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GMAT - Critical Reasoning - Test 26

in Critical Reasoning

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

1. We commonly speak of aesthetic judgments as subjective, and in the short term they are, since critics often disagree about the value of a particular contemporary work of art. But over time, the subjective element disappears. When works of art have continued to delight audiences for centuries, as have the paintings of Michelangelo, the music of Bach, and the plays of Shakespeare, we can objectively call them great. The statements above best support which of the following conclusions?

A. When Michelangelo, Bach, and Shakespeare were alive, critics disagreed about the value of their work.
B. The value of a contemporary work of art cannot be objectively measured.
C. The reputation of a work of art often fluctuates greatly from one generation to the next.
D. The mere fact that a work of art has endured for centuries does not establish its greatness.
E. If critics agree about the value of a particular cotemporary work of art, then the work can objectively be called great.

2. The cities with the densest population have the highest ratio of police officers to citizens. Such cities also have the lowest rates of property crime without contact between perpetrator and victim. Thus maintaining a high ratio of police officers to citizens can serve as an effective deterrent to at least certain kinds of property crime. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A. The quality of training that police receive varies from city to city.
B. High population density itself makes it difficult to commit a property crime that involves no contact between perpetrator and victim.
C. Many nonviolent crimes in large cities are drug-related.
D. A majority of the perpetrators of property crimes in densely populated cities are not apprehended by the police.
E. Property crimes without contact between perpetrator and victim represent only a small proportion of overall crime.

3. To entice customers away from competitors, Red Label supermarkets have begun offering discounts on home appliances to customers who spend $50 or more on any shopping trip to Red Label. Red Label executives claim that the discount program has been a huge success, since cash register receipts of $50 or more are up thirty percent since the beginning of the program. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the claim of the Red Label executives?

A. Most people who switched to Red Label after the program began spend more than $50 each time they shop at Red Label.
B. Most people whose average grocery bill is less than $50 would not be persuaded to spend more by any discount program.
C. Most people who received discounts on home appliances through Red Label's program will shop at Red Label after the program ends.
D. Since the beginning of the discount program, most of the people who spend $50 or more at Red Label are people who have never before shopped there and whose average grocery bill has always been higher than $50.
E. Almost all of the people who have begun spending $50 or more at Red Label since the discount program began are longtime customers who have increased the average amount of their shopping bills by making fewer trips.

4. Which of the following best completes the passage below? People buy prestige when they buy a premium product. They want to be associated with something special. Mass-marketing techniques and price-reduction strategies should not be used because______

A. affluent purchasers currently represent a shrinking portion of the population of all purchasers
B. continued sales depend directly on the maintenance of an aura of exclusivity
C. purchasers of premium products are concerned with the quality as well as with the price of the products
D. expansion of the market niche to include a broader spectrum of consumers will increase profits
E. manufacturing a premium brand is not necessarily more costly than manufacturing a standard brand of the same product

5. Last year the rate of inflation was 1.2 percent, but for the current year it has been 4 percent. We can conclude that inflation is on an upward trend and the rate will be still higher next year. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?

A. The inflation figures were computed on the basis of a representative sample of economic data rather than all of the available data.
B. Last year a dip in oil prices brought inflation temporarily below its recent stable annual level of 4 percent.
C. Increases in the pay of some workers are tied to the level of inflation, and at an inflation rate of 4 percent or above, these pay raises constitute a force causing further inflation.
D. The 1.2 percent rate of inflation last year represented a ten-year low.
E. Government intervention cannot affect the rate of inflation to any significant degree.

6. In the 1970's there was an oversupply of college graduates. The oversupply caused the average annual income of college graduates to fall to a level only 18 percent greater than that of workers with only high school diplomas. By the late 1980's the average annual income of college graduates was 43 percent higher than that of workers with only high school diplomas, even though between the 1970's and the late 1980's the supply of college graduates did not decrease. Which of the following, if true, in the late 1980's, best reconciles the apparent discrepancy described above?

A. The economy slowed, thus creating a decreased demand for college graduates.
B. The quality of high school education improved.
C. Compared to the 1970's, a greater number of high schools offered vocational guidance programs for their students.
D. The proportion of the population with at least a college-level education increased.
E. There was for the first time in 20 years an oversupply of job seekers with only high school diplomas.

7. Within 20 years it will probably be possible to identify the genetic susceptibility an individual may have toward any particular disease. Eventually, effective strategies will be discovered to counteract each such susceptibility. Once these effective strategies are found, therefore, the people who follow them will never get sick. The argument above is based on which of the following assumptions?

A. For every disease there is only one strategy that can prevent its occurrence.
B. In the future, genetics will be the only medical specialty of any importance.
C. All human sicknesses are in part the result of individuals' genetic susceptibilities.
D. All humans are genetically susceptible to some diseases.
E. People will follow medical advice when they are convinced that it is effective.

8. Caterpillars of all species produce an identical hormone called ?juvenile hormone? that maintains feeding behavior. Only when a caterpillar has grown to the right size for pupation to take place does a special enzyme halt the production of juvenile hormone. This enzyme can be synthesized and will, on being ingested by immature caterpillars, kill them by stopping them from feeding. Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the view that it would not be advisable to try to eradicate agricultural pests that go through a caterpillar stage by spraying croplands with the enzyme mentioned above?

A. Most species of caterpillar are subject to some natural predation.
B. Many agricultural pests do not go through a caterpillar stage.
C. Many agriculturally beneficial insects go through a caterpillar stage.
D. Since caterpillars of different species emerge at different times, several sprayings would be necessary.
E. Although the enzyme has been synthesized in the laboratory, no large-scale production facilities exist as yet.

9. Archaeologists have found wheeled ceramic toys made by the Toltec, twelfth-century inhabitants of what is now Veracruz. Although there is no archaeological evidence that the Toltec used wheels for anything but toys, some anthropologists hypothesize that wheeled utility vehicles were used to carry materials needed for the monumental structures the Toltec produced. Which of the following, if true, would most help the anthropologists explain the lack of evidence noted above?

A. The Toltec sometimes incorporated into their toys representations of utensils or other devices that served some practical purpose.
B. Any wheeled utility vehicles used by the Toltec could have been made entirely of wood, and unlike ceramic, wood decays rapidly in the humid climate of Veracruz.
C. Carvings in monument walls suggest that the Toltec's wheeled ceramic toys sometimes had ritual uses in addition to being used by both children and adults as decorations and playthings.
D. Wheeled utility vehicles were used during the twelfth century in many areas of the world, but during this time wheeled toys were not very common in areas outside Veracruz.
E. Some of the wheeled ceramic toys were found near the remains of monumental structures.

10. Potato cyst nematodes are a pest of potato crops. The nematodes can lie dormant for several years in their cysts, which are protective capsules, and do not emerge except in the presence of chemicals emitted by potato roots. A company that has identified the relevant chemicals is planning to market them to potato farmers to spread on their fields when no potatoes are planted; any nematodes that emerge will soon starve to death. Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the company's plan will be successful?

A. Nematodes that have emerged from their cysts can be killed by ordinary pesticides.
B. The only part of a potato plant that a nematode eats is the roots.
C. Some bacteria commonly present in the roots of potatoes digest the chemicals that cause the nematodes to emerge from their cysts.
D. Trials have shown that spreading even minute quantities of the chemicals on potato fields caused nine-tenths of the nematodes present to emerge from their cysts.
E. The chemicals that cause the nematodes to emerge from their cysts are not emitted all the time the potato plant is growing.