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 question. 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. Crimes in which handguns are used are more likely than other crimes to result in fatalities. However, the majority of crimes in which handguns are used do not result in fatalities. Therefore, there is no need to enact laws that address crimes involving handguns as distinct from other crimes.

The pattern of flawed reasoning displayed in the argument above most closely resembles that in which one of the following？

（A） Overweight people are at higher risk of developing heart disease than other people. However, more than half of all overweight people never develop heart disease. Hence it is unnecessary for physicians to be more careful to emphasize the danger of heart disease to their overweight patients than to their other patients.

（B） Many people swim daily in order to stay physically fit. Yet people who swim daily increase their risk of developing ear infections. Hence people who want to remain in good health are better off not following fitness programs that include swimming daily.

（C） Most physicians recommend a balanced diet for those who want to remain in good health. Yet many people find that nontraditional dietary regiments such as extended fasting do their health no serious harm. Therefore, there is no need for everyone to avoid nontraditional dietary regiments.

（D） Food rich in cholesterol and fat pose a serious health threat to most people. However, many people are reluctant to give up eating foods that they greatly enjoy. Therefore, people who refuse to give up rich foods need to spend more time exercising than do other people.

（E） Many serious health problems are the result of dietary disorders. Yet these disorders are often brought about by psychological factors. Hence people suffering from serious health problems should undergo psychological evaluation.

2. Tall children can generally reach high shelves easily. Short children can generally reach high shelves only with difficulty. It is known that short children are more likely than are tall children to become short adults. Therefore, if short children are taught to reach high shelves easily, the proportion of them who become short adults will decrease.

A reasoning error in the argument is that the argument

（A） attributes a characteristic of an individual member of a group to the group as a whole

（B） presupposes that which is to be proved

（C） refutes a generalization by mean of an exceptional case

（D） assumes a causal relationship where only a correlation has be indicated

（E） take lack of evidence for the existence of a state of affairs as evidence that there can be no such state of affairs

3. Balance is particularly important when reporting the background of civil wars and conflicts. Facts must not be deliberately manipulated to show one party in a favorable light, and the views of each side should be fairly represented. This concept of balance, however, does not justify concealing or glossing over basic injustices in an effort to be even-handled. If all the media were to adopt such a perverse interpretation of balanced reporting, the public would be given a picture of a world where each party in every conflict had an equal measure of justice on its side, contrary to our experience of life and, indeed, our common sense.

Which one of the following best expresses the main point of the argument？

（A） Balanced reporting presents the public with a picture of the world in which all sides to a conflict have equal justification.

（B） Balanced reporting requires impartially revealing injustices where they occur no less than fairly presenting the views of each party in a conflict.

（C） Our experience of life shows that there are indeed cases in which conflicts arise because of an injustice, with one party clearly in the wrong.

（D） Common sense tells us that balance is especially needed when reporting the background of civil wars and conflicts.

（E） Balanced reporting is an ideal that cannot be realized, because judgments of balance are necessarily subjective.

4. Data form satellite photographs of the tropical rain forest in Melonia show that last year the deforestation rate of this environmentally sensitive zone was significantly lower than in previous years. The Melonian government, which spent millions of dollars last year to enforce laws against burning and cutting of the forest, is claiming that the satellite data indicate that its increased efforts to halt the destruction are proving effective.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the government's claim？

（A） Landowner opposition to the government's antideforestation efforts grew more violent last year in response to the increased enforcement.

（B） Rainfall during the usually dry 6-month annual burning season was abnormally heavy last year.

（C） Government agents had to issue fines totaling over 59 million to 3,500violators of burning-and-cutting regulations.

（D） The inaccessibility of much of the rain forest has made it impossible to confirm the satellite data by direct observation from the field.

（E） Much of the money that was designated last year for forest preservation has been spent on research and not on enforcement.

5. Advertisement： Northwoods Maple Syrup, make the old-fashioned way, is simply tops for taste. And here is the proof： in a recent market survey, 7 out of every 10 shoppers who expressed a preference said that Northwoods was the only maple syrup for them, no ifs, ands, or buts.

Of the following, which one is the strongest reason why the advertisement is potentially misleading？

（A） The proportion of shoppers expressing no preference might have been very small.

（B） Other brands of maple syrup might also be made the old-fashioned way.

（C） No market survey covers more than a sizable minority of the total population of consumers.

（D） The preference for the Northwoods brand might be based on such a factor as an exceptionally low price.

（E） Shoppers who bu7y syrup might buy only maple syrup.

6. In the summer of 1936 a polling service telephoned 10,000 United States voters and asked how they planned to vote in the coming presidential election. The survey sample included a variety of respondents-rural and urban, male and female, from every state. The poll predicted that Alfred Landon would soundly defeat Franklin Roosevelt. Nevertheless, Roosevelt won in a landslide.

Which one of the following, if true, best explains why the poll's prediction was inaccurate？

（A） The interviewers did not reveal their own political affiliation to the respondents.

（B） Only people who would be qualified to vote by election time were interviewed, so the survey sample was not representative of the overall United States population.

（C） The survey sample was representative only of people who could afford telephones at a time when phone ownership was less common than it is today.

（D） No effort was made to determine the respondents' political affiliations.

（E） Because the poll asked only for respondents' candidate preference, it collected no information concerning their reasons for favoring Landon or Roosevelt.

7. Waste management companies, which collect waste for disposal in landfills and incineration plants, report that disposable plastics make up an ever-increasing percentage of the waste they handle. It is clear that attempts to decrease the amount of plastic that people throw away in the garbage are failing.

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

（A） Because plastics create harmful pollutants when burned, an increasing percentage of the plastics handled by waste management companies are being disposed of in landfills.

（B） Although many plastics are recyclable, most of the plastics disposed of by waste management companies are not.

（C） People are more likely to save and reuse plastic containers than containers made of heavier materials like glass or metal.

（D） An increasing proportion of the paper, glass, and metal cans that waste management companies used to handle is now being recycled.

（E） While the percentage of products using plastic packaging is increasing, the total amount of plastic being manufactured has remained unchanged.

8. Most of the ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's atmosphere from the Sun is absorbed by the layer of stratospheric ozone and never reaches the Earth's surface. Between 1969 and 1986, the layer of stratospheric ozone over North America thinned, decreasing by about 3 percent. Yet the average level of ultraviolet radiation measured at research stations across North America decreased over the same period.

Which one of the following, if true, best reconciles the apparently discrepant facts described above？

（A） Ultraviolet radiation increases the risk of skin cancer and cataracts； the incidence of skin cancer and cataracts increased substantially between 1969 and 1986.

（B） Between 1969 and 1986, the layer of stratospheric ozone over Brazil thinned, and the average level of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface in Brazil increased.

（C） Manufactured chlorine chemicals thin the layer of stratospheric ozone.

（D） Ozone pollution, which absorbs ultraviolet radiation, increased dramatically between 1969 and 1986.

（E） Thinning of the layer of stratospheric ozone varies from one part of the world to another and from year to year.

Questions 9-10

The number of aircraft collisions on the ground is increasing because of the substantial increase in the number of flights operated by the airlines. Many of the fatalities that occur in such collisions are caused not by the collision itself, but by an inherent flaw in the cabin design of most aircraft, in which seats, by restricting access to emergency exits, impede escape. Therefore, to reduce the total number of fatalities that result annually from such collisions, the airlines should be required to remove all seats that restrict access to emergency exits.

9. Which one of the following, if true, provides the most support for the proposal？

（A） The number of deaths that occurred in theater fires because theater patrons could not escape was greatly reduced when theaters were required to have aisles leading to each exit.

（B） Removing the seats that block emergency exits on aircraft will require a costly refitting of aircraft cabins.

（C） In the event of fire, public buildings equipped with smoke detectors have fewer fatalities than do public buildings not so equipped.

（D） In the event of collision, passengers on planes with a smaller passenger capacity generally suffer more serious injury than do passengers on planes with a larger passenger capacity.

（E） The safety belts attached to aircraft seats function to protect passengers from the full force of impact in the event of a collision.

10. Which one of the following proposals, if implemented together with the proposal made in the passage, would improve the prospects for achieving the stated objective of reducing fatalities？

（A） The airlines should be required, when buying new planes, to buy only planes with unrestricted access to emergency exits.

（B） The airlines should not be permitted to increase further the number of lights in order to offset the decrease in the number of seats on each aircraft.

（C） Airport authorities should be required to streamline their passenger check-in procedures to accommodate the increased number of passengers served by the airlines.

（D） Airport authorities should be required to refine security precautions by making them less conspicuous without making them less effective.

（E） The airlines should not be allowed to increase the ticket price for each passenger to offset the decrease in the number of seats on each aircraft.

11. Recently discovered fossil evidence casts doubt on the evolutionary theory that dinosaurs are more closely related to reptiles than to other classes of animals. Fossils show that some dinosaurs had hollow bones-a feature found today only in warm-blooded creatures, such as birds, that have a high metabolic rate. Dinosaurs had well-developed senses of sight and hearing, which is not true of present-day cold-blooded creatures like reptiles. The highly arched mouth roof of some dinosaurs would have permitted them to breathe while eating, as fast-breathing animals, such as birds, need to do. Today, all fast-breathing animals are warm-blooded. Finally, fossils reveal that many dinosaurs had a pattern of growth typical of warm-blooded animals.

The argument in the passage proceeds by

（A） attempting to justify one position by demonstrating that an opposing position is based on erroneous information

（B） establishing a general principle that it then uses to draw a conclusion about a particular case

（C） dismissing a claim made about the present on the basis of historical evidence

（D） assuming that if all members of a category have a certain property then all things with that property belong to the category

（E） presenting evidence that a past phenomenon is more similar to one rather than the other of two present-day phenomena

12. Purebred dogs are prone to genetically determined abnormalities. Although such abnormalities often can be corrected by surgery, the cost can reach several thousand dollars. Since nonpurebred dogs rarely suffer from genetically determined abnormalities, potential dog owners who want to reduce the risk of incurring costly medical bills for their pets would be well advised to choose nonpurebred dogs.

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

（A） Most genetically determined abnormalities in dogs do not seriously affect a dog's general well-being.

（B） All dogs, whether purebred or nonpurebred, are subject to the same common nongenetically determined diseases.

（C） Purebred dogs tend to have shorter natural life spans than do nonpurebred dogs.

（D） The purchase price of nonpurebred dogs tends to be lower than the purchase price of purebred dogs.

（E） A dog that does not have genetically determined abnormalities may nevertheless have offspring with such abnormalities.

13. Criticism that the press panders to public sentiment neglects to consider that the press is a profit-making institution. Like other private enterprises, it has to make money to survive. If press were not profit-making, who would support it？ The only alternative is subsidy and, with it, outside control. It is easy to get subsidies for propaganda, but no one will subsidize honest journalism.

It can be properly inferred from the passage that if the pres is

（A） not subsidize, it is in no danger of outside control

（B） not subsidized, it will not produce propaganda

（C） not to be subsidized, it cannot be a profit-making institution

（D） to produce honest journalism, it must be profit-making institution

（E） to make a profit, it must produce honest journalism

Questions 14-15

Lucien： Public-housing advocates claim that the many homeless people in this city are proof that there is insufficient housing available to them and therefore that more low-income apartment are needed. But that conclusion is absurd. Many apartments in my own building remain unrented and my professional colleagues report similar vacancies where they live. Since apartments clearly are available, homelessness is not a housing problem. Homelessness can, therefore, only be caused by people's inability or unwillingness to work to pay the rent.

Maria： On the contrary, all recent studies show that a significant percentage of this city's homeless people hold regular jobs. These are people who lack neither will nor ability.

14. Lucien's argument against the public-housing advocates' position is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms？

（A） It offers no justification for dismissing as absurd the housing advocates' claim that there are many homeless people in the city

（B） It treats information acquired through informal conversations as though it provided evidence as strong as in information acquired on the basis of controlled scientific studies.

（C） It responds to a claim in which “available” is used in the sense of “affordable” by using “available” in the sense of “not occupied.”

（D） It overlooks the possibility that not all apartment buildings have vacant apartments for rent.

（E） It fails to address the issue, raised by the public-housing advocates' argent, of who would pay for the construction of more low-income housing.

15. Maria responds to Lucien's argument by

（A） challenging the accuracy of the personal experiences he offers in support of his position

（B） showing that a presupposition of his argument is false

（C） presenting evidence that calls into question his motives for adopting the view he holds

（D） demonstrating that the evidence he offers supports a conclusion other than the conclusion he draws from it

（E） offering an alternative explanation for the facts he cites us evidence supporting his conclusion

16. Some people take their moral cues from governmental codes of law； for them, it is inconceivable that something that is legally permissible could be immoral.

Those whose view is described above hold inconsistent beliefs if they also believe that

（A） law does not cover all circumstances in which one person morally wrongs another

（B） a legally impermissible action is never morally excusable

（C） governmental officials sometimes behave illegally

（D） the moral consensus of a society is expressed in its laws

（E） some governmental regulations are so detailed that they are burdensome to the economy

17. Certain instruments used in veterinary surgery can be made either of stainless steel of nylon. In a study of such instruments, 10 complete sterilizations of a set of nylon instruments required 3.4 times the amount of energy used to manufacture that set of instruments, whereas 50 complete sterilizations of a set of stainless steel instruments required 2.1 time the amount of energy required to manufacture that set of instruments.

If the statements above are true, each of the following could be true EXCEPT：

（A） The 50 complete sterilizations of nylon instruments used more energy than did the 50 complete sterilizations of the stainless steel instruments.

（B） More energy was required for each complete sterilization of the nylon instruments than was required to manufacture the nylon instruments.

（C） More nylon instruments than stainless steel instruments were sterilized in the study.

（D） More energy was used to produce the stainless steel instruments than was used to produce the nylon instruments.

（E） The total cost of 50 complete sterilizations of the stainless steel instruments was greater than the cost of manufacturing the stainless steel instruments.

18. A local group had planned a parade for tomorrow, but city hall has not yet acted on its application for a permit. The group had applied for the permit well in advance, had made sure their application satisfied all the requirements, and was clearly entitled to a permit. Although the law prohibits parades without a permit, the group plans to proceed with its parade. The group's leader defended its decision by appealing to the principle that citizens need not refrain from actions that fail to comply with the law if they have made a good-faith effort to comply but are prevented from doing so by government inaction.

Which one of the following actions would be justified by the principle to which the leader of the group appealed in defending the decision to proceed？

（A） A chemical-processing company commissioned an environmental impact report on its plant. The report described foul odors emanating from the plant but found no hazardous wastes being produced. Consequently, the plant did not alter its processing practices.

（B） A city resident applied for rezoning of her property so that she would build a bowling alley in a residential community. She based her application on the need for recreational facilities in the community. Her application was turned down by the zoning board, so she decided to forgo construction.

（C） The law requires that no car be operated without a certain amount of insurance coverage. But since the authorities have been unable to design an effective procedure for prosecuting owners of cars that are driven without insurance, many car owners are allowing their insurance to lapse.

（D） a real-estate developer obtained a permit to demolish a historic apartment building that had not yet been declared a governmentally protected historic landmark. Despite the protests of citizens' groups, the developer then demolished the building.

（E） A physician who had been trained in one country applied for a license to practice medicine in another country. Although he knew he met all the qualifications for this license, he had not yet received it one year after he applied for it. He began to practice medicine without the license in the second country despite the law's requirement for a license.

Questions 19-20

A university should not be entitled to patent the inventions of its faculty members. Universities, as guarantors of intellectual freedom, should encourage the free flow of ideas and the general dissemination of knowledge. Yet a university that retains the right to patent the inventions of its faculty members has a motive to suppress information about a potentially valuable discovery until the patent for it has been secured. Clearly, suppressing information concerning such discoveries is incompatible with the university's obligation to promote the free flow of ideas.

19. Which one of the following is an assumption that the argument makes？

（A） Universities are the only institutions that have an obligation to guarantee intellectual freedom.

（B） Most inventions by university faculty members would be profitable if patented.

（C） Publication of reports on research is the only practical way to disseminate information concerning new discoveries.

（D） Universities that have a motive to suppress information concerning discoveries by their faculty members will occasionally act on that motive.

（E） If the inventions of a university faculty member are not patented by that university, then they will be patented by the faculty member instead.

20. The claim that a university should not be entitled to patent the inventions of its faculty members plays which one of the following roles in the argument？

（A） It is the conclusion of the argument.

（B） It is a principle from which the conclusion is derived.

（C） It is an explicit assumption.

（D） It is additional but nonessential information in support of one of the premises.

（E） It is a claim that must be demonstrated to be false in order to establish the conclusion.

21. English and the Austronesian language Mbarbaram both use the word “dog” for canines. These two languages are unrelated, and since speakers of the two languages only came in contact with one another long after the word “dog” was first used in this way in either language, neither language could have borrowed the word from the other. Thus this case shows that sometimes when languages share words that are similar in sound and meaning the similarity is due neither to language relatedness nor to borrowing.

The argument requires that which one of the following be assumes？

（A） English and Mbarbaram share no words other than “dog.”

（B） Several languages besides English and Mbarbaram use “dog” as the word for canines.

（C） Usually when two languages share a word, those languages are related to each other.

（D） There is no third language from which both English and Mbarbaram borrowed the word “dog.”

（E） If two unrelated languages share a word, speakers of those two languages must have come in contact with one another at some time.

22. Politician： From the time our party took office almost four years ago the number of people unemployed city-wide increased by less than 20 percent. The opposition party controlled city government during the four preceding years, and the number of unemployed city residents rose by over 20 percent. Thus, due to our leadership, fewer people now find themselves among the ranks of the unemployed, whatever the opposition may claim.

The reasoning in the politician's argument is most vulnerable to the criticism that

（A） the claims made by the opposition are simply dismissed without being specified

（B） no evidence has been offered to show that any decline in unemployment over the past four years was uniform throughout all areas of the city

（C） the issue of how much unemployment in the city is affected by seasonal fluctuations is ignored

（D） the evidence cited in support of the conclusion actually provides more support for the denial of the conclusion

（E） the possibility has not been addressed that any increase in the number of people employed is due to programs supported by the opposition party.

23. A poor farmer was fond of telling his children： “In this world, you are either rich or poor, and you are either honest or dishonest. All poor farmers are honest. Therefore, all rich farmers are dishonest.”

The farmer's conclusion is properly drawn if the argument assumes that

（A） every honest farmer is poor

（B） every honest person is a farmer

（C） everyone who is dishonest is a rich farmer

（D） everyone who is poor is honest

（E） every poor person is a farmer

24. Journalist： Can you give me a summary of the novel you are working on？

Novelist： Well, I assume that by “summary” you mean something brief and not a version of the novel itself. The reason I write novels is that what I want to communicate can be communicated only in the form of a novel. So I am afraid I cannot summarize my novel for you in a way that would tell you what I am trying to communicate with this novel.

Which one of the following exhibits a pattern of reasoning that is most parallel to that used by the novelist？

（A） Only if a drawing can be used as a guide by the builder can it be considered a blueprint. This drawing of the proposed building can be used as a guide by the builder, so it can be considered a blueprint.

（B） Only a statement that does not divulge company secrets can be used as a press release. This statement does not divulge company secrets, but it is uninformative and therefore cannot be used as a press release.

（C） Watching a travelog is not the same as traveling. But a travelog confers some of the benefits of travel without the hardships of travel. So many people just watch travelogs and do not undergo the hardships of travel.

（D） Only a tree-dimensional representation of a landscape can convey the experience of being in that landscape. A photograph taken with a traditional camera is not three-dimensional. Therefore a photograph taken with a traditional camera can never convey the experience of being in a landscape.

（E） A banquet menu foretells the content of a meal, but some people collect menus in order to remind themselves of great meals they have eaten. Thus a banquet menu has a function not only before, but also after, a meal has been served.

25. Medical research finding s are customarily not made public prior to their publication in a medical journal that has had them reviewed by a panel of experts in a process called peer review. It is claimed that this practice delays public access to potentially beneficial information that, in extreme instances, could save lives. Yet prepublication peer review is the only way to prevent erroneous and therefore potentially harmful information from reaching a public that is ill equipped to /evaluate medical claims on its own. Therefore, waiting until a medical journal has published the research finding s that have passed peer review is the price that must be paid to protect the public from making decisions based on possibly substandard research.

The argument assumes that

（A） unless medical research findings are brought to peer review by a medical journal, peer review will not occur

（B） anyone who does not serve on medical review panel does not have the necessary knowledge and expertise to evaluate medical research finding

（C） the general public does not have access to the medical journals in which research findings are published.

（D） all medical research findings are subjected to prepublication peer review

（E） peer review panels are sometimes subject to political and professional pressures that can make their judgments less than impartial