Councilperson Y: Helping to ensure the lowest electricity rates is not the council’s only job; we also have an obligation not to lower the quality of life of our community. A plant of the type specified by the design would damage our community’s air quality to such an extent that the benefit of lower rates would be outweighed.
Speaker 1 Summary
If it is agreed that we have no choice but to approve construction of a new plant, we must endorse the proposed design for the new generating station. Why? Because the design would clearly allow for the lowest electricity rates and we are obligated to ensure these rates are as low as possible.
Speaker 2 Summary
We don’t have to endorse the proposed design for the new generating station. Why? Because the design would damage the community’s air quality more than the community would benefit from lower rates. Ensuring lower rates is not our only job, we must also not lower the quality of life for the community.
Objective
We need a statement that Councilperson X and Y disagree on. They disagree on whether the council should endorse the proposed design for the new generating station. X thinks it must be endorsed, and Y thinks not due to a cost-benefit analysis.
A
The council should recommend the building of a new generating station.
Neither speaker expresses an opinion on this statement. X states that the proposed design should be endorsed if it is agreed that there’s no choice but to approve a new plant, but we don’t know if there is consensus about that choice.
B
It is the council’s responsibility to improve the community’s quality of life.
Councilperson X never expresses an opinion regarding the community’s quality of life. We can’t assume that the lowest possible electricity rates improve quality of life.
C
A plant of the type specified by the design in question would damage the air quality of the community.
Councilperson X never expresses an opinion regarding whether the proposed design would damage the air quality. X only points to the fact that the design would allow for low electricity rates.
D
If a new generating station is to be built, the council should endorse a plant of the type specified by the design in question.
Councilperson X and Y disagree on this statement. X agrees that the council should endorse the design because it would allow for the lowest possible electricity rates. Y disagrees because Y thinks that the costs of the design outweigh the benefits.
E
A plant of the type specified by the design in question would allow for the lowest electricity rates.
Councilperson Y does not express an opinion on this statement. Y concedes that the proposed design would allow for low electricity rates, but we don’t know if Y believes that these rates would be the lowest possible.
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Summary
An article on Britain’s unions agreed that union strength was declining. The article cited the decreasing number and size of strikes. In a modern society, calling strikes is evidence of a weak negotiating position for a union. Strong unions do not need to call strikes. Strong unions can focus on working with others in the labor market to achieve goals.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
The newspaper has not established a compelling reason to think that union strength is declining.
A
The negotiating position of a union is weak if the only means it has of achieving its end is a strike or the threat of a strike.
This is unsupported as the main conclusion because the author uses the argument about the relationship between strikes and negotiating power to serve the broader end that union power is not declining.
B
Although unions represent the interests of their members, that does not preclude them from having interests in common with other participants in the labor market.
This is unsupported because the author doesn’t tell us to what extent a union’s interests may trade off with other participants in the labor market. While there may be common interests, that isn’t the main conclusion of the argument.
C
There is no reason to believe, on the basis of what the newspaper article said, that union strength in Britain is declining.
This is strongly supported as the main conclusion because the author is attempting to disagree with the conclusion of the newspaper. The author argues that strikes would in fact be indicative of a lack of strength.
D
The reason for unions’ existence is to work for goals such as profitable and humane working conditions by organizing strikes.
This is unsupported because the author doesn’t establish what the main purpose is of unions’ existence.
E
With strong unions it is possible for a modern industrial society to achieve profitable and humane working conditions, but without them it would be impossible.
This is unsupported because the author gives us no information about the relationship between unions and overall labor conditions in Britain, let alone any modern industrial society.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why is the later portion of the Upper Paleolithic period, when the Magdalenian culture was dominant, associated with a much higher number of lamps than earlier in the Upper Paleolithic period?
Objective
This is an EXCEPT question. The four wrong answers should tells us about a difference between the late Upper Paleolithic and the earlier parts of the Upper Paleolithic that could lead to a greater number of lamps being associated with the late period.
A
Artifacts from early in the Upper Paleolithic period are harder to identify than those that originated later in the period.
This suggests we might be less able to identify artifacts from the earlier period as lamps, which could explain why the late period is associated with a greater number of lamps.
B
More archaeological sites have been discovered from the Magdalenian culture than from earlier cultures.
If we’ve found more sites from the Magdalenian culture than from earlier cultures, this suggests the greater number of lamps from the late Upper Paleolithic may be due to finding more sites (and hence, more artifacts) from this period than from earlier periods.
C
More efficient lamp-making techniques were developed by the Magdalenian culture than by earlier cultures.
If the Magdalenians had more efficient lamp-making techniques than earlier cultures, that suggests they could make more lamps within a given time, which could explain why the late Upper Paleolithic is associated with more lamps.
D
Fire pits were much more common in caves early in the Upper Paleolithic period than they were later in that period.
If fire pits were more common in the earlier Upper Paleolithic, that could suggest less of a need for lamps, which could explain why the earlier period is associated with fewer lamps than is the later period.
E
More kinds of lamps were produced by the Magdalenian culture than by earlier cultures.
More kinds of lamps simply means a greater variety of lamps. But it doesn’t explain why there’s a greater number of lamps associated with the late Upper Paleolithic. We wouldn’t expect a culture with 5 different styles of lamps to have more lamps than a culture with only 1 style.