72. a gas tax of one cent per gallon would raise one billion dollars per year at current consumption rates. since a tax of fifty cents per gallon would therefore raise fifty billion dollars per year, it seems a perfect way to deal with the federal budget deficit. this tax would have the additional advantage that the resulting drop in the demand for gasoline would be ecologically sound and would keep our county from being too dependent on foreign oil producers.
which one of the following most clearly identifies an error in the author's reasoning?
(a) the author cites irrelevant data.
(b) the author relies on incorrect current consumption figures.
(c) the author makes incompatible assumptions.
(d) the author mistakes an effect for a cause.
(e) the author appeals to conscience rather than reason.
73. there is no reason why the work of scientists has to be officially confirmed before being published. there is a system in place for the confirmation or disconfirmation of scientific findings, namely, the replication of results by other scientists. poor scientific work on the part of any one scientists, which can include anything from careless reporting practices to fraud, is not harmful. it will be exposed and rendered harmless when other scientists conduct experiments and obtain disconfirmatory results.
which one of the following, if true, would weaken the argument?
(a) scientific experiments can go unchallenged for many years before they are replicated.
(b) most scientists work in universities, where their work is submitted to peer review before publication.
(c) most scientists are under pressure to make their work accessible to the scrutiny of replication.
(d) in scientific experiments, careless reporting is more common than fraud.
(e) most scientists work as part of a team rather than alone.
74. governments have only one response to public criticism of socially necessary services: regulation of the activity of providing those services. but governments inevitably make the activity more expensive by regulating it, and that is particularly troublesome in these times of strained financial resources. however, since public criticism of childcare services has undermined all confidence in such services, and since such services are socially necessary, the government is certain to respond.
which one of the following statements can be inferred from the passage?
(a) the quality of child-care will improve.
(b) the cost of providing child-care services will increase.
(c) the government will use funding to foster advances in child-care.
(d) if public criticism of policy is strongly voiced, the government is certain to respond.
(e) if child-care services are not regulated, the cost of providing childcare will not increase.
