are all born with certain instinctive reflexes that disappear by the age of two months. Because this three-month-old baby exhibits these reflexes, this baby is not a normal full-term baby.
Which one of the following has a logical structure most like that of the argument above?
(A) Because carbon dioxide turns limewater milky and this gas is oxygen, it will not turn limewater milky.
(B) Because no ape can talk and Suzy is an ape, Suzy cannot talk.
(C) Because humans are social animals and Henry is sociable, Henry is normal.
(D) Because opossums have abdominal pouches and this animal lacks any such pouch, this animal is not an opossum.
(E) Because some types of trees shed their leaves annually and this tree has not shed its leaves, it is not normal.
21. Efficiency and redundancy are contradictory characteristics of linguistic systems: however, they can be used together to achieve usefulness and reliability in communication. If a spoken language is completely efficient, then every possible permutation of its basic language sounds can be an understandable word. However, if the human auditory system is an imperfect receptor of sounds, then it is not true that every possible permutation of a spoken language’s basic language sounds can be an understandable word.
If all of the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true?
(A) Efficiency causes a spoken language to be useful and redundancy causes it to be reliable.
(B) Neither efficiency nor redundancy can be completely achieved in spoken language.
(C) If a spoken language were completely redundant, then it could not be useful.
(D) If the human auditory system were a perfect receptor of sounds, then every permutation of language sounds would be an understandable word.
(E) If the human auditory system is an imperfect receptor of sounds, then a spoken language cannot be completely efficient.
22. All intelligent people are nearsighted. I am very nearsighted. So I must be a genius.
Which one of the following exhibits both of the logical flaws exhibited in the argument above?
(A) I must be stupid because all intelligent people are nearsighted and I have perfect eyesight.
(B) All chickens have beaks. This bird has a beak. So this bird must be a chicken.
(C) All pigs have four legs, but this spider has eight legs. So this spider must be twice as big as any pig.
(D) John is extremely happy, so he must be extremely tall because all tall people are happy.
(E) All geniuses are very nearsighted. I must be very nearsighted since I am a genius.
23. An advertisements states:
Like Danaxil, all headache pills can stop your headache. But when you are in pain, you want relief right away. Danaxil is for you-no headache pill stops pain more quickly.
Evelyn and Jane are each suffering from a headache. Suppose Evelyn takes Danaxil and Jane takes its leading competitor.
Which one of the following can be properly concluded from the claims in the advertisement?
(A) Evelyn’s headache pain will be relieved, but Jane’s will not.
(B) Evelyn’s headache pain will be relieved more quickly than Jane’s.
(C) Evelyn’s headache will be relieved at least as quickly as Jane’s.
(D) Jane’s headache pain will be relieved at the same time as is Evelyn’s.
(E) Jane will be taking Danaxil for relief from headache pain.
Questions 24-25
In opposing the 1970 Clean Air Act, the United States
上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] 下一页
automobile industry argued that meeting the act’s standards for automobile emissions was neither economically feasible nor environmentally necessary. However, the catalytic converter, invented in 1967, enabled automakers to meet the 1970 standards efficiently. Currently, automaker are lobbying against the government’s attempt to pass legislation that would tighten restrictions on automobile emissions. The automakers contend that these new restrictions would be overly expensive and unnecessary to efforts to curb air pollution. Clearly, the automobile industry’s position should not be heeded.
24. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the method used to counter the automakers’ current position?
(A) The automakers’ premises are shown to lead to a contradiction.
(B) Facts are mentioned that show that the automakers are relying on false information.
(C) A flaw is pointed out in the reasoning used by the automakers to reach their conclusion.
(D) A comparison is drawn between the automakers’ current position and a position they held in the past.
(E) Evidence is provided that the new emissions legislation is both economically feasible and environmentally necessary.
25. Which one of the following, if true, lends the most support to the automakers’ current position?
(A) The more stringent the legislation restricting emissions becomes, the more difficult it becomes for automakers to provide the required technology economically.
(B) Emissions-restriction technology can often be engineered so as to avoid reducing the efficiency with which an automobile uses fuel.
(C) Not every new piece of legislation restricting emissions requires new automotive technology in order for automakers to comply with it.
(D) The more automobiles there are on the road, the more stringent emission restrictions must be to prevent increased overall air pollution.
(E) Unless forced to do so by the government, automakers rarely make changes in automotive technology that is not related to profitability.
上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
