1.

Increases in the level of high-density lipoprotein their income on food and housing than on
(HDL) in the human bloodstream lower all other purchases combined.
bloodstream-cholesterol levels by increasing 3. In the effort to fire a Civil Service employee,
the body’s capacity to rid itself of excess his or her manager may have to spend up to
cholesterol. Levels of HDL in the bloodstream $100,000 of tax money. Since Civil Service
of some individuals are significantly increased employees know how hard it is to fire them,
by a program of regular exercise and weight they tend to loaf. This explains in large part
reduction. why the government is so inefficient.
Which of the following can be correctly It can be properly inferred on the basis of the
inferred from the statements above? statements above that the author believes which
(A) Individuals who are underweight do not of the following?
run any risk of developing high levels of
I. Too much job security can have a negative
cholesterol in the bloodstream.
influence on workers.
(B) Individuals who do not exercise regularly
II. More government workers should be fired.
have a high risk of developing high levels
of cholesterol in the bloodstream late in III. Most government workers are Civil
life. Service employees.
(C) Exercise and weight reduction are the most (A) I only
effective methods of lowering (B) I and III only
bloodstream (C) II only
cholesterol levels in humans. (D) I, II, and III（A; also, firing means
(D) A program of regular exercise and weight efficiency.）
reduction lowers cholesterol levels in the (E) III only
bloodstream of some individuals.（D）
(E) Only regular exercise is necessary to
decrease cholesterol levels in the 4. Ronald: According to my analysis of the
bloodstream of individuals of average national economy, housing prices should not
weight. increase during the next six months unless
interest rates drop significantly.
2. Rural households have more purchasing power
Mark: I disagree. One year ago, when interest
than do urban or suburban households at the
rates last fell significantly, housing prices did
same income level, since some of the income
not increase at all.
urban and suburban households use for food
and shelter can be used by rural households for It can be inferred from the conversation above
other needs. that Mark has interpreted Ronald’s statement to
mean that
Which of the following inferences is best
supported by the statement made above? (A) housing prices will rise only if interest rates
fall
(A) The average rural household includes more
people than does the average urban or (B) if interest rates fall, housing prices must
suburban household. rise
(B) Rural households have lower food and (C) interest rates and housing prices tend to rise
housing costs than do either urban or and fall together
suburban households. (D) interest rates are the only significant
(C) Suburban households generally have more economic factor affecting housing
purchasing power than do either rural or prices（B）
urban households. (E) interest rates are likely to fall significantly
(D) The median income of urban and suburban in the next six months
households is generally higher than that of 5. Bill: Smoke-detecting fire alarms can save
rural households.（B） lives. I believe that every apartment in this city
(E) All three types of households spend more of should be required by law to be equipped with
 a smoke detector. 7. In the industrialized nations, the last century has
Joe: I disagree with your proposal. Smoke witnessed a shortening of the average workday from
detectors are just as important for safety in twelve hours or longer to less than eight hours.
private houses as they are in apartment. Mindful of this enormous increase in leisure time
From this exchange, it can be inferred that Joe over the past century, many people assume that the
has interpreted Bill’s statement to mean that same trend has obtained throughout history, and
that, therefore, prehistoric humans must have
(A) the city should be responsible for providing
labored incessantly for their very survival.
smoke detectors for apartments
(B) residences outside the city should not be We cannot, of course, directly test this assumption.
equipped with smoke detectors However, a study of primitive peoples of today
suggests a different conclusion. The Mbuti of
(C) only apartments should be equipped with
central Africa, for instance, spend only a few hours
smoke detectors
each day in hunting, gathering, and tending to other
(D) the risk of fire is not as great in private economic necessities. The rest of their time is spent
houses as it is in apartments（C） as they choose. The implication is that the short
(E) the rate of death by fire is unusually high in workday is not peculiar to industrialized societies.
the city in question Rather, both the extended workday of 1880 and the
6. Although its purpose is laudable, the shorter workday of today are products of different
exclusionary rule, which forbids a court to consider stages of the continuing process of industrialization.
evidence seized in violation of the defendant’s Which of the following inferences about
constitutional rights, has unduly hampered law- industrialization is best supported by the
enforcement efforts. Even when the rights violation passage above?
was a minor or purely technical one, turning on a (A) People in advanced industrialized societies
detail of procedure rather than on the abrogation of have more leisure time than those in non
some fundamental liberty, and even when it has industrialized societies.
been clear that the police officers were acting in
(B) An average workday of twelve hours or
good faith, the evidence obtained has been
more is peculiar to economies in the early
considered tainted under this rule and may not even
stages of industrialization.
by introduced. In consequence, defendants who
were undoubtedly guilty have been set free, perhaps (C) Industrialization involves a trade-off
to steal, rape, or murder again. between tedious, monotonous jobs and the
benefits of increased leisure.
It can be inferred from the passage that the author
(D) It is likely that the extended workday of an
would most likely endorse which of the
industrializing country will eventually be
following proposals?
shortened.（D）
(A) Change of the exclusionary rule to admit
(E) As industrialization progresses, people tend
evidence obtained by police officers
to look for self-fulfillment in leisure rather
acting in good faith
than work.
(B) A constitutional amendment curtailing
some of the protections traditionally 8. Informed people generally assimilate information
afforded those accused of a crime from several divergent sources before coming
to an opinion. However, most popular news
(C) A statute limiting the application of the
organizations view foreign affairs solely
exclusionary rule to cases involving minor
through the eyes of our State Department. In
criminal offenses
reporting the political crisis in a foreign country
(D) Change of the exclusionary rule to allow , news organizations must endeavor to find
any evidence, no matter how obtained, to alternative sources of information.
be introduced in court（A）
Which of the following inferences can be
(E) A constitutional amendment allowing drawn from the argument above?
police officers to obtain vital evidence by
(A) To the degree that a news source gives an
any means necessary when in pursuit of a
account of another country that mirrors
known criminal
 that of our State Department, that (B) the initial cost involved in switching from
reporting is suspect. pepper to cocoa is substantial
(B) To protect their integrity, news media (C) supplies of pepper would not be as low as
should avoid the influence of State they are if those growers had not switched
Department releases in their coverage of crops
foreign affairs. (D) cocoa crops are as susceptible to being
(C) Reporting that is not influenced by the reduced by bad weather as are pepper
State Department is usually more accurate crops（C）
than are other accounts. (E) as more growers turn to growing cocoa,
(D) The alternative sources of information cocoa supplies will increase and the price
mentioned in the passage would probably of cocoa will fall precipitously
not share the same views as the State
11. By analyzing the garbage of a large number of
Department.（D）
average-sized households, a group of modern
(E) A report cannot be seen as influenced by urban anthropologists has found that a
the State Department if it accurately household discards less food the more
depicts the events in a foreign country. standardized—made up of canned and
9. According to a recent study, fifteen corporations prepackaged foods—its diet is. The more
in the United States that follow a credo of standardized a household’s diet is, however, the
social responsibility are also very profitable. greater the quantities of fresh produce the
Because of their credos, these fifteen household throws away.
corporations give generously to charity, follow Which of the following can be properly
stringent environmental-protection policies, and inferred from the passage?
have vigorous affirmative-action programs. (A) An increasing number of households rely
Which of the following can be correctly on a highly standardized diet.
inferred from the statements above? (B) The less standardized a household’s diet is,
(A) Following a credo of social responsibility the more nonfood waste the household
helps to make a corporation very discards.
profitable. (C) The less standardized a household’s diet is,
(B) It is possible for a corporation that follows the smaller is the proportion of fresh
a credo of social responsibility to be very produce in the household’s food waste.
profitable. (D) The less standardized a household’s diet is,
(C) A corporation that gives generously to the more canned and prepackaged foods
charity must be doing so because of its the household discards as waste.（C）
credo of social responsibility. (E) The more fresh produce a household buys,
(D) Corporations that are very profitable tend the more fresh produce it throws away.
to give generously to charity.（B）
(E) Corporations that have vigorous
affirmative-action programs also tend to 12. Radio interferometry is a technique for studying
follow stringent environmental-protection details of celestial objects that combines signals
policies. intercepted by widely spaced radio telescopes.
This technique requires ultraprecise timing,
10. Some observers have concluded that the rise in exact knowledge of the locations of the
the price of pepper means that the switch by telescopes, and sophisticated computer
some growers from pepper to cocoa left those programs. The successful interferometric
growers no better off than if none of them had linking of an Earth-based radio telescope with a
switched; this conclusion, however, is radio telescope on an orbiting satellite was
unwarranted because it can be inferred to be therefore a significant technological
likely that accomplishment.
(A) those growers could not have foreseen how Which of the following can be correctly
high the price of pepper would go inferred from the statements above?
 (A) Special care was taken in the launching of approximately what the weather was like at the
the satellite so that the calculations of its time of pollen deposition. Furthermore, by
orbit would be facilitated. submitting the prehistoric samples to
(B) The signals received on the satellite are radiocarbon dating techniques, we can also
stronger than those received by a determine when certain climatic conditions
terrestrial telescope. were prevalent in that portion of the globe.
(C) The resolution of detail achieved by the Which one of the following may be inferred
satellite-Earth interferometer system is from the information in the passage?
inferior to that achieved by exclusively (A) The earth has undergone several glacial
terrestrial systems. periods.
(D) The computer programs required for (B) Radiocarbon dating can be corroborated by
making use of the signals received by the glacial evidence.
satellite required a long time for (C) Similarities between prehistoric and
development.（E） contemporary climates do not exist.
(E) The location of an orbiting satellite relative (D) Pollen deposition is a fairly continuous
to locations on Earth can be well enough process.（E）
known for interferometric purposes. (E) Certain flora are reliably associated with
13. Large national budget deficits do not cause large particular climatic conditions.
trade deficits. If they did, countries with the 15. History textbooks frequently need to be revised.
largest budget deficits would also have the The reasons for this are clear: new discoveries
largest trade deficits. In fact, when deficit of documents and remains, the discovery of
figures are adjusted so that different countries mistaken inferences in prior histories, the
are reliably comparable to each other, there is discovery of previously unnoticed relationships
no such correlation. among data, and the application of hitherto
If the statements above are all true, which of undiscovered principles of natural science all
the following can properly be inferred on the may indicate inadequacies in current history
basis of them? texts. Any of these considerations may require
(A) Countries with large national budget that the past be reinterpreted in a manner that is
deficits tend to restrict foreign trade. new and more illuminating.
(B) Reliable comparisons of the deficit figures Which one of the following can be inferred
of one country with those of another are from the argument in the passage?
impossible. (A) The interpretation of historical events is
(C) Reducing a country’s national budget affected by natural science.
deficit will not necessarily result in a (B) The past is constantly renewed because of
lowering of any trade deficit that country illuminating reinterpretations.
may have. (C) History books are outdated as soon as they
(D) When countries are ordered from largest to are written.
smallest in terms of population, the (D) Natural scientists also function as
smallest countries generally have the historians.（A）
smallest budget and trade deficits.（C）
(E) Historians’ mistaken inferences are caused
(E) Countries with the largest trade deficits by unnoticed relationships among data.
never have similarly large national budget
deficits. 16. Governments have only one response to public
criticism of socially necessary services:
14. One of the more reliable methods of determining regulation of the activity of providing those
regional climatic conditions in prehistoric services. But governments inevitably make the
periods is to examine plant pollen trapped in activity more expensive by regulating it, and
glacial ice during ancient times. By comparing that is particularly troublesome in these times
such pollen samples with spores taken from of strained financial resources. However, since
modern vegetation, scientists can figure out public criticism of child-care services has
 undermined all confidence in such services, and species. Scientists theorize that the more
since such services are socially necessary, the genetically similar two species are to each
government is certain to respond. other, the more recently they diverged from a
Which one of the following statements can be common ancestor. After comparing genetic
inferred from the passage? material from giant pandas, red pandas,
(A) The quality of child care will improve. raccoons, coatis, and all seven bear species,
scientists concluded that bears and raccoons
(B) The cost of providing child-care services
diverged 30 to 50 million years ago. They
will increase.
further concluded that red pandas separated
(C) The government will use funding to foster from the ancestor of today’s raccoons and
advances in child care. coatis a few million years later, some 10
(D) If public criticism of policy is strongly million years before giant pandas diverged
voiced, the government is certain to from the other bears.
respond.（B） Which one of the following can be properly
(E) If child-care services are not regulated, the inferred from the passage?
cost of providing child care will not (A) Giant pandas and red pandas are more
increase. closely related than scientists originally
17. The advanced technology of ski boots and thought they were.
bindings has brought a dramatic drop in the (B) Scientists now count the giant panda as the
incidence of injuries that occur on the slopes of ski eighth species of bear.
resorts: from 9 injuries per 1,000 skiers in 1950 to 3 (C) It is possible to determine, within a margin
in 1980. As a result, the remainder of ski-related of just a few years, the timing of
injuries, which includes all injuries occurring on the divergence of various species.
premises of a ski resort but not on the slopes, rose (D) Scientists have found that giant pandas are
from 10 percent of all ski-related injuries in 1950 to more similar genetically to bears than to
25 percent in 1980. The incidence of these injuries, raccoons.（D）
including accidents such as falling down steps,
(E) There is substantial consensus among
increases with the amount of alcohol consumed per
scientists that giant pandas and red pandas
skier.
are equally related to raccoons.
Which one of the following can be properly
19. There is little point in looking to artists for
inferred from the passage?
insights into political issues. Most of them hold
(A) As the number of ski injuries that occur on political views that are less insightful than
the slopes decreases, the number of those of any reasonably well-educated person
injuries that occur on the premises of ski who is not an artist. Indeed, when taken as a
resorts increases. whole, the statements made by artists, including
(B) The amount of alcohol consumed per skier those considered to be great, indicate that
increased between 1950 and 1980. artistic talent and political insight are rarely
(C) The technology of ski boots and bindings found together.
affects the incidence of each type of ski- Which one of the following can be inferred
related injury. from the passage?
(D) If the technology of ski boots and bindings (A) There are no artists who have insights into
continues to advance, the incidence of ski- political issues.
related injuries will continue to decline. (B) A thorough education in art makes a person
（E） reasonably well educated.
(E) Injuries that occurred on the slopes of ski (C) Every reasonably well-educated person
resorts made up a smaller percentage of who s not an artist has more insight into
ski-related injuries in 1980 than in 1950. political issues than any artist.
18. One method of dating the emergence of species (D) Politicians rarely have any artistic talent.
is to compare the genetic material of related （E）
 (E) Some artists are no less politically (D) Some antidepressants act by changing the
insightful than some reasonably well- brain’s level of serotonin.（D）
educated persons who are not artists. (E) Raising the level of neurotransmitters in the
20. Leachate is a solution, frequently highly 22. During construction of the Quebec Bridge in
contaminated, that develops when water 1907, the bridge’s designer, Theodore Cooper,
permeates a landfill site. If and only if the received word that the suspended span being
landfill’s capacity to hold liquids is exceeded built out from the bridge’s cantilever was
does the leachate escape into the environment, deflecting downward by a fraction of an inch.
generally in unpredictable quantities. A method Before he could telegraph to freeze the project,
must be found for disposing of leachate. Most the whole cantilever arm broke off and
landfill leachate is send directly to sewage plunged, along with seven dozens workers, into
treatment plants, but not all sewage plants are the St. Lawrence River. It was the worst bridge
capable of handling the highly contaminated construction disaster in history. As a direct
water. result of the inquiry that followed, the
Which one of the following can be inferred engineering “rules of thumb” by which
from the passage? thousands of bridges had been built went down
(A) The ability to predict the volume of with the Quebec Bridge. Twentieth-century
escaping landfill leachate would help bridge engineers would thereafter depend on far
solve the disposal problem. more rigorous applications of mathematical
(B) If any water permeates a landfill, leachate analysis.
will escape into the environment. Which one of the following statements can be
(C) No sewage treatment plants are capable of properly inferred from the passage?
handling leachate. (A) Bridges built before about 1907 were built
(D) Some landfill leachate is send to sewage without thorough mathematical analysis
treatment plants that are incapable of and, therefore, were unsafe for the public
handling it.（E） to use.
(E) If leachate does not escape from a landfill (B) Cooper’s absence from the Quebec Bridge
into the environment, then the landfill’s construction site resulted in the breaking
capacity to hold liquids has not been off of the cantilever.
exceeded. (C) Nineteenth-century bridge engineers relied
on their rules of thumb because analytical
21. Baking for winter holidays is tradition that may methods were inadequate to solve their
have a sound medical basis. In midwinter, when design problems.
days are short, many people suffer from a
(D) Only a more rigorous application of
specific type of seasonal depression caused by
mathematical analysis to the design of the
lack of sunlight. Carbohydrates, both sugars
Quebec Bridge could have prevented its
and starches, boost the brain’s levels of
collapse（E）.
serotonin, a neurotransmitter that improve the
mood. In this respect, carbohydrates act on the (E) Prior to 1907 the mathematical analysis
brain in the same way as some antidepressants. incorporated in engineering rules of thumb
Thus, eating holiday cookies may provide an was insufficient to completely assure the
effective form of self-prescribed medication. safety of bridges under construction.
Which one of the following can be properly 23. Nursing schools cannot attract a greater number
inferred from the passage? of able applicants than they currently do unless
(A) Seasonal depression is one of the most the problems of low wages and high-stress
easily treated forms of depression. working conditions in the nursing profession
(B) Lack of sunlight lowers the level of are solved. If the pool of able applicants to
serotonin in the brain. nursing school does not increase beyond the
current level, either the profession will have to
(C) People are more likely to be depressed in
lower its entrance standards, or there will soon
midwinter than at other times of the year.
be an acute shortage of nurses. It is not certain,
 however, that lowering entrance standards will one’s respect for them.
avert a shortage. It is clear that with either a
shortage of nurses or lowered entrance
standards of the profession, the current high
quality of health care cannot be maintained.
Which one of the following can be property
inferred from the passage?
(A) If the nursing profession solves the
problems of low wages and high-stress
working conditions, it will attract able
applicants in greater numbers than it
currently does.
(B) The nursing profession will have to lower
its entrance standards if the pool of able
applicants to nursing school does not
increase beyond the current level.
(C) If the nursing profession solves the
problems of low wages and high-stress
working conditions, high quality health
care will be maintained.
(D) If the nursing profession fails to solve the
problems of low wages and high-stress
working conditions, there will soon be an
acute shortage of nurses.（E）
(E) The current high quality of health care will
not be maintained if the problems of low
wages and high-stress working conditions
in the nursing profession are not solved.
25. An easy willingness to tell funny stories or jokes
about oneself is the surest mark of supreme
self-confidence. This willingness, often not
acquired until late in life, is even more
revealing than is good-natured acquiescence in
having others poke fun at one.
Which one of the following inference is most
supported by the statements above?
(A) A person who lacks self-confidence will
enjoy neither telling nor hearing funny
stories about himself or herself.
(B) People with high self-confidence do not tell
funny stories or jokes about others.
(C) Highly self-confident people tell funny
stories and jokes in order to let their
audience know that they are self-
confident.
(D) Most people would rather tell a funny story
or joke than listen to one being told.（A）
(E) Telling funny stories or jokes about people
in their presence is a way of expressing