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GMAT

GMAT - Critical Reasoning - Test 17

in Critical Reasoning

Read the passage and choose the option that best answer the question.

1. Thousands of people have tonsillectomies every year and all live normal lives after the operation. We can conclude, from this observation, that the tonsils have no function in the body.

The argument would be most weakened by which of the following, if it were true?

A. People live normal lives after appendectomies but the appendix is known to be part of the digestive system.
B. Another part of the body can take over the function of the tonsils if they are removed.
C. The tonsils have been shown to have a vital role to play in the physiology of laboratory rabbits and guinea pigs.
D. The human tonsil develops as part of the immune system, a system of vital importance in defense against disease.
E. Tonsillectomies are performed only when the tonsils become seriously infected.

2. Some analysts maintain that an embargo by country Litora on the export of a strategic metal to country Zenda , if imposed, would drive up the price of the metal in Zenda at least tenfold. They note that few other countries export the metal and that, with an embargo, Zenda might have to depend on as-yet-unexploited domestic sources of the metal. Which of the following, if true, constitutes the most serious objection to the analysis above?

A. Litora's economy depends heavily on foreign currency earned by the export of the strategic metal to other countries.
B. There are foreign-policy steps that Zenda could take to appease Litora and avoid being subjected to an embargo on the metal.
C. Geologists believe that additional deposits of the metal could possibly be found within the territory of Litora .
D. Only a small proportion of Zenda's import expenditures is devoted to the import of the metal from Litora .
E. In case of an embargo, Zenda could buy the metal indirectly from Litora on the world market at a less than one-third increase in cost.

3. Nearly one in three subscribers to Financial Forecaster is a millionaire, and over half are in top management. Shouldn't you subscribe to Financial Forecaster now? A reader who is neither a millionaire nor in top management would be most likely to act in accordance with the advertisement's suggestion if he or she drew which of the following questionable conclusions invited by the advertisement?

A. Among finance-related periodicals. Financial Forecaster provides the most detailed financial information.
B. Top managers cannot do their jobs properly without reading Financial Forecaster.
C. The advertisement is placed where those who will be likely to read it are millionaires.
D. The subscribers mentioned were helped to become millionaires or join top management by reading Financial Forecaster.
E. Only those who will in fact become millionaires, or at least top managers, will read the advertisement.

4. Since the routine use of antibiotics can give rise to resistant bacteria capable of surviving antibiotic environments, the presence of resistant bacteria in people could be due to the human use of prescription antibiotics. Some scientists, however, believe that most resistant bacteria in people derive from human consumption of bacterially infected meat. Which of the following statements, if true, would most significantly strengthen the hypothesis of the scientists?

A. Antibiotics are routinely included in livestock feed so that livestock producers can increase the rate of growth of their animals.
B. Most people who develop food poisoning from bacterially infected meat are treated with prescription antibiotics.
C. The incidence of resistant bacteria in people has tended to be much higher in urban areas than in rural areas where meat is of comparable quality.
D. People who have never taken prescription antibiotics are those least likely to develop resistant bacteria.
E. Livestock producers claim that resistant bacteria in animals cannot be transmitted to people through infected meat.

5. In comparison to the standard typewriter keyboard, the EFCO keyboard, which places the most-used keys nearest the typist's strongest fingers, allows faster typing and results in less fatigue, Therefore, replacement of standard keyboards with the EFCO keyboard will result in an immediate reduction of typing costs. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion drawn above?

A. People who use both standard and EFCO keyboards report greater difficulty in the transition from the EFCO keyboard to the standard keyboard than in the transition from the standard keyboard to the EFCO keyboard.
B. EFCO keyboards are no more expensive to manufacture than are standard keyboards and require less frequent repair than do standard keyboards.
C. The number of businesses and government agencies that use EFCO keyboards is increasing each year.
D. The more training and experience an employee has had with the standard keyboard, the more costly it is to train that employee to use the EFCO keyboard.
E. Novice typists can learn to use the EFCO keyboard in about the same amount of time it takes them to learn to use the standard keyboard.

6. Since 1975 there has been in the United States a dramatic decline in the incidence of traditional childhood diseases such as measles. This decline has been accompanied by an increased incidence of Peterson's disease, a hitherto rare viral infection, among children. Few adults, however, have been affected by the disease. Which of the following, if true, would best help to explain the increased incidence of Peterson's disease among children?

A. Hereditary factors determine in part the degree to which a person is susceptible to the virus that causes Peterson's disease.
B. The decrease in traditional childhood diseases and the accompanying increase in Peterson's disease have not been found in any other country.
C. Children who contract measles develop an immunity to the virus that causes Peterson's disease.
D. Persons who did not contract measles in childhood might contract measles in adulthood, in which case the consequences of the disease would generally be more severe.
E. Those who have contracted Peterson's disease are at increased risk of contracting chicken pox.

7. Because postage rates are rising, Home Decorator magazine plans to maximize its profits by reducing by one half the number of issues it publishes each year. The quality of articles, the number of articles published per year, and the subscription price will not change. Market research shows that neither subscribers nor advertisers will be lost if the magazine's plan is instituted. Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest evidence that the magazine's profits are likely to decline if the plan is instituted?

A. With the new postage rates, a typical issue under the proposed plan would cost about one-third more to mail than a typical current issue would.
B. The majority of the magazine's subscribers are less concerned about a possible reduction in the quantity of the magazine's articles than about a possible loss of the current high quality of its articles.
C. Many of the magazine's long-time subscribers would continue their subscriptions even if the subscription price were increased.
D. Most of the advertisers that purchase advertising space in the magazine will continue to spend the same amount on advertising per issue as they have in the past.
E. Production costs for the magazine are expected to remain stable.

8. It would cost Rosetown one million dollars to repair all of its roads. In the year after completion of those repairs, however, Rosetown would thereby avoid incurring three million dollars worth of damages, since currently Rosetown pays that amount annually in compensation for damage done to cars each year by its unrepaired roads. Which of the following, if true, gives the strongest support to the argument above?

A. Communities bordering on Rosetown also pay compensation for damage done to cars by their unrepaired roads.
B. After any Rosetown road has been repaired, several years will elapse before that road begins to damage cars.
C. Rosetown would need to raise additional taxes if it were to spend one million dollars in one year on road repairs.
D. The degree of damage caused to Rosetown's roads by harsh weather can vary widely from year to year.
E. Trucks cause much of the wear on Rosetown's roads, but owners of cars file almost all of the claims for compensation for damage caused by unrepaired roads.

9. Which of the following best completes the passage below? ?Government? does not exist as an independent entity defining policy. Instead there exists a group of democratically elected pragmatists sensitive to the electorate, who establish policies that will result in their own reelection. Therefore, if public policy is hostile to, say, environmental concerns, it is not because of governmental perversity but because elected officials believe that______

A. environmentalists would be extremely difficult to satisfy with any policy, however environmentally sound
B. environmental concerns are being accommodated as well as public funds permit
C. the public is overly anxious about environmental deterioration
D. the majority of voters vote for certain politicians because of those politicians' idiosyncratic positions on policy issues
E. the majority of voters do not strongly wish for a different policy

10. Naturally occurring chemicals cannot be newly patented once their structures have been published. Before a naturally occurring chemical compound can be used as a drug, however, it must be put through the same rigorous testing program as any synthetic compound, culminating in a published report detailing the chemical's structure and observed effects. If the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true on the basis of them?

A. Any naturally occurring chemical can be reproduced synthetically once its structure is known.
B. Synthetically produced chemical compounds cannot be patented unless their chemical structures are made public.
C. If proven no less effective, naturally occurring chemicals are to be preferred to synthetic compounds for use in drugs.
D. Once a naturally occurring compound has been approved for use as a drug, it can no longer be newly patented.
E. A naturally occurring chemical cannot be patented unless its effectiveness as a drug has been rigorously established.