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 A recent census revealed the age distribution of the residents of Town Y, shown in the graph, Since the census was performed, no resident has moved into or away from Town Y and there have been no recorded births or deaths.Based on the given information, use the drop-down menus to most accurately complete the following statements.
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The census indicates that times as many residents were children or teenagers as were seniors.If at the time of the census ,there were 540 more people aged 0-39 than people aged 40 or greater, then the population of Town Y at the time of the census was
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Since the 1850s researchers have tried to show that variations in seasonal weather are connected in some ways with sunspots, the outward sign of an increase in the Sun's activity. However, sciences lacked evidence supporting such a link until the mid-1980s,when van Loon and Labitzke compiled statistical evidence suggesting that a link exists and that it involves winds in the upper atmosphere above the equator which reverse their direction，from east to west or west to east, every twelve to fifteen months. This phenomenon is called the quasi-biennial oscillation(QBO), and although meteorologists have known about the QBO since the 1950s,until the 1980s no one recognized a subtle but statistically significant link between the QBO and certain pattern of weather. When the west to east direction of winds in the upper atmosphere coincides with periods of high solar activity that occur approximately every eleven years, winters in the eastern and central United States are very cold.On this basis, some meteorologists predicted that the winter of 1988-1989 in the United States would be severe. However, the winter was a mild one overall, and the meteorologists' attempt to make the connection between the Sun and weather on the Earth appeared unsuccessful, until Barston and Liverzey proposed a hypothesis explaining why the prediction had failed. They argued that the prediction had not taken into account another important element in the climate: the more or less regular pattern of fluctuations in the temperature of the surface waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean.Barston and Livezey noted that when the water temperature is abnormally high-the phenomenon called EL Nino—the chances of cold winter weather over North America increase. The opposite situation, when surface temperatures are well below normal—La Nina—is far less common. In fact, until late 1988 no one had seen the combination of La Nina, westerly winds in the upper atmosphere, and high solar activity. Thus, according to Barston and Livezey, La Nina canceled out the effect of the other two climatic factors and caused the mild winter of 1988-1989. Although this hypothesis is plausible, much research remains to be done before meteorologists can establish and explain the effects of increased solar activity on seasonal weather changes.
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PREP08 Test 2
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The passage provides information to support which of the following statement about La Nina?
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PREP08 Test 2
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Which of the following most accurately describes the organization of the passage?
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PREP08 Test 2
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The passage provides information to support which of the following statements about the occurrence of very cold winters in the eastern and central United States?
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GWD
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It can be inferred from the passage that the females of all phocid species differ from the females of all otariid species in that the female phocids
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GWD
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The primary purpose of the passage is to
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GWD
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The author of the passage mentions ringed seals most probably in order to
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Whereas United States economic productivity grew at an annual rate of 3 percent from 1945 to 1965, it has grown at an annual rate of only about 1 percent since the early 1970's. What might be preventing higher productivity growth? Clearly, the manufacturing sector of the economy cannot be blamed. Since 1980, productivity improvements in manufacturing have moved the United States from a position of acute decline in manufacturing to one of world prominence. Manufacturing, however, constitutes a relatively small proportion of the economy. In 1992, goods-producing businesses employed only 19.1 percent of American workers, whereas service-producing businesses employed 70 percent. Although the service sector has grown since the late 1970's, its productivity growth has declined.Several explanations have been offered for this decline and for the discrepancy in productivity growth between the manufacturing and service sectors. One is that traditional measures fail to reflect service-sector productivity growth because it has been concentrated in improved quality of services. Yet traditional measures of manufacturing productivity have shown significant increases despite the undermeasurement of quality, whereas service productivity has continued to stagnate. Others argue that since the 1970's, manufacturing workers, faced with strong foreign competition, have learned to work more efficiently in order to keep their jobs in the United States, but service workers, who are typically under less global competitive pressure, have not. However, the pressure on manufacturing workers in the United States to work more efficiently has generally been overstated, often for political reasons. In fact, while some manufacturing jobs have been lost due to foreign competition, many more have been lost simply because of slow growth in demand for manufactured goods.[hl:4][hl:3][hl:2][hl:1]Yet another explanation blames the federal budget deficit[/hl:1][/hl:2][/hl:3][/hl:4]: if it were lower, interest rates would be lower too, thereby increasing investment in the development of new technologies, which would spur productivity growth in the service sector. There is, however, no dearth of technological resources; rather, managers in the service sector fail to take advantage of widely available skills and machines. High productivity growth levels attained by leading- edge service companies indicate that service-sector managers who wisely implement available technology and choose skillful workers can significantly improve their companies' productivity. The culprits for service-sector productivity stagnation are the forces—such as corporate takeovers and unnecessary governmental regulation—that distract managers from the task of making optimal use of available resources.
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GWD
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The passage as a whole is primarily concerned with which of the following?
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GWD
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The author indicates that, according to Scharf's biography, which of the following was NOT characteristic of feminists of Eleanor Roosevelt's generation?
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GWD
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Which of the following studies would proceed in a way most similar to the way in which, according to the passage. Scharf's book interprets Eleanor Roosevelt's career?
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GWD
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The author cites which of the following as evidence against the public view of Eleanor Roosevelt held in the 1970's?
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Two opposing scenarios, the “arboreal” hypothesis and the “cursorial” hypothesis, have traditionally been put forward concerning the origins of bird flight. The “arboreal” hypothesis holds that bird ancestors began to fly by climbing trees and gliding down from branches with the help of incipient feathers: the height of trees provides a good starting place for launching flight, especially through gliding. As feathers became larger over time, flapping flight evolved and birds finally became fully air-borne. This hypothesis makes intuitive sense, but certain aspects are troubling. Archaeopteryx (the earliest known bird) and its maniraptoran dinosaur cousins have no obviously arboreal adaptations, such as feet fully adapted for perching. Perhaps some of them could climb trees, but no convincing analysis has demonstrated how Archaeopteryx would have both climbed and flown with its forelimbs, and there were no plants taller than a few meters in the environments where Archaeopteryx fossils have been found. Even if the animals could climb trees, this ability is not synonymous with gliding ability. (Many small animals, and even some goats and kangaroos, are capable of climbing trees but are not gliders.) Besides, Archaeopteryx shows no obvious features of gliders, such as a broad membrane connecting forelimbs and hind limbs. The “cursorial”(running) hypothesis holds that small dinosaurs ran along the ground and stretched out their arms for balance as they leaped into the air after insect prey or, perhaps, to avoid predators. Even rudimentary feathers on forelimbs could have expanded the arm's surface area to enhance lift slightly. Larger feathers could have increased lift incrementally, until sustained flight was gradually achieved. Of course, a leap into the air does not provide the acceleration produced by dropping out of a tree; an animal would have to run quite fast to take off. Still, some small terrestrial animals can achieve high speeds. The cursorial hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that the immediate theropod dinosaur ancestors of birds were terrestrial, and they had the traits needed for high lift off speeds: they were small, agile, lightly built, long-legged, and good runners. And because they were bipedal, their arms were free to evolve flapping flight, which cannot be said for other reptiles of their time."
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GWD
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The primary purpose of the passage is to
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GWD
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The passage presents which of the following facts as evidence that tends to undermine the arboreal hypothesis?
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GWD
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It can be inferred from the passage that the mortality caused by agents such as predatory birds or parasites was measured in an attempt to
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GWD
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The primary purpose of the passage is to
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For many years, theoretical economists characterized humans as rational beings relentlessly bent on maximizing purely selfish reward. Results of an experimental economics study appear to contradict this view, however. In the ""Ultimatum Game,"" two subjects, who cannot exchange information, are placed in separate rooms. One is randomly chosen to propose how a sum of money, known to both, should be shared between them; only one offer, which must be accepted or rejected without negotiation, is allowed.If, in fact, people are selfish and rational, then the proposer should offer the smallest possible share, while the responder should accept any offer, no matter how small: after all, even [hl:4][hl:3][hl:2][hl:1]one dollar[/hl:1][/hl:2][/hl:3][/hl:4] is better than nothing. In numerous trials, however, two-thirds of the offers made were between 40 and 50 percent; only 4 percent were less than 20 percent. Among responders, more than half who were offered less than 20 percent rejected the offer. Behavior in the game did not appreciably depend on the players' sex, age, or education. Nor did the amount of money involved play a significant role: for instance, in trials of the game that were conducted in Indonesia, the sum to be shared was as much as three times the subjects' average monthly income, and still responders refused offers that they deemed too small.
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