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GWD PREP08 Test 2
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It is theoretically possible that bacteria developed on Mars early in its history and that some were carried to Earth by a meteorite. However, strains of bacteria from different planets would probably have substantial differences in protein structure that would persist over time, and no two bacterial strains on Earth are different enough to have arisen on different planets. So, even if bacteria did arrive on Earth from Mars, they must have died out.The argument is most vulnerable to which of the following criticisms?
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PREP2012 GWD
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In 1992 outlaw fishing boats began illegally harvesting lobsters from the territorial waters of the country of Belukia. Soon after, the annual tonnage of lobster legally harvested in Belukian waters began declining; in 1996, despite there being no reduction in the level of legal lobster fishing activity, the local catch was 9,000 tons below pre-1992 levels. It is therefore highly likely that the outlaw fishing boats harvested about 9,000 tons of lobster illegally that year.Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
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GWD PREP08 Test 2
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As a large corporation in a small country, Hachnut wants its managers to have international experience, so each year it sponsors management education abroad for its management trainees. Hachnut has found, however, that the attrition rate of graduates from this program is very high, with many of them leaving Hachnut to join competing firms soon after completing the program. Hachnut does use performance during the program as a criterion in deciding among candidates for management positions, but both this function and the goal of providing international experience could be achieved in other ways. Therefore, if the attrition problem cannot be successfully addressed, Hachnut should discontinue the sponsorship program.In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?
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GWD
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Each year red-winged blackbirds stop in a certain region of Midland Province on their spring and fall migrations. In the fall, they eat a significant portion of the province's sunflower crop. This year Midland farmers sought permits to set out small amounts of poisoned rice during the blackbirds' spring stop in order to reduce the fall blackbird population. Some residents voiced concern that the rice could threaten certain species of rare migratory birds. Nevertheless, the wildlife agency approved the permits.Which of the following, if true, most helps to justify the wildlife agency's approval of the permits, given the concerns voiced by some residents?
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GWD PREP08 Test 1
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When a new restaurant, Martin's Cafe, opened in Riverville last year, many people predicted that business at the Wildflower Inn, Riverville's only other restaurant, would suffer from the competition. Surprisingly, however, in the year since Martin's Cafe opened, the average number of meals per night served at the Wildflower Inn has increased significantly.Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the increase?
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GWD
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Scientists typically do their most creative work before the age of forty. It is commonly thought that this happens because aging by itself brings about a loss of creative capacity. However, studies show that a disproportionately large number of the scientists who produce highly creative work beyond the age of forty entered their field at an older age than is usual. Since by the age of forty the large majority of scientists have been working in their field for at least fifteen years, the studies' finding strongly suggests that the real reason why scientists over forty rarely produce highly creative work is not that they have simply aged but rather that they generally have spent too long in a given field.In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
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GWD PREP08 Test 2
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Wind farms, which generate electricity using arrays of thousands of wind-powered turbines, require vast expanses of open land. County X and County Y have similar terrain, but the population density of County X is significantly higher than that of County Y. Therefore, a wind farm proposed for one of the two counties should be built in County Y rather than in County X.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the planner's argument?
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GWD
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Which of the following most logically completes the argument?Although the pesticide TDX has been widely used by fruit growers since the early 1960's, a regulation in force since 1960 has prohibited sale of fruit on which any TDX residue can be detected. That regulation is about to be replaced by one that allows sale of fruit on which trace amounts of TDX residue are detected. In fact, however, the change will not allow more TDX on fruit than was allowed in the 1960's, because ______.
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GWD PREP08 Test 1
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Hunter: Hunters alone are blamed for the decline in Greenrock National Forest's deer population over the past ten years. Yet clearly, black bears have also played an important role in this decline. In the past ten years, the forest's protected black bear population has risen sharply, and examination of black bears found dead in the forest during the deer hunting season showed that a number of them had recently fed on deer.In the hunter's argument, the boldface portion plays which of the following roles?
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GWD
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Although most smoking-related illnesses are caused by inhaling the tar in tobacco smoke, it is addiction to nicotine that prevents most smokers from quitting. In an effort to decrease the incidence of smoking-related illnesses, lawmakers in Sandonia plan to reduce the average quantity of nicotine per cigarette by half over the next five years. Unfortunately, smokers who are already addicted to nicotine tend to react to such reductions by smoking correspondingly more cigarettes.The information above most strongly supports which of the following predictions about the effects of implementing the Sandonian government's plan?
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OG12 OG15 OG16 OG17 OG18
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Journalist: In physics journals, the number of articles reporting the results of experiments involving particle accelerators was lower last year than it had been in previous years. Several of the particle accelerators at major research institutions were out of service the year before last for repairs, so it is likely that the low number of articles was due to the decline in availability of particle accelerators.Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the journalist's argument?
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OG12 OG15 OG16
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Networks of blood vessels in bats' wings serve only to disperse heat generated in flight. This heat is generated only because bats flap their wings. Thus paleontologists' recent discovery that the winged dinosaur Sandactylus had similar networks of blood vessels in the skin of its wings provides evidence for the hypothesis that Sandactylus flew by flapping its wings, not just by gliding.In the passage, the author develops the argument by
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OG12 OG15 OG16
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Keith: Compliance with new government regulations requiring the installation of smoke alarms and sprinkler systems in all theaters and arenas will cost the entertainment industry $25 billion annually. Consequently, jobs will be lost and profits diminished. Therefore, these regulations will harm the country's economy.Laura: The $25 billion spent by some businesses will be revenue for others. Jobs and profits will be gained as well as lost.Laura responds to Keith by
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OG12 OG15
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In the United States, of the people who moved from one state to another when they retired, the percentage who retired to Florida has decreased by three percentage points over the past ten years. Since many local businesses in Florida cater to retirees, these declines are likely to have a noticeably negative economic effect on these businesses and therefore on the economy of Florida.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument given?
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OG12 OG15 OG16 OG17
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Environmentalist: The commissioner of the Fish and Game Authority would have the public believe that increases in the number of marine fish caught demonstrate that this resource is no longer endangered. This is a specious argument, as unsound as it would be to assert that the ever-increasing rate at which rain forests are being cut down demonstrates a lack of danger to that resource. The real cause of the increased fish-catch is a greater efficiency in using technologies that deplete resources.The environmentalist's statements, if true, best support which of the following as a conclusion?
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OG12 OG15 OG16 OG17
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In the country of Veltria, the past two years' broad economic recession has included a business downturn in the clothing trade, where sales are down by about 7 percent as compared to two years ago. Clothing wholesalers have found, however, that the proportion of credit extended to retailers that was paid off on time fell sharply in the first year of the recession but returned to its prerecession level in the second year.Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the change between the first and the second year of the recession in the proportion of credit not paid off on time?
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OG12 OG15
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Although parapsychology is often considered a pseudoscience, it is in fact a genuine scientific enterprise, for it uses scientific methods such as controlled experiments and statistical tests of clearly stated hypotheses to examine the questions it raises.The conclusion above is properly drawn if which of the following is assumed?
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OG15 OG18 OG19 OG20 OG2022
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Delta Products Inc. has recently switched at least partly from older technologies using fossil fuels to new technologies powered by electricity. The question has been raised whether it can be concluded that for a given level of output Delta's operation now causes less fossil fuel to be consumed than it did formerly. The answer, clearly, is yes, since the amount of fossil fuel used to generate the electricity needed to power the new technologies is less than the amount needed to power the older technologies, provided level of output is held constant.In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?
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OG12 OG15 OG16 OG17 OG18 OG19 OG20 OG2022
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An experiment was done in which human subjects recognize a pattern within a matrix of abstract designs and then select another design that completes that pattern. The results of the experiment were surprising. The lowest expenditure of energy in neurons in the brain was found in those subjects who performed most successfully in the experiments.Which of the following hypotheses best accounts for the findings of the experiment?
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OG12 OG15 OG16 OG17 OG18 OG19 OG20 OG2022
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Theater Critic: The play La Finestrina, now at Central Theater, was written in Italy in the eighteenth century. The director claims that this production is as similar to the original production as is possible in a modern theater. Although the actor who plays Harlequin the clown gives a performance very reminiscent of the twentieth-century American comedian Groucho Marx, Marx's comic style was very much within the comic acting tradition that had begun in sixteenth-century Italy.The considerations given best serve as part of an argument that
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