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GMAT

GMAT - Critical Reasoning - Test 45

in Critical Reasoning

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

1. Anton: I sold my house on an internet site last year and was happy with the price. I got a speedy sale and the cost of advertising was insignificant. I would advise you to avoid real estate agents.

Barbie: It is in the interest of the real estate agent to get me the best price for my property because he gets a commission based on the selling price. Therefore, when selling my house I will certainly use an agent rather than trying to sell the house by word of mouth, or by advertising in newspapers or on the internet.

Barbie?s could strengthen her position by pointing out all of the following except

A. Houses of comparable value often obtain a lower price when sold on the internet
B. Very few houses are sold on the internet at the moment an so a valid comparison is difficult
C. The agent?s service includes many add-on benefits in terms of legal fees, surveyor?s reports and advice that are not available on internet sites
D. Some buyers pay the agent to find them a cheap house
E. The agent?s commission is usually less than the difference between the internet price and the higher price the agent obtains for you

2. Freud's theories of the workings of the mind, while brilliant for their day, were formulated before most of this century's great advances in neurophysiology and biochemistry. Today, we have a far deeper understanding of the biological components of thought, emotion, and behavior than was dreamed of eighty years ago. It would be foolish to continue parroting Freud's psychological theories as if these advances had never occurred. It can be inferred from the passage above that the author would be most likely to favor

A. the abandonment of most of Freud's theories
B. a greater reliance on biological rather than psychological explanations of behavior
C. a critical reexamination of Freud's place in the history of psychology
D. a reexamination of Freud's theories in the light of contemporary biology
E. increased financial support for studies in neurophysiology and biochemistry

3. State X's income-averaging law allows a portion of one's income to be taxed at lower rate than the rate based on one's total taxable income. To use income averaging, the taxpayer must have earned taxable income for a particular year that exceeds 140 percent of his or her average taxable income for the previous three years. People using income averaging owe less tax for that year than they would without income averaging. Which of the following individuals would be most seriously affected if income averaging were not permitted in computing the taxes owed for current year?

A. Individuals whose income has steadily decreased for the past three years
B. Individuals whose income increased by 50 percent four years ago and has remained the same since then
C. Individuals whose income has doubled this year after remaining about the same for five years
D. Individuals who had no income this year, but did in each of the previous three years
E. Individuals who are retired and whose income has remained about the same for the past ten years

4. Throughout the 1950's, there were increases in the numbers of dead birds found in agricultural areas after pesticide sprayings. Pesticide manufacturers claimed that the publicity given to bird deaths stimulated volunteers to look for dead birds, and that the increase in numbers reported was attributable to the increase in the number of people looking. Which of the following statements, if true, would help to refute the claim of the pesticide manufacturers?

A. The publicity given to bird deaths was largely regional and never reached national proportions.
B. Pesticide sprayings were timed to coincide with various phases of the life cycles of the insects they destroyed.
C. No provision was made to ensure that a dead bird would not be reported by more than one observer.
D. Initial increases in bird deaths had been noticed by agricultural workers long before any publicity had been given to the matter.
E. Dead birds of the same species as those found in agricultural areas had been found along coastal areas where no farming took place.

5. High levels of fertilizer and pesticides, needed when farmers try to produce high yield of the same crop year after year, pollute water supplies. Experts therefore urge farmers to diversify their crops and to rotate their plantings yearly. To receive governmental price-support benefits for a crop, farmers must have produced that same crop for the past several years. The statements above, if true, best support which of the following conclusions?

A. The rules for governmental support of farm prices work against efforts to reduce water pollution.
B. The only solution to the problem of water pollution from fertilizers and pesticides is to take farmland out of production.
C. Farmers can continue to make a profit by rotating diverse crops, thus reducing costs for chemicals, but not by planting the same crop each year.
D. New farming techniques will be developed to make it possible for farmers to reduce the application of fertilizers and pesticides.
E. Governmental price supports for farm products are set at levels that are not high enough to allow farmers to get out of debt.

6. Which of the following best completes the passage below? The more worried investors are about losing their money, the more they will demand a high potential return on their investment; great risks must be offset by the chance of great rewards. This principle is the fundamental one in determining interest rates, and it is illustrated by the fact that______

A. successful investors are distinguished by an ability to make very risky investments without worrying about their money
B. lenders receive higher interest rates on unsecured loans than on loans backed by collateral
C. in times of high inflation, the interest paid to depositors by banks can actually be below the rate of inflation
D. at any one time, a commercial bank will have a single rate of interest that it will expect all of its individual borrowers to pay
E. the potential return on investment in a new company is typically lower than the potential return on investment in a well-established company

7. Excavation of the ancient city of Kourion on the island of Cyprus revealed a pattern of debris and collapsed buildings typical of towns devastated by earthquakes. Archaeologists have hypothesized that the destruction was due to a major earthquake known to have occurred near the island in A.D. 365. Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the archaeologists' hypothesis?

A. Bronze ceremonial drinking vessels that are often found in graves dating from years preceding and following A.D. 365 were also found in several graves near Kourion .
B. No coins minted after A.D. 365 were found in Kourion , but coins minted before that year were found in abundance.
C. Most modern histories of Cyprus mention that an earthquake occurred near the island in A.D. 365.
D. Several small statues carved in styles current in Cyprus in the century between A.D. 300 and 400 were found in Kourion .
E. Stone inscriptions in a form of the Greek alphabet that was definitely used in Cyprus after A.D. 365 were found in Kourion .

8. Which of the following best completes the passage below? The unemployment rate in the United States fell from 7.5 percent in 1981 to 6.9 percent in 1986. It cannot, however, be properly concluded from these statistics that the number of unemployed in 1986 was lower than it had been in 1981 because______

A. help-wanted advertisements increased between 1981 and 1986
B. many of the high-paying industrial jobs available in 1981 were replaced by low-wage service jobs in 1986, resulting in displacements of hundreds of thousands of workers
C. in some midwestern industrial states, the unemployment rate was much higher in 1986 than it had been in 1981
D. the total available work force, including those with and without employment, increased between 1981 and 1986
E. the average time that employees stay in any one job dropped during the period 1981 to 1986

9. Since a rhinoceros that has no horn is worthless to poachers, the Wildlife Protection Committee plans to protect selected rhinoceroses from being killed by poachers by cutting off the rhinos' horns. The Wildlife Protection Committee's plan assumes that

A. poachers do not kill rhinos that are worthless to them
B. hornless rhinos pose less of a threat to humans, including poachers, than do rhinos that have horns
C. rhinos are the only animals poachers kill for their horns
D. hornless rhinos can successfully defend their young against nonhuman predators
E. imposing more stringent penalties on poachers will not decrease the number of rhinos killed by poachers

10. It is better for the environment if as much of all packaging as possible is made from materials that are biodegradable in landfills. Therefore, it is always a change for the worse to replace packaging made from paper or cardboard with packaging made from plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills. Which of the following, if true, constitutes the strongest objection to the argument above?

A. The paper and cardboard used in packaging are usually not biodegradable in landfills.
B. Some plastic used in packaging is biodegradable in landfills.
C. In many landfills, a significant proportion of space is taken up by materials other than discarded packaging materials.
D. It is impossible to avoid entirely the use of packaging materials that are not biodegradable in landfills.
E. Sometimes, in packaging an item, plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills are combined with cardboard.