1. The average life expectancy for the United States population as a whole is 73.9 years, but children born in Hawaii will live an average of 77 years, and those born in Louisiana, 71.7 years. If a newlywed couple from Louisiana were to begin their family in Hawaii, therefore, their children would be expected to live longer than would be the case if the family remained in Louisiana. Which of the following statements, if true, would most significantly strengthen the conclusion drawn in the passage? A. As population density increases in Hawaii, life expectancy figures for that state are likely to be revised downward. B. Environmental factors tending to favor longevity are abundant in Hawaii and less numerous in Louisiana. C. Twenty-five percent of all Louisianans who move to Hawaii live longer than 77 years. D. Over the last decade, average life expectancy has risen at a higher rate for Louisianans than for Hawaiians. E. Studies show that the average life expectancy for Hawaiians who move permanently to Louisiana is roughly equal to that of Hawaiians who remain in Hawaii.
If B is true, the greater abundance of lonevity-promoting environmental factors it mentions is probably at least partly responsible for the higher life expenctancy in Hawaii. Children born in Hawaii benefit from these factors from birth. and thus louisianans who have children in Hawaii increase their children's chances of living longer. Therefore, B is the best answer.
17. Toughened hiring standards have not been the primary cause of the present staffing shortage in public schools. The shortage of teachers is primarily caused by the fact that in recent years teachers have not experienced any improvements in working conditions and their salaries have not kept pace with salaries in other professions. Which of the following, if true, would most support the claims above? A. Many teachers already in the profession would not have been hired under the new hiring standards. B. Today more teachers are entering the profession with a higher educational level than in the past. C. Some teachers have cited higher standards for hiring as a reason for the current staffing shortage. D. Many teachers have cited low pay and lack of professional freedom as reasons for their leaving the profession. E. Many prospective teachers have cited the new hiring standards as a reason for not entering the profession.
17. The passage rejects one explanation of the shortage of teachers-that is reslts from toughened hiring standards and advances an alternative -that is results from deficiencies in pay and working conditions. D provides corroborative evidence for the latter explanation by suggesting that , for many former teachers,poor pay and working conditions were reasons for their quitting the profession .
A, C and E provide evidence that tends to implicate new hiring standards in the staffing shortage, and thus support the explanation that the passage rejects. B describes what may be a result of the new hiring standards, but it provides no evidence favoring one explanation of the staffing shortage over the other.
23. A cost-effective solution to the problem of airport congestion is to provide high-speed ground transportation between major cities lying 200 to 500 miles apart. The successful implementation of this plan would cost far less than expanding existing airports and would also reduce the number of airplanes clogging both airports and airways. Which of the following, if true, could be proponents of the plan above most appropriately cite as a piece of evidence for the soundness of their plan? A. An effective high-speed ground-transportation system would require major repairs to many highways and mass-transit improvements. B. One-half of all departing flights in the nation’s busiest airport head for a destination in a major city 225 miles away. C. The majority of travelers departing from rural airports are flying to destinations in cities over 600 miles away. D. Many new airports are being built in areas that are presently served by high-speed ground-transportation systems. E. A large proportion of air travelers are vacationers who are taking long-distance flights.
23. The plan proposes that high-speed ground transportation would be a less expensive solution to airport congestion than would airport expansion. B indicates that between the cities to be served by the plan there is substantial air travel to which ground transportation would represent an alternative. Therefore . B is the best answer.
No other choice could be cited appropriately. A and D both provide some evidence against the plan. A by emphasizing the likely costs of providing high-speed ground transportation is not by itself a solution to airport congestion. D by indicating that such an alternative is not by itself a solution to airport congestion. C and E say that there are many travelers for whom the proposed system would actually provide no alternative.
28. Fact 1: Television advertising is becoming less effective: the proportion of brand names promoted on television that viewers of the advertising can recall is slowly decreasing. Fact 2: Television viewers recall commercials aired first or last in a cluster of consecutive commercials far better than they recall commercials aired somewhere in the middle. Fact 2 would be most likely to contribute to an explanation of fact 1 if which of the following were also true? A. The average television viewer currently recalls fewer than half the brand names promoted in commercials he or she saw. B. The total time allotted to the average cluster of consecutive television commercials is decreasing. C. The average number of hours per day that people spend watching television is decreasing. D. The average number of clusters of consecutive commercials per hour of television is increasing. E. The average number of television commercials in a cluster of consecutive commercials is increasing. 28. Because E indicates that the number of commercials in a cluster is increasing, it entails that proportionally more commercials are aired in intermediate positions. Hence, E helps fact 2 explain fact 1 by showing that increasingly more commercials are aired in positions in which viewers find them difficult to recall. E is the best answer.
A testifies to the ineffectiveness of television advertising but does not help fact 2 explain fact 1. B indicates that fact 2 contradicts rather than explains fact 1, since it suggests that the number of commercials per cluster is decreasing. C and D help to explain fact 1-by describing a change in viewing habits and a change in programming-but neither relates fact 2 to fact 1.
30. The price the government pays for standard weapons purchased from military contractors is determined by a pricing method called “historical costing.” Historical costing allows contractors to protect their profits by adding a percentage increase, based on the current rate of inflation, to the previous year’s contractual price. Which of the following statements, if true, is the best basis for a criticism of historical costing as an economically sound pricing method for military contracts? A. The government might continue to pay for past inefficient use of funds. B. The rate of inflation has varied considerably over the past twenty years. C. The contractual price will be greatly affected by the cost of materials used for the products. D. Many taxpayers question the amount of money the government spends on military contracts. E. The pricing method based on historical costing might not encourage the development of innovative weapons.
The passage indicates a percentage increase based on the current rate of inlation will determine the price of weapon, A represent whehter the purchase is bad or good , according to the pricing method , the price will always be added. So A is the best answer. |