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PREP2012
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Perkins: According to an article I read, the woolly mammoth's extinction in North America coincided with a migration of humans onto the continent 12,000 years ago, and stone spearheads from this period indicate that these people were hunters. But the author's contention that being hunted by humans contributed to the woolly mammoth's extinction is surely wrong since, as paleontologists know, no spearheads have ever been found among the many mammoth bones that have been unearthed.Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest reason for discounting the evidence Perkins cites in arguing against the contention that being hunted by humans contributed to the North American extinction of woolly mammoths?
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PREP2012
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Surveys in Domorica indicate that only 10 percent of Domoricans in their twenties read a newspaper regularly, while more than half of all Domoricans over thirty read a newspaper regularly. Although Domoricans in their twenties constitute a large proportion of the population, newspaper publishers nonetheless predict that ten years from now, the percentage of Domoricans who regularly read a newspaper will probably be no lower than it is today.Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest grounds for the newspaper publishers' prediction?
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PREP2012
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A study of high blood pressure treatments found that certain meditation techniques and the most commonly prescribed drugs are equally effective if the selected treatment is followed as directed over the long term. Half the patients given drugs soon stop taking them regularly, whereas eighty percent of the study's participants who were taught meditation techniques were still regularly using them five years later. Therefore, the meditation treatment is the one likely to produce the best results.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
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PREP2012
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When a city experiences a sharp decline in population, the city's tax revenues, which pay for such city services as police protection and maintenance of water lines, also decrease. The area to be policed and the number and length of the water lines to be maintained, however, do not decrease. Attempting to make up the tax revenue lost by raising tax rates is not feasible, since higher tax rates would cause even more residents to leave.The information given most strongly supports which of the following general claims?
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PREP2012
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A product that represents a clear technological advance over competing products can generally command a high price. Surprisingly, perhaps, the strategy to maximize overall profit from a new product is to charge less than the greatest price the market will bear. Many companies charge the maximum possible price for such a product, because they want to make as much profit as they can and technological advances tend to be quickly surpassed. The drawback is that large profits on the new product give competitors a strong incentive to quickly match the new product's capabilities.In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
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PREP2012
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In Alexandria, the Ptolemys founded a library so as the written remains of Greek literature could be gathered together and systematized.
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PREP2012
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Glaciers form when the snow, sleet, and hail that fall in a given climatic region exceed the amount capable of being lost through evaporation or melting.
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PREP2012
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It is the powerful compound capsaicin that makes a chili pepper hot; a single drop that has no taste and odor is capable of detection by humans at one part per million.
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PREP2012
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The military governors and samurai warriors who ruled Japan were trained to respect simplicity, be austere, and a ritualized code of observed behavior.
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PREP2012
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Shliapentokh's study indicated that, in the Soviet Union, women's absenteeism from their jobs, despite their home duties and their child-care responsibilities, were only a fifth of men.
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PREP2012
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Nineteenth-century doctors thought that alcohol, when ingested, passed through the stomach into the bloodstream and was broken down only by the liver; recent studies, however, have led them to conclude that the stomach breaks down up to 20 percent of ingested alcohol before it reaches the liver.
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PREP2012
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The auto company attributed its recent increase in profits to both its introduction of new models in North America that are less expensive in their manufacture and to success in making its factories more efficient.
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PREP2012
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The possible long-term health risks to airline personnel who repeatedly cross multiple time zones has been a concern since the first jet transports went into service in the 1950s.
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PREP2012
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Unlike many other countries, Thailand's commercial crafts are influenced both by ancient beliefs and tradition and have remained relatively unchanged over the years.
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PREP2012
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While recognizing that lying often facilitates social interactions, psychiatrists are seeking to determine when they become destructive and which kinds of mental problems they can signal.
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PREP2012
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In build-to-suit projects, developers design and construct to meet the needs of a primary tenant, who pays the developer a marginal fee for design and construction work and agrees to buy the completed building or will occupy all or most of it in exchange for a favorable long-term lease.
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PREP2012
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Antipoverty initiatives have had to contend with two decades of economic shifts that have depressed wages of workers with little or no technical skills.
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PREP2012
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Since digital recording offers essentially perfect reproduction—on compact discs, digital audiotapes, or digital videodiscs—audiophiles can accumulate vast collections of music, transferring them from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with little effort and not damaging the sound quality.
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PREP2012
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Narwhals can be called whales of the ice: in icy channels, ponds, and ice-shielded bays they seek sanctuary from killer whales, their chief predator, and their annual migrations following the seasonal rhythm of advancing and retreating ice.
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PREP2012
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Without adequate amounts of sleep, people's newly acquired skills and also new factual information may not get properly encoded into their memory circuits.
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