TEST A
Time 30 minutes 20 Questions
1. Mr. Janeck: I don’t believe Stevenson will win the election for governor. Few voters are willing to elect a businessman with no political experience to such a responsible public office.
Ms. Siuzdak: You’re wrong. The experience of running a major corporation is a valuable preparation for the task of running a state government.
M. Siuzdak’s response shows that she has interpreted Mr. Janeck’s remark to imply which of the following?
(A) Mr. Janeck considers Stevenson unqualified for the office of governor.
(B) No candidate without political experience has ever been elected governor of a state.
(C) Mr. Janeck believes that political leadership and business leadership are closely analogous.
(D) A career spent in the pursuit of profit can be an impediment to one’s ability to run a state government fairly.
(E) Voters generally overestimate the value of political experience when selecting a candidate.
2. Which of the following best completes the passage below?
One tax-reform proposal that has gained increasing support in recent years is the flat tax, which would impose a uniform tax rate on incomes at every level. Opponents of the flat tax say that a progressive tax system, which levies a higher rate of taxes on higher-income taxpayers, is fairer, placing the greater burden on those better able to bear it. However, the present crazy quilt of tax deductions, exemptions, credits, and loopholes benefits primarily the high-income taxpayer, who is consequently able to reduce his or her effective tax rate, often to a level below that paid by the lower-income taxpayer. Therefore, ______
(A) higher-income taxpayers are likely to lend their support to the flat-tax proposal now being considered by Congress
(B) a flat-tax system that allowed no deductions or exemptions would substantially increase actual government revenues
(C) the lower-income taxpayer might well be penalized by the institution of a flat-tax system in this country
(D) the progressive nature of our present tax system is more illusory than real
(E) the flat tax would actually be fairer to the lower-income taxpayer than any progressive tax system could be
3. As part of our program to halt the influx of illegal immigrants, the administration is proposing the creation of a national identity card. The card would be available only to U.S. citizens and to registered aliens, and all persons would be required to produce the card before they could be given a job. Of course, such a system holds the potential, however slight, for the abuse of civil liberties. Therefore, all personal information gathered through this system would be held strictly confidential, to be released only by authorized personnel under appropriate circumstances. Those who are in compliance with U.S. laws would have nothing to fear from the identity card system.In evaluating the above proposal, a person concerned about the misuse of confidential information would be most interested in having the author clarify the meaning of which of the following phrases?
(A) “all persons” (line 5)
(B) “however slight” (line 7)
(C) “civil liberties” (line 8)
(D) “appropriate circumstances” (line 11)
(E) “U.S. laws” (line 2)
4. At one time, European and Japanese companies tried to imitate their American rivals. Today, American appliance manufacturers import European scientists to lead their research staffs; American automakers design cars that mimic the styling of German, Italian, and French imports; and American electronics firms boast in their advertising of “Japanese-style” devotion to quality and reliability. In the world of high technology, America has lost the battle for international prestige.Each of the following statements, if true, would help to support the claim above EXCEPT:
(A) An American camera company claims in its promotional literature to produce cameras “as fine as the best Swiss imports.”
(B) An American maker of stereo components designs its products to resemble those of a popular Japanese firm.
(C) An American manufacturer of video games uses a brand name chosen because it sounds like a Japanese word.
(D) An American maker of televisions studies German-made televisions in order to adopt German manufacturing techniques
(E) An American maker of frozen foods advertises its dinners as “Real European-style entrees prepared by fine French and Italian chefs.”
5. Johnson is on firm ground when he asserts that the early editors of Dickinson’s poetry often distorted her intentions. Yet Johnson’s own, more faithful, text is still guilty of its own forms of distortion. To standardize Dickinson’s often indecipherable handwritten punctuation by the use of the dash is to render permanent a casual mode of poetic phrasing that Dickinson surely never expected to see in print. It implies that Dickinson chose the dash as her typical mark of punctuation when, in fact, she apparently never made any definitive choice at all.Which of the following best summarizes the author’s main point?
(A) Although Johnson is right in criticizing Dickinson’s early editors for their distortion of her work, his own text is guilty of equally serious distortions.
(B) Johnson’s use of the dash in his text of Dickinson’s poetry misleads readers about the poet’s intentions.
(C) Because Dickinson never expected her poetry to be published, virtually any attempt at editing it must run counter to her intentions.
(D) Although Johnson’s attempt to produce a more faithful text of Dickinson’s poetry is well-meaning, his study of the material lacks sufficient thoroughness.
(E) Dickinson’s editors, including Johnson, have failed to deal adequately with the problem of deciphering Dickinson’s handwritten manuscripts.
6. A law requiring companies to offer employees unpaid time off to care for their children will harm the economic competitiveness of our nation’s businesses. Companies must be free to set their own employment policies without mandated parental-leave regulations.Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion of the argument above?
(A) A parental-leave law will serve to strengthen the family as a social institution in this country.
(B) Many businesses in this country already offer employees some form of parental leave.
(C) Some of the countries with the most economically competitive businesses have strong parental-leave regulations.
(D) Only companies with one hundred or more employees would be subject to the proposed parental-leave law.
(E) In most polls, a majority of citizens say they favor passage of a parental-leave law.
7. If A, then B.
If B, then C.
If C, then D.
If all of the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true?
(A) If D, then A.
(B) If not B, then not C.
(C) If not D, then not A.
(D) If D, then E.
(E) If not A, then not D.
8. Dear Applicant:
Thank you for your application. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you a position in our local government office for the summer. As you know, funding for summer jobs is limited, and it is impossible for us to offer jobs to all those who want them. Consequently, we are forced to reject many highly qualified applicants.
Which of the following can be inferred from the letter?
(A) The number of applicants for summer jobs in the government office exceeded the number of summer jobs available.
(B) The applicant who received the letter was considered highly qualified.
(C) Very little funding was available for summer jobs in the government office.
(D) The application of the person who received the letter was considered carefully before being rejected.
(E) Most of those who applied for summer jobs were considered qualified for the available positions.
9. Studies of fatal automobile accidents reveal that, in the majority of cases in which one occupant of an automobile is killed while another survives, it is the passenger, not the driver, who is killed. It is ironic that the innocent passenger should suffer for the driver’s carelessness, while the driver often suffers only minor injuries or none at all.
Which of the following is an assumption underlying the reasoning in the passage above?
(A) In most fatal automobile accidents, the driver of a car in which an occupant is killed is at fault.
(B) Drivers of automobiles are rarely killed in auto accidents.
(C) Most deaths in fatal automobile accidents are suffered by occupants of cars rather than by pedestrians.
(D) Auto safety experts should increase their efforts to provide protection for those in the passenger seats of automobiles.
(E) Automobile passengers sometimes play a contributing role in causing auto accidents.
Questions 10-11 are based on the following
As one who has always believed that truth is our nation’s surest weapon in the propaganda war against our foes, I am distressed by reports of “disinformation” campaigns by American intelligence agents in Western Europe. In a disinformation campaign, untruths are disseminated through gullible local journalists in order to damage the interests of our enemies and protect our own. Those who defend this practice say that lying is necessary to counter Soviet disinformation campaigns aimed at damaging America’s political interests. These apologists contend that one must fight fire with fire. I would point out to the apologists that the fire department finds water more effective.
10. The author of the passage above bases his conclusion on which of the following?
(A) A circular definition of “disinformation”
(B) An example of the ineffectiveness of lying as a weapon in the propaganda war
(C) An analogy between truth and water
(D) An appeal to the authority of the fire department
(E) An attack on the character of American intelligence agents in Western Europe
11. The author’s main point is that
(A) although disinformation campaigns may be effective, they are unacceptable on ethical grounds
(B) America’s moral standing in the world depends on its adherence to the truth
(C) the temporary political gains produced by disinformation campaigns generally give way to long-term losses
(D) Soviet disinformation campaigns have done little to damage America’s standing in Europe
(E) disinformation campaigns do not effectively serve the political interests of the United States
12. Are you still reading the other newspaper in town? Did you know that the Daily Bugle is owned by an out-of-town business syndicate that couldn’t care less about the people of Gotham City? Read the Daily Clarion, the only real voice of the people of Gotham City!Which of the following most directly refutes the argument raised in the advertisement above?
(A) Over half of the advertising revenues of the Daily Clarion come from firms whose headquarters are located outside of Gotham City.
(B) The Daily Clarion usually devotes more of its pages to out-of-town news than does the Daily Bugle.
(C) Nearly 40 percent of the readers of the Daily Clarion reside outside the limits of Gotham City.
(D) The editor-in-chief and all the other members of the editorial staff of the Daily Bugle have lived and worked in Gotham City for ten years or more.
(E) The Daily Bugle has been published in Gotham City for a longer time than has the Daily Clarion.
Questions 13-14 are based on the following.
The earth’s resources are being depleted much too fast. To correct this, the United States must keep its resource consumption at present levels for many years to come.
13. The argument above depends on which of the following assumptions?
(A) Per capita resource consumption in the United States is at an all-time high.
(B) The United States wastes resources.
(C) The United States uses more resources than any other country.
(D) The United States imports most of the resources it uses.
(E) Curbing U.S. resource consumption will significantly retard world resource depletion.
14. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument above?
(A) New resource deposits are constantly being discovered.
(B) The United States consumes one-third of all resources used in the world.
(C) Other countries need economic development more than the United States does.
(D) Other countries have agreed to hold their resource consumption at present levels.
(E) The United States has been conserving resources for several years.
15. Alba: I don’t intend to vote for Senator Frank in the next election. She is not a strong supporter of the war against crime.
Tam: But Senator Frank sponsored the latest anticrime law passed by the Senate.
Alba: If Senator Frank sponsored it, it can’t be a very strong anticrime law.
Which of the following identifies the most serious logical flaw in Alba’s reasoning?
(A) The facts she presents do not support her conclusion that Senator Frank is soft on crime.
(B) She assumes without proof that crime is the most important issue in the upcoming election.
(C) She argues in a circle, using an unsupported assertion to dismiss conflicting evidence.
(D) She attacks Senator Frank on personal grounds rather than on he merit as a political leader.
(E) In deciding not to vote for Senator Frank, she fails to consider issues other than crime.
16. Which of the following best completes the passage below?the most serious flaw in television’s coverage of election campaigns is its tendency to focus on the horse-race side of politics—that is, to concentrate on the question “Who’s winning?” at the expense of substantive coverage of the issues and the candidates’ positions on them. The endless interviews with campaign managers, discussions of campaign strategies, and, especially, the obsession with opinion polls have surrounded elections with the atmosphere of a football game or a prizefight. To reform this situation, a first step might well be______
(A) a shortening of the length of election campaigns to a period of six weeks
(B) a stringent limit on campaign spending
(C) a reduction in the television coverage of opinion polls during election campaigns
(D) the publication and distribution of voter-education literature to inform the public about each candidate’s position on the major issues
(E) a limit on the length and number of political advertisements broadcast on television
17. With Proposition 13, if you bought your house 11 years ago for $75,000, your property tax would be approximately $914 a year (1 percent of $75,000 increased by 2 percent each year for 11 years); and if your neighbor bought an identical house next door to you for $200,000 this year, his tax would be $2,000 (1 percent of $200,000). Without Proposition 13, both you and your neighbor would pay $6,000 a year in property taxes (3 percent of $200,000).Which of the following is the conclusion for which the author most likely is arguing in the passage above?
(A) Proposition 13 is unconstitutional because it imposes an unequal tax on properties of equal value.
(B) If Proposition 13 is repealed, every homeowner is likely to experience a substantial increase in property taxes.
(C) By preventing inflation from driving up property values, Proposition 13 has saved homeowners thousands of dollars in property taxes.
(D) If Proposition 13 is not repealed, identical properties will continue to be taxed at different rates.
(E) Proposition 13 has benefited some homeowners more than others.
Questions 18-19 are based on the following.
At an enormous research cost, a leading chemical company has developed a manufacturing process for converting wood fibers into a plastic. According to the company, this new plastic can be used for, among other things, the hulls of small sailboats. But what does the company think sailboat hulls used to be made of? Surely the mania for high technology can scarcely go further than this.
18. The author’s opinion of the manufacturing process described in the passage is based primarily on the fact that
(A) plastic is unlikely to be durable enough for high-quality sailboat hulls
(B) the research costs of developing the process outweigh any savings possible from the use of the plastic
(C) a small sailboat is not normally regarded as a high-tech product
(D) hulls for small sailboats can be made from wood without converting it into plastic
(E) many other spheres of human activity are in far greater need of technological research
19. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the author’s conclusion?
(A) The plastic produced by the process is considerably lighter, stronger, and more watertight than wood.
(B) The wood used in producing the plastic is itself in increasingly short supply.
(C) The cost of the manufacturing process of the plastic increases the cost of producing a sailboat hull by 10 to 15 percent.
(D) Much of the cost of the research that developed the new process will be written off for tax purposes by the chemical company.
(E) The development of the new plastic is expected to help make the chemical company an important supplier of boat-building materials.
20. A young man eager to become a master swordsman journeyed to the home of the greatest teacher of swordsmanship in the kingdom. He asked the teacher, “How quickly can you teach me to be a master swordsman?” The old teacher replied, “It will take ten years.” Unsatisfied, the young man asked, “What if I am willing to work night and day, every day of the year?” the teacher replied, “In that case, it will take twenty years.”The teacher’s main point is that an important quality of a master swordsman is
(A) humility
(B) willingness to work hard
(C) respect for one’s elders
(D) patience
(E) determination
答案:
1--5 ADDEB
6--10 CCAAC
11--15 EDEBC
16--20 CBDAD
