Questions 15-16 are based on the following.
Local phone companies have monopolies on phone service within their areas. Cable television can be transmitted via the wires that are already in place and owned by the phone companies. Cable television companies argue that if the telephone companies were to offer cable service, these telephone companies would have an unfair advantage, because their cable transmissions could be subsidized by the profits of their monopolies on phone service.
15. Which of the following, if true, would ease the cable companies’ fear of unfair competition?
(A) In order to use existing telephone wire, telephone companies would need to modernize their operations, a process so expensive it would virtually wipe out all profit from their monopoly for the foreseeable future.
(B) If a phone company were to offer cable service within a particular area, it would have a monopoly within that area.
(C) The cost of television service, whether provided by cable or telephone companies, scales; that is, the total cost of transmission rises only marginally as more homes are added to the network.
(D) Cable programming that offers more channels is already available through satellite dish, but the initial cost of the dish is extremely high.
(E) Cable television will never be able to compete with the burgeoning video rental industry, especially as more homes now have video cassette recorders than ever did before.
16. On the basis of the information provided in the passage above, which of the following questions can be answered?
(A) Are phone companies as efficient as cable companies in providing reliable and inexpensive service?
(B) If phone companies were allowed to provide cable service, would they want to do so?
(C) Do the cable companies believe that the local phone companies make a profit on phone service?
(D) Are local phone companies forbidden to offer cable service?
(E) Is it expected that phone companies will have a monopoly on cable service?
17. In the past year, there has been a large drop in the number of new cars sold, due to harsh economic conditions in the marketplace and high taxes. At the same time, the average price paid for a new car has risen dramatically.
Which of the following, if true, best explains the increase in the average price of a new car?
(A) The price of used cars has climbed steadily over the past ten years.
(B) There will be a tax reduction later in the year which is expected to aid moderate and low income families.
(C) The market for expensive car has been unaffected by the current economic conditions.
(D) Economic conditions are expected to get significantly worse before the end of the year.
(E) Low demand for trucks and vans has led to lower production in the factories.
18. Critics of sales seminars run by outside consultants point out that since 1987, revenues of vacuum cleaner companies whose employees attended consultant-led seminars were lower than revenues of vacuum cleaner companies whose employees did not attend such seminars. The critics charge that for vacuum cleaner companies, the sales seminars are ill conceived and a waste of money.
Which of the following, if true, is the most effective challenge to the critics of sales seminars?
(A) Those vacuum cleaner companies whose sales were highest prior to 1987 are the only companies that did not send employees to the seminars.
(B) Vacuum cleaner companies that have sent employees to sales seminars since 1987 experienced a greater drop in sales than they had prior to 1987.
(C) The cost of vacuum cleaner sales seminars run by outside consultants has risen dramatically since 1987.
(D) The poor design of vacuum cleaner sales seminars is not the only reason for their ineffectiveness.
(E) Since 1987, sales of vacuum cleaners have risen twenty percent.
19. Informed people generally assimilate information from several divergent sources before coming to an opinion. However, most popular news organizations view foreign affairs solely through the eyes of our State Department. In reporting the political crisis in foreign country B, news organizations must endeavor to find alternative sources of information.
Which of the following inferences can be drawn from the argument above?
(A) To the degree that a news source gives an account of another country that mirrors that of our State Department, that reporting is suspect.
(B) To protect their integrity, news media should avoid the influence of State Department releases in their coverage of foreign affairs.
(C) Reporting that is not influenced by the State Department is usually more accurate than are other accounts.
(D) The alternative sources of information mentioned in the passage would probably not share the same views as the State Department.
(E) A report cannot be seen as influenced by the State Department if it accurately depicts the events in a foreign country.
20. A light bulb company produces 2,000 light bulbs per week. The manager wants to ensure that standards of quality remain constant from week to week. The manager, therefore, claims that out of 2,000 light bulbs produced per week, 500 light bulbs are rejected.
Of the following, the best criticism of the manager’s plan is that the plan assumes that
(A) light bulb manufacturers cannot accept all light bulbs that produced
(B) the overall quality of the light bulbs would not be improved if the total number of light bulbs produced were reduced
(C) each light bulb that is reviewed is worthy of being reviewed
(D) it is difficult to judge the quality of a light bulb
(E) the 1,500 light bulbs that are accepted will be of the same quality from week to week
参考答案: 1. B2. C3. E4. E5. D
6. C7. B8. D9. E10. A
11. D12. C13. E14. B15. A
16. C17. C18. A19. D20. E
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