11. The burden of maintaining the U.S. highway system falls disproportionately on the trucking industry. Trucks represent only about 10 percent of the vehicles on U.S. roads. Yet road use taxes assessed on trucks amount to almost half the taxes paid for highway upkeep and repair.Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?
(A) The trucking industry has enjoyed record after-tax profits in three of the past four years.
(B) Because of their weight, trucks cause over 50 percent of the damage sustained by highway surfaces each year.
(C) Without an economically viable trucking industry, the cost of goods in the United States would rise significantly.
(D) Road use taxes paid by trucking companies have decreased by 3 percent over the past five years.
(E) Due to years of neglect, U.S. highways today are badly in need of major repairs and rebuilding.
12. The upcoming presidential election in the West African republic of Ganelon is of grave concern to the U.S. State Department. Ganelon presently has strong political and military ties to the United States. However, the Socialist party is widely expected to win the election, leading to fears that Ganelon will soon break away from the pro-American bloc and adopt a nonaligned or openly anti-American stance.Which of the following is an assumption made in the passage above?
(A) A Socialist party government in Ganelon is more likely to oppose the United States than is a non-Socialist party government.
(B) The people of the United States recognize their nation’s interest in the political stability of West Africa.
(C) A weakening of U.S. political ties with Ganelon could have serious consequences for U.S. relations with other African nations.
(D) The Socialist party leaders in Ganelon believe that their nation’s interests would best be served by an alliance with anti-American forces.
(E) The Socialist party will win the upcoming election in Ganelon.
13. No nation can long survive unless its people are united by a common tongue. For proof, we need only consider Canada, which is being torn asunder by conflicts between French-speaking Quebec and the other provinces, which are dominated by English speakers.Which of the following, if true, most effectively challenges the author’s conclusion?
(A) Conflicts over language have led to violent clashes between the Basque-speaking minority in Spain and the Spanish-speaking majority.
(B) Proposals to declare English the official language of the United States have met with resistance from members of Hispanic and other minority groups.
(C) Economic and political differences, along with linguistic ones, have contributed to the provincial conflicts in Canada.
(D) The public of India, in existence sine 1948, has a population that speaks hundreds of different, though related, languages.
(E) Switzerland has survived for nearly a thousand years as a home for speakers of three different languages.
14. As an experienced labor organizer and the former head of one of the nation’s most powerful labor unions, Grayson is an excellent choice to chair the new council on business-labor relations.Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion above?
(A) The new council must have the support of the nation’s labor leaders if it is to succeed.
(B) During his years as a labor leader, Grayson established a record of good relations with business leaders.
(C) The chair of the new council must be a person who can communicate directly with the leaders of the nation’s largest labor unions.
(D) Most of the other members of the new council will be representatives of business management interests.
(E) An understanding of the needs and problems of labor is the only qualification necessary for the job of chairing the new council.
15. In the effort to fire a Civil Service employee, his or her manager may have to spend up to $100,000 of tax money. Since Civil Service employees know how hard it is to fire them, they tend to loaf. This explains in large part why the government is so inefficient.It can be properly inferred on the basis of the statements above that the author believes which of the following?
I. Too much job security can have a negative influence on workers.
II. More government workers should be fired.
III. Most government workers are Civil Service employees.
(A) I only
(B) I and III only
(C) II only
(D) I, II, and III
(E) III only
16. Some commentators complain that a “litigation explosion” in the past decade has led to unreasonably high costs for U.S. businesses by encouraging more product liability suits against manufacturers. However, these complaints are based mainly on myth. Statistics show that the number of successful product liability suits has remained almost the same, and the average sum awarded in damages has grown no faster than the inflation rate.Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?
(A) The number of unsuccessful suits has skyrocketed, imposing huge new legal expenses on businesses.
(B) Several of the largest awards ever made in product liability cases occurred within the last two years.
(C) The rise of the consumer movement has encouraged citizens to seek legal redress for product flaws.
(D) Lawyers often undertake product liability cases on a contingency basis, so their payment is based on the size of the damages awarded.
(E) Juries often award damages in product liability suits out of emotional sympathy for an injured consumer.
17. Ronald: According to my analysis of the national economy, housing prices should not increase during the next six months unless interest rates drop significantly.Mark: I disagree. One year ago, when interest rates last fell significantly, housing prices did not increase at all.It can be inferred from the conversation above that Mark has interpreted Ronald’s statement to mean that
(A) housing prices will rise only if interest rates fall
(B) if interest rates fall, housing prices must rise
(C) interest rates and housing prices tend to rise and fall together
(D) interest rates are the only significant economic factor affecting housing prices
(E) interest rates are likely to fall significantly in the next six months
18. It’s time we stopped searching for new statistics to suggest that we are not spending enough on education. In fact, education spending increased 30 percent overall during the last decade.Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?
(A) Despite increased spending on education, enrollment in our elementary and secondary schools declined about 4 percent during the last ten years.
(B) Our spending on gasoline increased more than 100 percent during the last decade.
(C) When adjusted for inflation, our per-pupil expenditure on education this year is less than it was ten years ago.
(D) Eleven other economically developed nations spend more on education than we do.
(E) The achievement levels of our students have been declining steadily since 1960, and the last decade produced no reversal in this trend.
19. The U.S. census is not perfect: thousands of Americans probably go uncounted. However, the basic statistical portrait of the nation painted by the census is accurate. Certainly some of the poor go uncounted, particularly the homeless; but some of the rich go uncounted as well, because they are often abroad or traveling between one residence and another.Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument above depends?
(A) Both the rich and the poor have personal and economic reasons to avoid being counted by the census.
(B) All Americans may reasonably be classified as either poor or rich.
(C) The percentage of poor Americans uncounted by the census is close to the percentage of rich Americans uncounted.
(D) The number of homeless Americans is approximately equal to the number of rich Americans.
(E) The primary purpose of the census is to analyze the economic status of the American population.
20. Which of the following best completes the passage below?In today’s pluralistic society, textbook publishers find themselves in an increasingly uncomfortable position. Since the schools are regarded as a repository of society’s moral and cultural values, each group within society wishes to prevent any material that offends its own values from appearing in textbooks. As a result, stance on an issue is certain to run afoul of one group or another. And since textbook publishers must rely on community goodwill to sell their books, it is inevitable that______
(A) fewer and fewer publishers will be willing to enter the financially uncertain textbook industry
(B) the ethical and moral content of textbooks will become increasingly neutral and bland
(C) more and more pressure groups will arise that seek to influence the content of textbooks
(D) the government will be forced to intervene in the increasingly rancorous debate over the content of textbooks
(E) school boards, teachers, and principals will find it nearly impossible to choose among the variety of textbooks being offered
答案:
1. D2. A3. E4. B5. C
6. B7. D8. D9. E10. C
11. B12. A13. E14. E15. A
16. A17. B18. C19. C20. B
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