Regulator: We tried to hire the 500 investigators but the starting salaries for these positions had been frozen so low by the legislature that it was impossible to attract enough qualified applicants.
A
shifting the blame for the scandals to the legislature
B
providing information that challenges the conclusion drawn by the legislator
C
claiming that compliance with the legislature’s mandate would have been an insufficient response
D
rephrasing the legislator’s conclusion in terms more favorable to the regulator
E
showing that the legislator’s statements are self-contradictory
Adults who work outside the home spend, on average, 100 minutes less time each week in preparing dinner than adults who do not work outside the home. But, contrary to expectation, comparisons show that the dinners eaten at home by the two groups of adults do not differ significantly with respect to nutritional value, variety of menus, or number of courses.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Adults who work outside the home spend less time preparing dinner compared to adults who do not work outside the home, but both groups eat dinners at home that are similar in nutritional value, variety, and number of courses.
Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that offers a similarity between both groups. This similarity will explain how they have similar quality dinners at home even though adults who work outside the home spend less time preparing dinner than adults who do not work outside the home. It will resolve the apparent discrepancy in the stimulus, which is that if one spends less time preparing dinner, their dinners are presumably less nutritional, have less variety, or have less courses.
A
The fat content of the dinners eaten at home by adults who do not work outside the home is 25 percent higher than national guidelines recommend.
(A) compares the fat content of dinners eaten at home by adults who do not work outside the home to the national guidelines. (A) does not compare or provide information on the two groups in question (adults who work outside the home and adults who do not).
B
Adults who do not work outside the home tend to prepare breakfast more often than adults who work outside the home.
This does not help to explain the apparent discrepancy: the stimulus discusses dinner, not breakfast.
C
Adults who work outside the home spend 2 hours less time per day on all household responsibilities, including dinner preparation, than do adults who do not work outside the home.
This does not offer a similarity that helps to explain the apparent discrepancy: the stimulus already says that adults who work outside the home spend less time on dinner, which is at the core of the discrepancy.
D
Adults who work outside the home eat dinner at home 20 percent less often than do adults who do not work outside the home.
(D) draws a similarity between the groups, explaining that they may actually spend similar amounts of time preparing dinner at home. Adults who work outside the home eat less dinners at home, meaning the time they do spend on preparing dinner at home is spread across less meals.
E
Adults who work outside the home are less likely to plan dinner menus well in advance than are adults who do not work outside the home.
This deepens the discrepancy between adults who work outside the home and adults who do not. According to (E), adults who work outside the home do less cooking and less planning, yet their homemade dinners are somehow similar to the stay-at-home group's.
A
Diatoms are a microscopic form of algae that has remained largely unchanged since the last ice age.
B
Computer models suggest that a large increase in ferrous material today could greatly promote the growth of oceanic algae.
C
The dust found in the air bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice contained other minerals in addition to the ferrous material.
D
Sediment from the ocean floor near Antarctica reflects no increase, during the last ice age, in the rate at which the shells that diatoms leave when they die accumulated.
E
Algae that currently grow in the oceans near Antarctica do not appear to be harmed by even a large increase in exposure to ferrous material.
It also requires assuming that preventing speeding would not cause so many additional accidents that the total number of accidents would stay high.
A
A person need not be a trained mechanic to install the device properly.
B
Most accidents are caused by inexperienced drivers.
C
A driver seldom needs to exceed the speed limit to avoid an accident when none of the other drivers involved are violating the speed limit.
D
Most drivers who exceed the speed limit do so unintentionally.
E
Even if the fines for speed-limit violations were increased, the number of such violations would still not be reduced.
A
failing to distinguish two distinct senses of a key term
B
attempting to defend an action on the ground that it is frequently carried out
C
defining a term by pointing to an atypical example of something to which the term applies
D
drawing a conclusion that simply restates one of the premises of the argument
E
calling something by a less offensive term than the term that is usually used to name that thing
Why?
Because most amphibian species populations vary greatly from year to year due to natural weather variations.
The author also assumes that the certain amphibian populations we’re talking about are among the “most” species whose populations are known to vary greatly due to weather variation.
A
The amphibian species whose population declines have been attributed by many scientists to industrial pollution are not known to be among those species whose populations do not vary greatly as a result of natural variations in the weather.
B
The variations in amphibian species’ populations that result from natural variations in the weather are not always as large as the amphibian population declines that scientists have attributed to industrial pollution.
C
Either industrial pollution or natural variations in the weather, but not both, caused the amphibian population declines that scientists have attributed to industrial pollution.
D
If industrial pollution were reduced, the decline in certain amphibian populations would be reversed, and if industrial pollution increases, the decline in certain amphibian populations will be exacerbated.
E
If industrial pollution is severe, it can create more variations in the weather than would occur naturally.
Columnist: On average, about 70 percent of the profit from tourism in developing countries goes to foreign owners of tourist businesses. In general, as a country becomes a more established tourist destination, the proportion of revenues exported in this way increases. However, tourists can counteract this effect by obtaining accommodations and other services directly from local people.
Summary
Columnist: On average, 70% of tourism profits in developing countries go to foreign business owners. As a country becomes a more popular tourist spot, this percentage tends to rise. However, tourists can counteract this effect by getting accommodations and other services directly from locals.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
In at least some situations, tourists are able to influence local economies.
In some developing countries that are established tourist destinations, most tourism profits go to foreign owners of tourist businesses.
A
Tourists in a developing nation should obtain accommodations and other services directly from local people if most of the profits from tourism in that nation go to foreign owners of tourist businesses.
Unsupported. The stimulus tells us that tourists can counteract the profits of foreign business owners by obtaining services from local people, but it does not provide a value judgement as to what tourists should or should not do.
B
In at least some of the developing countries that are most established as tourist destinations, most of the profits from tourism go to foreign owners of tourist businesses.
Strongly supported. An average of 70% of tourism profits go to foreign business owners. This increases when a country is a more established tourism spot. So, in some of the developing countries that are most established as tourist spots, most tourism profits go to those owners.
C
In at least some developing countries, tourists obtain most of their accommodations and other services directly from local people.
Unsupported. The stimulus tells us that tourists can obtain accommodations directly from local people, but we do not know whether tourists actually obtain these things from local people in any developing countries.
D
In general, as a developing country becomes a more established tourist destination, local people become progressively poorer.
Unsupported. The stimulus tells us that a large percentage of tourism profits are exported, but there is also a percentage that remains in the country. We do not know that local people become progressively poorer as tourism becomes more established.
E
Tourists who obtain accommodations and other services directly from local people do not contribute in any way to the profits of foreign owners of tourist businesses.
Unsupported. Tourists who obtain accommodations and other services directly from local people may help to counteract the rising profits of foreign business owners, but we do not have enough information to conclude that they do not contribute in any way to those profits.