Practice Test #2 Reading Comprehension
(17 Essays, 57 Questions)
 
Essay #1.  009	(21233-!-item-!-188;#058&00009-00)

The modern multinational corporation is described as having originated when the owner-managers of nineteenth-century British firms carrying on international trade were replaced by teams of salaried managers organized into hierarchies.  Increases in the volume of transactions in such firms are commonly believed to have necessitated this structural change.  Nineteenth-century inventions like the steamship and the telegraph, by facilitating coordination of managerial activities, are described as key factors. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century chartered trading companies, despite the international scope of their activities, are usually considered irrelevant to this discussion:  the volume of their transactions is assumed to have been too low and the communications and transport of their day too primitive to make comparisons with modern multinationals interesting.

In reality, however, early trading companies successfully purchased and outfitted ships, built and operated offices and warehouses, manufactured trade goods for use abroad, maintained trading posts and production facilities overseas, procured goods for import, and sold those goods both at home and in other countries.  The large volume of transactions associated with these activities seems to have necessitated hierarchical management structures well before the advent of modern communications and transportation.  For example, in the Hudson's Bay Company, each far-flung trading outpost was managed by a salaried agent, who carried out the trade with the Native Americans, managed day-to-day operations, and oversaw the post's workers and servants.  One chief agent, answerable to the Court of Directors in London through the correspondence committee, was appointed with control over all of the agents on the bay.

The early trading companies did differ strikingly from modern multinationals in many respects.  They depended heavily on the national governments of their home countries and thus characteristically acted abroad to promote national interests.  Their top managers were typically owners with a substantial minority share, whereas senior managers' holdings in modern multinationals are usually insignificant.  They operated in a preindustrial world, grafting a system of capitalist international trade onto a premodern system of artisan and peasant production.  Despite these differences, however, early trading companies organized effectively in remarkably modern ways and merit further study as analogues of more modern structures.

Question #1.  009-01	(21279-!-item-!-188;#058&000009-01)

The author's main point is that

(A) modern multinationals originated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with the establishment of chartered trading companies
(B) the success of early chartered trading companies, like that of modern multinationals, depended primarily on their ability to carry out complex operations
(C) early chartered trading companies should be more seriously considered by scholars studying the origins of modern multinationals
(D) scholars are quite mistaken concerning the origins of modern multinationals
(E) the management structures of early chartered trading companies are fundamentally the same as those of modern multinationals 

Question #2.  009-04	(21325-!-item-!-188;#058&000009-04)

With which of the following generalizations regarding management structures would the author of the passage most probably agree?

(A) Hierarchical management structures are the most efficient management structures possible in a modern context.
(B) Firms that routinely have a high volume of business transactions find it necessary to adopt hierarchical management structures.
(C) Hierarchical management structures cannot be successfully implemented without modern communications and transportation.
(D) Modern multinational firms with a relatively small volume of business transactions usually do not have hierarchically organized management structures.
(E) Companies that adopt hierarchical management structures usually do so in order to facilitate expansion into foreign trade. 

Question #3.  009-05	(21371-!-item-!-188;#058&000009-05)

The passage suggests that modern multinationals differ from early chartered trading companies in that

(A) the top managers of modern multinationals own stock in their own companies rather than simply receiving a salary
(B) modern multinationals depend on a system of capitalist international trade rather than on less modern trading systems
(C) modern multinationals have operations in a number of different foreign countries rather than merely in one or two
(D) the operations of modern multinationals are highly profitable despite the more stringent environmental and safety regulations of modern governments
(E) the overseas operations of modern multinationals are not governed by the national interests of their home countries 

Question #4.  009-07	(21417-!-item-!-188;#058&000009-07)

According to the passage, early chartered trading companies are usually described as

(A) irrelevant to a discussion of the origins of the modern multinational corporation
(B) interesting but ultimately too unusual to be good subjects for economic study
(C) analogues of nineteenth-century British trading firms
(D) rudimentary and very early forms of the modern multinational corporation
(E) important national institutions because they existed to further the political aims of the governments of their home countries 

Essay #2.  091	(21422-!-item-!-188;#058&00091-00)

More selective than most chemical pesticides in that they ordinarily destroy only unwanted species, biocontrol agents (such as insects, fungi, and viruses) eat, infect, or parasitize targeted plant or animal pests.  However, biocontrol agents can negatively affect nontarget species by, for example, competing with them for resources:  a biocontrol agent might reduce the benefits conferred by a desirable animal species by consuming a plant on which the animal prefers to lay its eggs. Another example of indirect negative consequences occurred in England when a virus introduced to control rabbits reduced the amount of open ground (because large rabbit populations reduce the ground cover), in turn reducing underground ant nests and triggering the extinction of a blue butterfly that had depended on the nests to shelter its offspring.  The paucity of known extinctions or disruptions resulting from indirect interactions may reflect not the infrequency of such mishaps but rather the failure to look for or to detect them:  most organisms likely to be adversely affected by indirect interactions are of little or no known commercial value and the events linking a biocontrol agent with an adverse effect are often unclear.  Moreover, determining the potential risks of biocontrol agents before they are used is difficult, especially when a nonnative agent is introduced, because, unlike a chemical pesticide, a biocontrol agent may adapt in unpredictable ways so that it can feed on or otherwise harm new hosts.

Question #5.  091-01	(21468-!-item-!-188;#058&000091-01)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) explaining why until recently scientists failed to recognize the risks presented by biocontrol agents
(B) emphasizing that biocontrol agents and chemical pesticides have more similarities than differences
(C) suggesting that only certain biocontrol agents should be used to control plant or animal pests
(D) arguing that biocontrol agents involve risks, some of which may not be readily discerned
(E) suggesting that mishaps involving biocontrol agents are relatively commonplace 

Question #6.  091-03	(21514-!-item-!-188;#058&000091-03)

According to the passage, which of the following is a concern that arises with biocontrol agents but not with chemical pesticides?

(A) Biocontrol agents are likely to destroy desirable species as well as undesirable ones.
(B) Biocontrol agents are likely to have indirect as well as direct adverse effects on nontarget species.
(C) Biocontrol agents may change in unforeseen ways and thus be able to damage new hosts.
(D) Biocontrol agents may be ineffective in destroying targeted species.
(E) Biocontrol agents may be effective for only a short period of time. 

Question #7.  091-06	(21560-!-item-!-188;#058&000091-06)

The passage suggests which of the following about the blue butterfly mentioned in the highlighted text?

(A) The blue butterfly's survival was indirectly dependent on sustaining a rabbit population of a particular size.
(B) The blue butterfly's survival was indirectly dependent on sustaining large amounts of vegetation in its habitat.
(C) The blue butterfly's survival was threatened when the ants began preying on its offspring.
(D) The blue butterfly was infected by the virus that had been intended to control rabbit populations.
(E) The blue butterfly was adversely affected by a biocontrol agent that competed with it for resources. 

Essay #3.  114	(21569-!-item-!-188;#058&00114-00)

Ethnohistoric documents from sixteenth-century Mexico suggesting that weaving and cooking were the most common productive activities for Aztec women may lead modern historians to underestimate the value of women's contributions to Aztec society.  Since weaving and cooking occurred mostly (but not entirely) in a domestic setting, modern historians are likely to apply to the Aztec culture the modern Western distinction between "private" and "public" production.  Thus, the ethnohistoric record conspires with Western culture to foster the view that women's production was not central to the demographic, economic, and political structures in sixteenth-century Mexico.

A closer examination of Aztec culture indicates that treating Aztec women's production in Mexico in such a manner would be a mistake.  Even if the products of women's labor did not circulate beyond the household, such products were essential to population growth.  Researchers document a tenfold increase in the population of the valley of Mexico during the previous four centuries, an increase that was crucial to the developing Aztec political economy.  Population growth--which could not have occurred in the absence of successful household economy, in which women's work was essential--made possible the large-scale development of labor-intensive chinampa (ridged-field) agriculture in the southern valley of Mexico which, in turn, supported urbanization and political centralization in the Aztec capital.

But the products of women's labor did in fact circulate beyond the household.  Aztec women wove cloth, and cloth circulated through the market system, the tribute system, and the redistributive economy of the palaces.  Cotton mantles served as a unit of currency in the regional market system.  Quantities of woven mantles, loincloths, blouses, and skirts were paid as tribute to local lords and to imperial tax stewards and were distributed to ritual and administrative personnel, craft specialists, warriors, and other faithful servants of the state.  In addition, woven articles of clothing served as markers of social status and clothing fulfilled a symbolic function in political negotiation.  The cloth that was the product of women's work thus was crucial as a primary means of organizing the flow of goods and services that sustained the Aztec state.

Question #8.  114-01	(21615-!-item-!-188;#058&000114-01)

The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the documents mentioned in the first sentence of the passage?

(A) They contain misleading information about the kinds of productive activities Aztec women engaged in.
(B) They overlook certain crucial activities performed by women in Aztec society.
(C) They provide useful information about the way that Aztec society viewed women.
(D) They are of limited value because they were heavily influenced by the bias of those who recorded them.
(E) They contain information that is likely to be misinterpreted by modern-day readers. 

Question #9.  114-02	(21661-!-item-!-188;#058&000114-02)

According to the passage, Aztec women's cloth production enabled Aztec society to do which of the following?

(A) Expand women's role in agriculture
(B) Organize the flow of goods and services
(C) Develop self-contained communities
(D) Hire agricultural laborers from outside the society
(E) Establish a higher standard of living than neighboring cultures 

Question #10.  114-03	(21707-!-item-!-188;#058&000114-03)

Which of the following best describes the function of the third paragraph of the passage?

(A) It attempts to reconcile conflicting views presented in the previous paragraphs.
(B) It presents evidence intended to undermine the argument presented in the second paragraph.
(C) It provides examples that support the position taken in the first sentence of the second paragraph.
(D) It describes the contents of the documents mentioned in the first paragraph.
(E) It suggests that a distinction noted in the first paragraph is valid.

Question #11.  114-06	(21753-!-item-!-188;#058&000114-06)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) using modern understanding of cultural bias to challenge ethnohistoric documents
(B) evaluating competing descriptions of women's roles in Aztec society
(C) comparing the influence of gender on women's roles in Aztec society and in modern society
(D) remedying a potential misconception about the significance of women's roles in Aztec society
(E) applying new evidence in a reevaluation of ethnohistoric documents 

Essay #4.  156	(21764-!-item-!-188;#058&00156-00)

Solar ponds are bodies of water in which circulation is incomplete and there is a very high salt concentration that increases with depth.  This vertical change in salinity serves to trap heat because concentrated brine in the lowest water level acts as a collector and storage area for solar heat, while the less saline, lighter water at the upper levels provides insulation.  Heat is thus retained in the depths.

An artificial pond of this type has been constructed on the western shore of the Dead Sea in Israel in order to test its suitability as a source of low-grade heat for conversion into electricity.  An immediate threat to the success of the venture was the growth of algae.  Water in solar ponds must be kept maximally transparent to allow penetration of light to the deep storage area.  Therefore, any particles of matter in the water, such as algae cells, that scatter or absorb light will interfere with the collection of heat.

One proposed method of controlling the algae was the application of an algicide.  However, the Dead Sea is a closed body of water without any outlet and as such is very easily contaminated.  Extensive use of chemicals in numerous future full-scale solar ponds would lead to such contamination of the Dead Sea, which now enjoys a lucrative tourist trade.

A recent experiment has supplied a more promising method for controlling the algae.  To repress the algae cells' capacity for accommodating themselves to environmental changes, the water in the solar pond was first made more saline through evaporation and then diluted by a rapid inflow of fresh water.  This shock reduced the cells' ability to regulate the movement of water through their membranes.  They rapidly absorbed water, resulting in distortions of shape, increase in volume, and impairment to motility.  Their buoyancy adversely affected, the cells sank to the bottom of the pond, where they encountered the hot waters of the storage layer and were destroyed.  This method allows for effective control of nuisance algae while leaving solar ponds as one of the cleanest technologies providing energy for human use.

Question #12.  156-01	(21810-!-item-!-188;#058&000156-01)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) discuss ways of solving a problem that threatens to limit the usefulness of an energy source
(B) explain the mechanisms by which solar heat may be converted into energy
(C) detail the processes by which algae cells colonize highly saline bodies of water
(D) report the results of an experiment designed to clean contaminated bodies of water
(E) describe the unique properties of a solar pond on the edge of the Dead Sea 

Question #13.  156-02	(21856-!-item-!-188;#058&000156-02)

It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true about the salinity and temperatures of the highest and lowest water layers in a typical solar pond?

(A) The bottom layer is both highly saline and quite hot, while the top layer is less saline and cooler.
(B) The two layers have similar salinity levels, but the bottom layer is hotter than the top.
(C) There is no way to predict the salinity and temperature of the different water layers in different solar ponds.
(D) The bottom layer is less saline and quite hot, while the top layer is more saline and cooler.
(E) The top layer has both higher salinity and higher temperatures than the bottom layer. 

Question #14.  156-05	(21902-!-item-!-188;#058&000156-05)

According to the passage, the growth of algae was considered a threat to the success of the artificial pond near the Dead Sea because the algae

(A) produce excess oxygen that lowers the water temperature in the pond
(B) restrict the circulation of water within the pond
(C) enable heat to escape through the upper level of the pond
(D) prevent light from penetrating to the lowest levels of the pond 
(E) prevent accurate measurement of the heat collected in the pond 

Question #15.  156-08	(21948-!-item-!-188;#058&000156-08)

Which of the following, if true, would seriously undermine the validity of the conclusions drawn from the experiment described in the last paragraph of the passage?

(A) The algae cells that sank to the bottom of the pond were destroyed only after a time lag of twenty-four hours.
(B) The lateral motility of the algae cells that sank to the bottom of the pond was not impaired.
(C) The water with which the artificial solar pond was diluted contained microorganisms that kill algae.
(D) The algae cells that sank to the bottom of the pond were actually killed by the rapid change in pressure.
(E) The higher salinity brought about through evaporation increased the transparency of the upper levels of water in the pond. 

Essay #5.  189	(21953-!-item-!-188;#058&00189-00)

Traditional social science models of class groups in the United States are based on economic status and assume that women's economic status derives from association with men, typically fathers or husbands, and that women therefore have more compelling common interest with men of their own economic class than with women outside it.  Some feminist social scientists, by contrast, have argued that the basic division in American society is instead based on gender, and that the total female population, regardless of economic status, constitutes a distinct class.  Social historian Mary Ryan, for example, has argued that in early-nineteenth-century America the identical legal status of working-class and middle-class free women outweighed the differences between women of these two classes:  married women, regardless of their family's wealth, did essentially the same unpaid domestic work, and none could own property or vote.  Recently, though, other feminist analysts have questioned this model, examining ways in which the condition of working-class women differs from that of middle-class women as well as from that of working-class men.  Ann Oakley notes, for example, that the gap between women of different economic classes widened in the late nineteenth century:  most working-class women, who performed wage labor outside the home, were excluded from the emerging middle-class ideal of femininity centered around domesticity and volunteerism.

Question #16.  189-01	(21999-!-item-!-188;#058&000189-01)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) offer sociohistorical explanations for the cultural differences between men and women in the United States
(B) examine how the economic roles of women in the United States changed during the nineteenth century
(C) consider differing views held by social scientists concerning women's class status in the United States
(D) propose a feminist interpretation of class structure in the United States
(E) outline specific distinctions between working-class women and women of the upper and middle classes 

Question #17.  189-03	(22045-!-item-!-188;#058&000189-03)

It can be inferred from the passage that the most recent feminist social science research on women and class seeks to do which of the following?

(A) Introduce a divergent new theory about the relationship between legal status and gender
(B) Illustrate an implicit middle-class bias in earlier feminist models of class and gender
(C) Provide evidence for the position that gender matters more than wealth in determining class status
(D) Remedy perceived inadequacies of both traditional social science models and earlier feminist analyses of class and gender
(E) Challenge the economic definitions of class used by traditional social scientists 

Question #18.  189-05	(22091-!-item-!-188;#058&000189-05)

Which of the following statements best characterizes the relationship between traditional social science models of class and Ryan's model, as described in the passage?

(A) Ryan's model differs from the traditional model by making gender, rather than economic status, the determinant of women's class status.
(B) The traditional social science model of class differs from Ryan's in its assumption that women are financially dependent on men.
(C) Ryan's model of class and the traditional social science model both assume that women work, either within the home or for pay.
(D) The traditional social science model of class differs from Ryan's in that each model focuses on a different period of American history. 
(E) Both Ryan's model of class and the traditional model consider multiple factors, including wealth, marital status, and enfranchisement, in determining women's status. 

Essay #6.  196	(22098-!-item-!-188;#058&00196-00)

According to P. F. Drucker, the management philosophy known as Total Quality Management (TQM), which is designed to be adopted consistently throughout an organization and to improve customer service by using sampling theory to reduce the variability of a product's quality, can work successfully in conjunction with two older management systems.  As Drucker notes, TQM's scientific approach is consistent with the statistical sampling techniques of the "rationalist" school of scientific management, and the organizational structure associated with TQM is consistent with the social and psychological emphases of the "human relations" school of management.

However, TQM cannot simply be grafted onto these systems or onto certain other non-TQM management systems.  Although, as Drucker contends, TQM shares with such systems the ultimate objective of increasing profitability, TQM requires fundamentally different strategies.  While the other management systems referred to use upper management decision-making and employee specialization to maximize shareholder profits over the short term, TQM envisions the interests of employees, shareholders, and customers as convergent.  For example, lower prices not only benefit consumers but also enhance an organization's competitive edge and ensure its continuance, thus benefiting employees and owners.  TQM's emphasis on shared interests is reflected in the decentralized decision-making, integrated production activity, and lateral structure of organizations that achieve the benefits of TQM. 

Question #19.  196-01	(22144-!-item-!-188;#058&000196-01)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) point out contradictions in a new management system
(B) compare and contrast the objectives of various management systems
(C) identify the organizational features shared by various management systems
(D) explain the relationship of a particular management system to certain other management systems
(E) explain the advantages of a particular management system over certain other management systems 

Question #20.  196-05	(22190-!-item-!-188;#058&000196-05)

Which of the following best describes the relationship of the second paragraph to the first paragraph?

(A) It presents contrasting explanations for a phenomenon presented in the first paragraph.
(B) It discusses an exception to a general principle outlined in the first paragraph.
(C) It provides information that qualifies a claim presented in the first paragraph.
(D) It presents an example that strengthens a claim presented in the first paragraph.
(E) It presents an alternative approach to solving a problem discussed in the first paragraph. 

Question #21.  196-06	(22236-!-item-!-188;#058&000196-06)

According to the passage, the rationalist and human relations schools of management are alike in that they

(A) are primarily interested in increasing profits
(B) place little emphasis on issues of organizational structure
(C) use statistical sampling techniques to increase profitability
(D) are unlikely to lower prices in order to increase profitability
(E) focus chiefly on setting and attaining long-term objectives 

Essay #7.  216	(22243-!-item-!-188;#058&00216-00)

The United States hospital industry is an unusual market in that nonprofit and for-profit producers exist simultaneously.  Theoretical literature offers conflicting views on whether nonprofit hospitals are less financially efficient.  Theory suggests that nonprofit hospitals are so much more interested in offering high-quality service than in making money that they frequently input more resources to provide the same output of service as for-profit hospitals.  This priority might also often lead them to be less vigilant in streamlining their services--eliminating duplication between departments, for instance.  Conversely, while profit motive is thought to encourage for-profit hospitals to attain efficient production, most theorists admit that obstacles to that efficiency remain.  For-profit hospital managers, for example, generally work independently of hospital owners and thus may not always make maximum financial efficiency their highest priority.  The literature also suggests that widespread adoption of third-party payment systems may eventually eliminate any such potential differences between the two kinds of hospitals.

The same literature offers similarly conflicting views of the efficiency of nonprofit hospitals from a social welfare perspective. Newhouse (1970) contends that nonprofit hospital managers unnecessarily expand the quality and quantity of hospital care beyond the actual needs of the community, while Weisbrod (1975) argues that nonprofit firms--hospitals included--contribute efficiently to community welfare by providing public services that might be inadequately provided by government alone.

Question #22.  216-03	(22289-!-item-!-188;#058&000216-03)

Which of the following best describes the overall content of the second paragraph of the passage?

(A) It describes views concerning a particular aspect of one of the types of hospitals discussed earlier.
(B) It describes an additional benefit of one of the types of hospitals discussed earlier.
(C) It offers a potential solution to a problem inherent in the structure of the United States hospital industry.
(D) It provides an additional contrast between the two types of hospitals discussed earlier.
(E) It describes one of the consequences of the character of the United States hospital market.

Question #23.  216-04	(22335-!-item-!-188;#058&000216-04)

According to the passage, Newhouse's view of the social welfare efficiency of nonprofit hospitals differs from Weisbrod's view in that Newhouse

(A) contends that government already provides most of the services that communities need
(B) argues that for-profit hospitals are better at meeting actual community needs than are nonprofit hospitals
(C) argues that nonprofit hospitals are likely to spend more to provide services that the community requires than for-profit hospitals are likely to spend
(D) argues that nonprofit hospitals ought to expand the services they provide to meet the community's demands
(E) believes that the level of care provided by nonprofit hospitals is inappropriate, given the community's requirements

Question #24.  216-05	(22381-!-item-!-188;#058&000216-05)

The passage suggests which of the following about the managers mentioned in the highlighted text?

(A) They have generally been motivated to streamline hospital services as a result of direct intervention by hospital owners.
(B) They are more likely than managers of nonprofit hospitals to use unnecessary amounts of resources to provide services.
(C) Their most important self-acknowledged goal is to achieve maximum financial efficiency so that hospitals show a profit.
(D) Their decisions regarding services provided by their hospitals may not reflect hospital owners' priorities.
(E) They do not place a high priority on maximizing profits, despite their desire to achieve efficiency.

Essay #8.  219	(22388-!-item-!-188;#058&00219-00)

Although the industrial union organizations that emerged under the banner of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s and 1940s embraced the principles of nondiscrimination and inclusion, the role of women within unions reflected the prevailing gender ideology of the period.  Elizabeth Faue's study of the labor movement in Minneapolis argues that women were marginalized by union bureaucratization and by the separation of unions from the community politics from which industrial unionism had emerged.  Faue stresses the importance of women's contribution to the development of unions at the community level, contributions that made women's ultimate fate within the city's labor movement all the more poignant:  as unions reached the peak of their strength in the 1940s, the community base that had made their success possible and to which women's contributions were so vital became increasingly irrelevant to unions' institutional life.

In her study of CIO industrial unions from the 1930s to the 1970s, Nancy F. Gabin also acknowledges the pervasive male domination in the unions, but maintains that women workers were able to create a political space within some unions to advance their interests as women.  Gabin shows that, despite the unions' tendency to marginalize women's issues, working women's demands were a constant undercurrent within the union, and she stresses the links between the unions' women activists and the wave of feminism that emerged in the 1960s.

Question #25.  219-01	(22434-!-item-!-188;#058&000219-01)

According to the passage, Faue's study and Gabin's study agree in that both

(A) attribute the inclusion of women in unions to the policies of the CIO
(B) emphasize the importance of unions at the community level
(C) argue that women played important roles in the establishment of industrial union organizations
(D) suggest that women in industrial union organizations played a subordinate role
(E) suggest that the interests of women workers were incompatible with those of unions in general 

Question #26.  219-02	(22480-!-item-!-188;#058&000219-02)

Which of the following can be inferred regarding the "gender ideology" mentioned in the highlighted text?

(A) It prevented women from making significant contributions to the establishment of industrial unions.
(B) It resulted from the marginalization of women in industrial unions.
(C) It had a significant effect on the advancement of women's issues within industrial unions.
(D) Its primary tenets were nondiscrimination and inclusion.
(E) Its effects were mitigated by the growth of industrial unions. 

Question #27.  219-04	(22526-!-item-!-188;#058&000219-04)

The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

(A) presenting two views
(B) reconciling two antithetical claims
(C) assessing conflicting evidence
(D) weakening a generally accepted argument
(E) tracing the development of an ideology 

Essay #9.  224	(22535-!-item-!-188;#058&00224-00)

The view has prevailed for the better part of the twentieth century that small firms do not perform an important role in Western economies.  Official policies in many countries have favored large units of production because there were strong reasons to believe that large firms were superior to small firms in virtually every aspect of economic performance--productivity, technological progress, and job security and compensation.  However, in the 1970s, evidence began to suggest that small firms in some countries were outperforming their larger counterparts.  Perhaps the best example of this trend was in the steel industry, where new firms entered the market in the form of "mini-mills," and small-firm employment expanded, while many large companies shut down plants and reduced employment.  Although no systematic evidence exists to determine unequivocally whether smaller units of production are as efficient as large firms or are, in fact, more efficient, some researchers have concluded that the accumulated evidence to date indicates that small firms are at least not burdened with an inherent size disadvantage.

Thus, an alternative view has emerged in the economics literature, arguing that small firms make several important contributions to industrial markets.  First, small firms are often the source of the kind of innovative activity that leads to technological change.  Small firms generate market turbulence that creates additional dimensions of competition, and they also promote international competition through newly created niches.  Finally, small firms in recent years have generated the preponderant share of new jobs.

However, empirical knowledge about the relative roles of large and small firms is generally based upon anecdotal evidence and case studies, and such evidence has proved inadequate to answer major questions concerning the role of small firms across various industries and nations.  An additional difficulty is that it is not obvious what criteria one should use to distinguish small firms from large ones.  While a "small firm" is often defined as an enterprise with fewer than 500 employees, research studies of small firms use a wide variety of definitions.

Question #28.  224-01	(22581-!-item-!-188;#058&000224-01)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) dismissing a challenge to a traditional viewpoint
(B) suggesting a new solution to a long-standing problem
(C) resolving a conflict between two competing viewpoints
(D) discussing the emergence of an alternative viewpoint
(E) defending an alternative viewpoint against possible counterevidence 

Question #29.  224-03	(22627-!-item-!-188;#058&000224-03)

The passage suggests which of the following about the empirical study of small firms' role?

(A) Anecdotal evidence does not support the theory that small firms' role is significant.
(B) Degrees of market turbulence are the primary indicator of small firms' role.
(C) An examination of new niches created by small firms has provided important data for the analysis of such firms' role.
(D) Case studies have provided reliable evidence to answer major questions concerning small firms' role.
(E) A more precise definition of the term "small firm" is crucial to making a conclusive analysis about small firms' role. 

Question #30.  224-05	(22673-!-item-!-188;#058&000224-05)

Which of the following best describes the organization of the first paragraph of the passage?

(A) A viewpoint is introduced, counter evidence is presented, and a new perspective is suggested.
(B) Opposing viewpoints are discussed, and evidence is provided that refutes both of those viewpoints.
(C) A hypothesis is described, supported with specific evidence, and then reaffirmed.
(D) An alternative viewpoint is presented, criticized, and dismissed in light of new evidence.
(E) Opposing viewpoints are presented, discussed, and then found to be more similar than previously supposed. 

Question #31.  224-07	(22719-!-item-!-188;#058&000224-07)

According to the passage, an important contribution of small firms to industrial markets is that small firms

(A) operate more efficiently than large firms
(B) offer high job security and compensation
(C) cause international competition to decrease
(D) help prevent market turbulence from affecting competition
(E) frequently undertake activities that result in technological change 

Essay #10.  247	(22730-!-item-!-188;#058&00247-00)

The Black Death, a severe epidemic that ravaged fourteenth-century Europe, has intrigued scholars ever since Francis Gasquet's 1893 study contending that this epidemic greatly intensified the political and religious upheaval that ended the Middle Ages.  Thirty-six years later, historian George Coulton agreed but, paradoxically, attributed a silver lining to the Black Death:  prosperity engendered by diminished competition for food, shelter, and work led survivors of the epidemic into the Renaissance and subsequent rise of modern Europe.

In the 1930s, however, Evgeny Kosminsky and other Marxist historians claimed the epidemic was merely an ancillary factor contributing to a general agrarian crisis stemming primarily from the inevitable decay of European feudalism.  In arguing that this decline of feudalism was economically determined, the Marxist asserted that the Black Death was a relatively insignificant factor.  This became the prevailing view until after the Second World War, when studies of specific regions and towns revealed astonishing mortality rates ascribed to the epidemic, thus restoring the central role of the Black Death in history.

This central role of the Black Death (traditionally attributed to bubonic plague brought from Asia) has been recently challenged from another direction.  Building on bacteriologist John Shrewsbury's speculations about mislabeled epidemics, zoologist Graham Twigg employs urban case studies suggesting that the rat population in Europe was both too sparse and insufficiently migratory to have spread plague.  Moreover, Twigg disputes the traditional trade-ship explanation for plague transmissions by extrapolating from data on the number of dead rats aboard Nile sailing vessels in 1912.  The Black Death, which he conjectures was anthrax instead of bubonic plague, therefore caused far less havoc and fewer deaths than historians typically claim.

Although correctly citing the exacting conditions needed to start or spread bubonic plague, Twigg ignores virtually a century of scholarship contradictory to his findings and employs faulty logic in his single-minded approach to the Black Death.  His speculative generalizations about the numbers of rats in medieval Europe are based on isolated studies unrepresentative of medieval conditions, while his unconvincing trade-ship argument overlooks land-based caravans, the overland migration of infected rodents, and the many other animals that carry plague.

Question #32.  247-01	(22776-!-item-!-188;#058&000247-01)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) demonstrating the relationship between bubonic plague and the Black Death
(B) interpreting historical and scientific works on the origins of the Black Death
(C) employing the Black Death as a case study of disease transmission in medieval Europe
(D) presenting aspects of past and current debate on the historical importance of the Black Death
(E) analyzing the differences between capitalist and Marxist interpretations of the historical significance of the Black Death 

Question #33.  247-02	(22822-!-item-!-188;#058&000247-02)

The passage suggests that Twigg believes that rats could not have spread the Black Death unless which of the following were true?

(A) The rats escaped from ships that had been in Asia.
(B) The rats were immune to the diseases that they carried.
(C) The rat population was larger in medieval Europe than Twigg believes it actually was.
(D) The rat population primarily infested densely populated areas.
(E) The rats interacted with other animals that Twigg believes could have carried plague. 

Question #34.  247-04	(22868-!-item-!-188;#058&000247-04)

Which of the following statements is most compatible with Kosminsky's approach to history, as it is presented in the passage?

(A) The Middle Ages were ended primarily by the religious and political upheaval in fourteenth-century Europe.
(B) The economic consequences of the Black Death included increased competition for food, shelter, and work.
(C) European history cannot be studied in isolation from that of the rest of the world.
(D) The number of deaths in fourteenth-century Europe has been greatly exaggerated by other historians.
(E) The significance of the Black Death is best explained within the context of evolving economic systems. 

Question #35.  247-06	(22914-!-item-!-188;#058&000247-06)

The "silver lining to the Black Death" (the highlighted text) refers to which of the following?

(A) The decay of European feudalism precipitated by the Black Death
(B) Greater availability of employment, sustenance, and housing for survivors of the epidemic
(C) Strengthening of the human species through natural selection
(D) Better understanding of how to limit the spread of contagious diseases
(E) Immunities and resistance to the Black Death gained by later generations 

Essay #11.  316	(22921-!-item-!-188;#058&00316-00)

Most farmers attempting to control slugs and snails turn to baited slug poison, or molluscicide, which usually consists of a bran pellet containing either methiocarb or metaldehyde.  Both chemicals are neurotoxins that disrupt that part of the brain charged with making the mouth move in a coordinated fashion--the "central pattern generator"--as the slug feeds.  Thus, both neurotoxins, while somewhat effective, interfere with the slugs' feeding behavior and limit their ingestion of the poison, increasing the probability that some will stop feeding before receiving a lethal dose.  Moreover, slugs are not the only consumers of these poisons:  methiocarb may be toxic to a variety of species, including varieties of worms, carabid beetles, and fish.

Researchers are experimenting with an alternative compound based on aluminum, which may solve these problems, but this may well have a limited future as we learn more about the hazards of aluminum in the environment.  For example, some researchers suggest that acid rain kills trees by mobilizing aluminum in the soil, while others have noted that the human disease Alzheimer's is more prevalent in areas where levels of aluminum in the soil are high.  With farmers losing as much as 20 percent of their crops to slugs and snails even after treatment with currently available molluscicides, there is considerable incentive for researchers to come up with better and environmentally safer solutions.

Question #36.  316-01	(22967-!-item-!-188;#058&000316-01)

In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with

(A) describing the limitations of molluscicides that affect feeding behavior
(B) proposing alternatives to current methods of controlling slugs and snails
(C) emphasizing the need for an alternative to currently available molluscicides
(D) explaining how molluscicides are used to control slugs and snails
(E) criticizing the use of hazardous material for controlling slugs and snails 

Question #37.  316-04	(23013-!-item-!-188;#058&000316-04)

The author cites which of the following as a disadvantage of methiocarb?

(A) It contains high levels of aluminum.
(B) It may react with acid rain to kill trees.
(C) It has been associated with Alzheimer's disease.
(D) It may be toxic to some species of fish.
(E) It may not be as effective in killing slugs as metaldehyde is. 

Question #38.  316-06	(23059-!-item-!-188;#058&000316-06)

The passage suggests that methiocarb and metaldehyde would be more effective as slug poisons if it were true that they

(A) disrupt the slug's digestive processes rather than its reproductive functions
(B) reduce the slug's ability to taste food
(C) begin to affect the feeding behavior of a slug only after it has ingested a lethal dose
(D) reach the central pattern generator more quickly
(E) accumulate only in the central pattern generator rather than throughout the brain 

Essay #12.  325	(23066-!-item-!-188;#058&00325-00)

The storms most studied by climatologists have been those that are most easily understood by taking atmospheric measurements.  Hurricanes and tornadoes, for example, are spatially confined, the forces that drive them are highly concentrated, and they have distinctive forms and readily quantifiable characteristics.  Consequently, data about them are abundant, and their behavior is relatively well understood, although still difficult to predict.

Hurricanes and tornadoes are also studied because they are highly destructive storms, and knowledge about their behavior can help minimize injury to people and property.  But other equally destructive storms have not been so thoroughly researched, perhaps because they are more difficult to study.  A primary example is the northeaster, a type of coastal storm that causes significant damage along the eastern coast of North America.  Northeasters, whose diffuse nature makes them difficult to categorize, are relatively weak low-pressure systems with winds that rarely acquire the strength of even the smallest hurricane.  Although northeasters are perceived to be less destructive than other storms, the high waves associated with strong northeasters can cause damage comparable to that of a hurricane, because they can affect stretches of coast more than 1,500 kilometers long, whereas hurricanes typically threaten a relatively small ribbon of coastline--roughly 100 to 150 kilometers.

Question #39.  325-01	(23112-!-item-!-188;#058&000325-01)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) evaluate the relative amounts of damage caused by different storm types
(B) describe the difficulties of classifying destructive storms by type
(C) examine the relationship between wave height and the destructive potential of storms
(D) discuss a theory that explains the origins of violent storms
(E) discuss reasons why certain types of storms receive more study than others 

Question #40.  325-06	(23158-!-item-!-188;#058&000325-06)

According to the passage, which of the following is true of northeasters?

(A) They have only recently been identified as a distinct storm type.
(B) They are more destructive than tornadoes.
(C) They are low-pressure systems.
(D) They affect a relatively small segment of the eastern coast of North America.
(E) Their winds are typically as strong as those of small hurricanes. 

Question #41.  325-07	(23204-!-item-!-188;#058&000325-07)

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about storms that lend themselves to atmospheric measurements?

(A) They are more likely than other storms to be studied by climatologists.
(B) They are likely to be less highly concentrated than are other storms.
(C) They are likely to be more difficult to predict than are other storms.
(D) They occur less frequently along the eastern coast of North America than in other areas.
(E) They tend to affect larger areas than do other storms. 

Essay #13.  537	(23211-!-item-!-188;#058&00537-00)

The identification of femininity with morality and a belief in the innate moral superiority of women were fundamental to the cult of female domesticity in the nineteenth-century United States.  Ironically, this ideology of female benevolence empowered women in the realm of social activism, enabling them to escape the confines of their traditional domestic spheres and to enter prisons, hospitals, battlefields, and slums.  By following this path, some women came to wield considerable authority in the distribution of resources and services in their communities.

The sentimentalized concept of female benevolence bore little resemblance to women's actual work, which was decidedly unsentimental and businesslike, in that it involved chartering societies, raising money, and paying salaries.  Moreover, in the face of legal limitations on their right to control money and property, women had to find ingenious legal ways to run and finance organized philanthropy.  In contrast to the day-to-day reality of this work, the idealized image of female benevolence lent a sentimental and gracious aura of altruism to the very real authority and privilege that some women commanded--which explains why some women activists clung tenaciously to this ideology.  But clinging to this ideology also prevented these women from even attempting to gain true political power because it implied a moral purity that precluded participation in the messy world of partisan politics.

Question #42.  537-01	(23257-!-item-!-188;#058&000537-01)

According to the passage, the ideology of female benevolence was consistent with women taking part in each of the following spheres of activity EXCEPT

(A) organized philanthropy
(B) domestic life
(C) electoral politics
(D) fund-raising for worthy causes
(E) social work 

Question #43.  537-04	(23303-!-item-!-188;#058&000537-04)

Information in the passage suggests that the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements concerning the cult of female domesticity?

(A) The cult of female domesticity developed independently of the concept of female benevolence.
(B) The cult of female domesticity was incompatible with women's participation in social activism.
(C) The cult of female domesticity incorporated ideological elements that actually helped some women to escape from their traditional domestic roles.
(D) The original motivation behind the promotion of the cult of female domesticity was to exclude women from partisan politics.
(E) The growth of organized philanthropy in the nineteenth-century United States is ultimately attributable to the cult of female domesticity. 

Question #44.  537-05	(23349-!-item-!-188;#058&000537-05)

Which of the following best summarizes the main point of the passage?

(A) The identification of femininity with morality promoted the notion of women's moral purity while excluding women from positions of authority in their communities.
(B) The belief in women's innate moral superiority allowed women to exercise political power without participating in partisan politics.
(C) The cult of female domesticity helped some women to gain power and privilege but kept most women confined to the domestic sphere.
(D) The ideology of female benevolence empowered women in the realm of social activism but placed limits on their direct political power.
(E) The idealization of female altruism enabled women to engage in philanthropic activities but prevented them from managing money and property. 

Essay #14.  553	(23356-!-item-!-188;#058&00553-00)

Maps made by non-Native Americans to depict Native American land tenure, resources, and population distributions appeared almost as early as Europeans' first encounters with Native Americans and took many forms:  missionaries' field sketches, explorers' drawings, and surveyors' maps, as well as maps rendered in connection with treaties involving land transfers. Most existing maps of Native American lands are reconstructions that are based largely on archaeology, oral reports, and evidence gathered from observers' accounts in letters, diaries, and official reports; accordingly, the accuracy of these maps is especially dependent on the mapmakers' own interpretive abilities.

Many existing maps also reflect the 150-year role of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in administering tribal lands. Though these maps incorporate some information gleaned directly from Native Americans, rarely has Native American cartography contributed to this official record, which has been compiled, surveyed, and authenticated by non-Native Americans.  Thus our current cartographic record relating to Native American tribes and their migrations and cultural features, as well as territoriality and contemporary trust lands, reflects the origins of the data, the mixed purposes for which the maps have been prepared, and changes both in United States government policy and in non-Native Americans' attitudes toward an understanding of Native Americans.

Question #45.  553-01	(23402-!-item-!-188;#058&000553-01)

The passage mentions each of the following as a factor affecting current maps of Native American lands EXCEPT

(A) United States government policy
(B) non-Native Americans' perspectives on Native Americans
(C) origins of the information utilized to produce the maps
(D) changes in the ways that tribal lands are used
(E) the reasons for producing the maps 

Question #46.  553-03	(23448-!-item-!-188;#058&000553-03)

The passage suggests which of the following about most existing maps of Native American lands?

(A) They do not record the migrations of Native American tribes.
(B) They have been preserved primarily because of their connection with treaties involving land transfers.
(C) They tend to reflect archaeological evidence that has become outdated.
(D) They tend to be less accurate when they are based on oral reports than when they are based on written documents.
(E) They are not based primarily on the mapmakers' firsthand observations of Native American lands. 

Question #47.  553-06	(23494-!-item-!-188;#058&000553-06)

Which of the following best describes the content of the passage?

(A) A chronology of the development of different methods for mapping Native American lands
(B) A discussion of how the mapmaking techniques of Native Americans differed from those of Europeans
(C) An argument concerning the present-day uses to which historical maps of Native American lands are put
(D) An argument concerning the nature of information contained in maps of Native American lands
(E) A proposal for improving the accuracy of maps of Native American lands 

Essay #15.  561	(23501-!-item-!-188;#058&00561-00)

After the Second World War, unionism in the Japanese auto industry was company-based, with separate unions in each auto company.  Most company unions played no independent role in bargaining shop-floor issues or pressing autoworkers' grievances.  In a 1981 survey, for example, fewer than 1 percent of workers said they sought union assistance for work-related problems, while 43 percent said they turned to management instead.  There was little to distinguish the two in any case: most union officers were foremen or middle-level managers, and the union's role was primarily one of passive support for company goals.  Conflict occasionally disrupted this cooperative relationship--one company union's opposition to the productivity campaigns of the early 1980s has been cited as such a case.  In 1986, however, a caucus led by the Foreman's Association forced the union's leadership out of office and returned the union's policy to one of passive cooperation.  In the United States, the potential for such company unionism grew after 1979, but it had difficulty taking hold in the auto industry, where a single union represented workers from all companies, particularly since federal law prohibited foremen from joining or leading industrial unions.

The Japanese model was often invoked as one in which authority decentralized to the shop floor empowered production workers to make key decisions.  What these claims failed to recognize was that the actual delegation of authority was to the foreman, not the workers.  The foreman exercised discretion over job assignments, training, transfers, and promotions; worker initiative was limited to suggestions that fine-tuned a management-controlled production process.  Rather than being proactive, Japanese workers were forced to be reactive, the range of their responsibilities being far wider than their span of control.  For example, the founder of one production system, Taichi Ohno, routinely gave department managers only 90 percent of the resources needed for production.  As soon as workers could meet production goals without working overtime, 10 percent of remaining resources would be removed.  Because the "OH! NO!" system continually pushed the production process to the verge of breakdown in an effort to find the minimum resource requirement, critics described it as "management by stress."

Question #48.  561-01	(23547-!-item-!-188;#058&000561-01)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) contrasting the role of unions in the Japanese auto industry with the role of unions in the United States auto industry after the Second World War
(B) describing unionism and the situation of workers in the Japanese auto industry after the Second World War
(C) providing examples of grievances of Japanese auto workers against the auto industry after the Second World War
(D) correcting a misconception about the role of the foreman in the Japanese auto industry's union system after the Second World War
(E) reasserting the traditional view of the company's role in Japanese auto workers' unions after the Second World War

Question #49.  561-02	(23593-!-item-!-188;#058&000561-02)

According to the passage, a foreman in a United States auto company differed from a foreman in a Japanese auto company in that the foreman in the United States would

(A) not have been a member of an auto workers' union
(B) have been unlikely to support the goals of company management
(C) have been able to control production processes to a large extent
(D) have experienced greater stress
(E) have experienced less conflict with workers

Question #50.  561-03	(23639-!-item-!-188;#058&000561-03)

The author of the passage mentions the "OH! NO!" system primarily in order to

(A) indicate a way in which the United States industry has become more like the Japanese auto industry
(B) challenge a particular misconception about worker empowerment in the Japanese auto industry
(C) illustrate the kinds of problem-solving techniques encouraged by company unions in Japan
(D) suggest an effective way of minimizing production costs in auto manufacturing
(E) provide an example of the responsibilities assumed by a foreman in the Japanese auto industry

Question #51.  561-06	(23685-!-item-!-188;#058&000561-06)

It can be inferred that the author of the passage sees which of the following as the primary advantage to companies in implementing the "OH! NO!" system?

(A) It permitted the foreman to take initiative.
(B) It minimized the effort required to produce automobiles.
(C) It ensured that production costs would be as low as possible.
(D) It allowed the foreman to control the production process.
(E) It required considerable worker empowerment to achieve managers' goals.

Essay #16.  563	(23692-!-item-!-188;#058&00563-00)

Planter-legislators of the post-Civil War southern United States enacted crop lien laws stipulating that those who advanced cash or supplies necessary to plant a crop would receive, as security, a claim, or lien, on the crop produced.  In doing so, planters, most of whom were former slaveholders, sought access to credit from merchants and control over nominally free laborers--former slaves freed by the victory of the northern Union over the southern Confederacy in the United States Civil War.  They hoped to reassure merchants that despite the emancipation of the slaves, planters would produce crops and pay debts.  Planters planned to use their supply credit to control their workers, former slaves who were without money to rent land or buy supplies. Planters imagined continuation of the pre-Civil War economic hierarchy:  merchants supplying landlords, landlords supplying laborers, and laborers producing crops from which their scant wages and planters' profits would come, allowing planters to repay advances.  Lien laws frequently had unintended consequences, however, thwarting the planter fantasy of mastery without slavery.  The newly freed workers, seeking to become self-employed tenant farmers rather than wage laborers, made direct arrangements with merchants for supplies.  Lien laws, the centerpiece of a system designed to create a dependent labor force, became the means for workers, with alternative means of supply advances, to escape that dependence.

Question #52.  563-01	(23738-!-item-!-188;#058&000563-01)

Which of the following best expresses the central idea of the passage?

(A) Planters in the post-Civil War southern United States sought to reinstate the institution of slavery.
(B) Through their decisions regarding supply credit, merchants controlled post-Civil War agriculture.
(C) Lien laws helped to defeat the purpose for which they were originally created.
(D) Although slavery had ended, the economic hierarchy changed little in the post-Civil War southern United States.
(E) Newly freed workers enacted lien laws to hasten the downfall of the plantation economy.

Question #53.  563-02	(23784-!-item-!-188;#058&000563-02)

According to the passage, each of the following was a reason planters supported crop lien laws EXCEPT:

(A) Planters believed that lien laws would allow them to expand their landholdings.
(B) Planters expected that lien laws would give them control over former slaves.
(C) Planters anticipated that lien laws would help them retain access to merchant credit.
(D) Planters intended to use lien laws to create a dependent labor force.
(E) Planters saw lien laws as a way to maintain their traditional economic status.

Question #54.  563-03	(23830-!-item-!-188;#058&000563-03)

The passage suggests which of the following about merchants in the post-Civil War southern United States?

(A) They sought to preserve pre-Civil War social conditions.
(B) Their numbers in the legislatures had been diminished.
(C) Their businesses had suffered from a loss of collateral.
(D) They were willing to make business arrangements with former slaves.
(E) Their profits had declined because planters defaulted on debts for supply advances.

Essay #17.  639	(23835-!-item-!-188;#058&00639-00)

In the 1980's, astronomer Bohdan Paczynski proposed a way of determining whether the enormous dark halo constituting the outermost part of the Milky Way galaxy is composed of MACHO's (massive compact halo objects), which are astronomical objects too dim to be visible.  Paczynski reasoned that if MACHO's make up this halo, a MACHO would occasionally drift in front of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a bright galaxy near the Milky Way.  The gravity of a MACHO that had so drifted, astronomers agree, would cause the star's light rays, which would otherwise diverge, to bend together so that, as observed from Earth, the star would temporarily appear to brighten, a process known as microlensing.  Because many individual stars are of intrinsically variable brightness, some astronomers have contended that the brightening of intrinsically variable stars can be mistaken for microlensing.  However, whereas the different colors of light emitted by an intrinsically variable star are affected differently when the star brightens, all of a star's colors are equally affected by microlensing.  Thus, if a MACHO magnifies a star's red light tenfold, it will do the same to the star's blue light and yellow light.  Moreover, it is highly unlikely that a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud will undergo microlensing more than once, because the chance that a second MACHO would pass in front of exactly the same star is minuscule.

Question #55.  639-01	(23881-!-item-!-188;#058&000639-01)

It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following would constitute the strongest evidence of the microlensing of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud?

(A) The brightness of such a star is observed to vary at irregular intervals.
(B) The brightening of such a star is observed to be of shorter duration than the brightening of neighboring stars.
(C) The red light of such a star is observed to be brighter than its yellow light and its blue light.
(D) The red light, yellow light, and blue light of such a star are observed to be magnified temporarily by the same factor.
(E) The red light of such a star is observed to have increased tenfold. 

Question #56.  639-04	(23927-!-item-!-188;#058&000639-04)

According to the passage, Paczynski's theory presumes that if MACHO's constituted the Milky Way's dark halo, occasionally a MACHO would

(A) drift so as to lie in a direct line between two stars in the outer Milky Way
(B) affect the light rays of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud with the result that the star would seem for a time to brighten
(C) become obscured as a result of the microlensing of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud
(D) temporarily increase the apparent brightness of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud by increasing the gravity of the star
(E) magnify each color in the spectrum of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud by a different amount 

Question #57.  639-06	(23973-!-item-!-188;#058&000639-06)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) outlining reasons why a particular theory is no longer credited by some astronomers
(B) presenting data collected by a researcher in response to some astronomers' criticism of a particular line of reasoning
(C) explaining why a researcher proposed a particular theory and illustrating how influential that theory has been
(D) showing how a researcher's theory has been used to settle a dispute between the researcher and some astronomers
(E) describing a line of reasoning put forth by a researcher and addressing a contention concerning that line of reasoning 

Practice Test #2 Reading Comprehension Keys

  1. C   21279-!-item-!-188;#058&000009-01
 2. B   21325-!-item-!-188;#058&000009-04
 3. E   21371-!-item-!-188;#058&000009-05
 4. A   21417-!-item-!-188;#058&000009-07

 5. D   21468-!-item-!-188;#058&000091-01
 6. C   21514-!-item-!-188;#058&000091-03
 7. A   21560-!-item-!-188;#058&000091-06

 8. E   21615-!-item-!-188;#058&000114-01
 9. B   21661-!-item-!-188;#058&000114-02
10. C   21707-!-item-!-188;#058&000114-03
11. D   21753-!-item-!-188;#058&000114-06

12. A   21810-!-item-!-188;#058&000156-01
13. A   21856-!-item-!-188;#058&000156-02
14. D   21902-!-item-!-188;#058&000156-05
15. C   21948-!-item-!-188;#058&000156-08

16. C   21999-!-item-!-188;#058&000189-01
17. D   22045-!-item-!-188;#058&000189-03
18. A   22091-!-item-!-188;#058&000189-05

19. D   22144-!-item-!-188;#058&000196-01
20. C   22190-!-item-!-188;#058&000196-05
21. A   22236-!-item-!-188;#058&000196-06

22. A   22289-!-item-!-188;#058&000216-03
23. E   22335-!-item-!-188;#058&000216-04
24. D   22381-!-item-!-188;#058&000216-05

25. D   22434-!-item-!-188;#058&000219-01
26. C   22480-!-item-!-188;#058&000219-02
27. A   22526-!-item-!-188;#058&000219-04

28. D   22581-!-item-!-188;#058&000224-01
29. E   22627-!-item-!-188;#058&000224-03
30. A   22673-!-item-!-188;#058&000224-05
31. E   22719-!-item-!-188;#058&000224-07

32. D   22776-!-item-!-188;#058&000247-01
33. C   22822-!-item-!-188;#058&000247-02
34. E   22868-!-item-!-188;#058&000247-04
35. B   22914-!-item-!-188;#058&000247-06

36. C   22967-!-item-!-188;#058&000316-01
37. D   23013-!-item-!-188;#058&000316-04
38. C   23059-!-item-!-188;#058&000316-06

39. E   23112-!-item-!-188;#058&000325-01
40. C   23158-!-item-!-188;#058&000325-06
41. A   23204-!-item-!-188;#058&000325-07

42. C   23257-!-item-!-188;#058&000537-01
43. C   23303-!-item-!-188;#058&000537-04
44. D   23349-!-item-!-188;#058&000537-05

45. D   23402-!-item-!-188;#058&000553-01
46. E   23448-!-item-!-188;#058&000553-03
47. D   23494-!-item-!-188;#058&000553-06

48. B   23547-!-item-!-188;#058&000561-01
49. A   23593-!-item-!-188;#058&000561-02
50. B   23639-!-item-!-188;#058&000561-03
51. C   23685-!-item-!-188;#058&000561-06

52. C   23738-!-item-!-188;#058&000563-01
53. A   23784-!-item-!-188;#058&000563-02
54. D   23830-!-item-!-188;#058&000563-03

55. D   23881-!-item-!-188;#058&000639-01
56. B   23927-!-item-!-188;#058&000639-04
57. E   23973-!-item-!-188;#058&000639-06