5471. Calories consumed in excess of those with which the body needs to be provided to maintain its weight are normally stored as fat and the body gains weight. Alcoholic beverages are laden with calories. However, those people who regularly drink two or three alcoholic beverages a day and thereby exceed the caloric intake necessary to maintain their weight do not in general gain weight.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy?(A) Some people who regularly drink two or three alcoholic beverages a day avoid exceeding the caloric intake necessary to maintain their weight by decreasing caloric intake from other sources.(B) Excess calories consumed by people who regularly drink two or three alcoholic beverages a day tend to be dissipated as heat.(C) Some people who do not drink alcoholic beverages but who eat high-calorie foods do not gain weight.(D) Many people who regularly drink more than three alcoholic beverages a day do not gain weight.(E) Some people who take in fewer calories than are normally necessary to maintain their weight do not lose weight.

5672. A recent survey of brand preferences showed that R-Bar Beans are considered the best of all brands among all age groups, leading both Texas T Beans and Aunt Sally’s Beans by a wide margin. However, the national sales figures show that Texas T and Aunt Sally’s each sold many more cans of beans last year than did R-Bar.

Each of the following would, by itself, help to resolve the apparent paradox described in the passage EXCEPT:(A) Texas T Beans and Aunt Sally’s Beans are each much less expensive than R-Bar Beans.(B) Some of the surveyed age groups showed more of a preference for R-Bar Beans than did others.(C) The survey was carried out only in the small geographic area where R-Bar distributes its beans, not nationwide.(D) Most food stores refuse to carry R-Bar Beans because the manufacturer demands that R-Bar Beans be carried exclusively.(E) R-Bar Beans were only introduced to the market three months prior to the calculation of sales figures, while Texas T Beans and Aunt Sally’s Beans had been available for years.

5903. The city’s center for disease control reports that the rabies epidemic is more serious now than it was two years ago: two years ago less than 25 percent of the local raccoon population was infected, whereas today the infection has spread to more than 50 percent of the raccoon population. However, the newspaper reports that whereas two years ago 32 cases of rabid raccoons were confirmed during a 12-month period, in the past 12 months only 18 cases of rabid raccoons were confirmed.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy between the two reports?(A) The number of cases of rabies in wild animals other than raccoons has increased in the past 12 months.(B) A significant proportion of the raccoon population succumbed to rabies in the year before last.(C) The symptoms of distemper, another disease to which raccoons are susceptible, are virtually identical to those of rabies.

(D) Since the outbreak of the epidemic, raccoons, which are normally nocturnal, have increasingly been seen during daylight hours.(E) The number of confirmed cases of rabid raccoons in neighboring cities has also decreased over the past year.

5954. Municipal officials originally estimated that it would be six months before municipal road crews could complete repaving a stretch of road. The officials presumed that private contractors could not finish any sooner. However, when the job was assigned to a private contractor, it was completed in just 28 days.

Which one of the following, if true, does most to resolve the discrepancy between the time estimated for completion of the repaving job and the actual time taken by the private contractor?(A) Road repaving work can only be done in the summer months of June, July and August.(B) The labor union contract for road crews employed by both municipal agencies and private contractors stipulates that employees can work only eight hours a day, five day a week, before being paid overtime.(C) Many road-crew workers for private contractors have previously worked for municipal road crews and vice versa.(D) Private contractors typically assign 25 workers to each road-repaving job site whereas the number assigned to municipal road crews is usually 30.(E) Municipal agencies must conduct a lengthy bidding process to procure supplies after repaving work is ordered and before they can actually start work, whereas private contractors can obtain supplies readily as needed.

6135. The highest-ranking detectives in the city’s police department are also the most adept at solving crimes. Yet in each of the past ten years, the average success rate for the city’s highest-ranking detectives in solving criminal cases has been no higher than the average success rate for its lowest-ranking detectives.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent paradox?(A) The detectives who have the highest success rate in solving criminal cases are those who have worked as detectives the longest.(B) It generally takes at least ten years for a detective to rise from the lowest to the highest ranks of the city’s detective force.(C) Those detectives in the police department who are the most adept at solving criminal cases are also those most likely to remain in the police department.(D) The police department generally gives the criminal cases that it expects to be the easiest to solve to its lowest-ranking detectives.(E) None of the lowest-ranking detectives in the police department had experience in solving criminal cases prior to joining the police department.

6236. During 1991 the number of people in the town of Bayburg who received municipal food assistance doubled, even though the number of people in Bayburg whose incomes were low enough to qualify for such assistance remained unchanged.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?

(A) In 1990 the Bayburg Town Council debated whether or not to alter the eligibility requirements for the food assistance program but ultimately decided not to change them.(B) In 1990 the Bayburg social service department estimated the number of people in Bayburg who might be eligible for the food assistance program and then informed the Bayburg Town Council of the total amount of assistance likely to be needed.(C) During 1991 many residents of a nearby city lost their jobs and moved to Bayburg in search of work.(D) During 1991 the number of applicants for food assistance in Bayburg who were rejected on the basis that their incomes were above the maximum allowable limit was approximately the same as it had been in 1990.(E) During 1991 Bayburg’s program of rent assistance for low-income tenants advertised widely and then informed all applicants about other assistance programs for which they would be qualified.

6607. Between 1977 and 1987, the country of Ravonia lost about 12,000 jobs in logging and wood processing representing a 15 percent decrease in employment in the country’s timber industry. Paradoxically, this loss of jobs occurred even as the amount of wood taken from the forests of Ravonia increased by 10 percent.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent paradox?(A) Not since the 1950s has the timber industry been Ravonia’s most important industry economically.(B) Between 1977 and 1987, the total number of acres of timberland in Ravonia fell, while the demand for wood products increased.(C) Since 1977, a growing proportion of the timber that has been cut in Ravonia has been exported as raw, unprocessed wood.(D) Since 1977, domestic sales of wood and wood products have increased by more than export sales have increased.(E) In 1977, overall unemployment in Ravonia was approximately 10 percent; in 1987, Ravonia’s unemployment rate was 15 percent.

6668. A certain type of insect trap uses a scented lure to attract rose beetles into a plastic bag from which it is difficult for them to escape. If several of these traps are installed in a backyard garden, the number of rose beetles in the garden will be greatly reduced. If only one trap is installed, however, the number of rose beetles in the garden will actually increase.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy?(A) The scent of a single trap’s lure usually cannot be detected throughout a backyard garden by rose beetles.(B) Several traps are better able to catch a large number of rose beetles than is one trap alone, since any rose beetles that evade one trap are likely to encounter another trap if there are several traps in the garden.(C) When there are several traps in a garden, they each capture fewer rose beetles than any single trap would if it were the only trap in the garden.(D) The presence of any traps in a backyard garden will attract more rose beetles than one trap can catch, but several traps will not attract significantly more rose beetles to a garden than one trap will.(E) When there is only one trap in the garden, the plastic bag quickly becomes filled to capacity, allowing some rose beetles to escape.

6799. Adults who work outside the home spend, on average, 100 minutes less time each week in preparing dinner than adults who do not work outside the home. But, contrary to expectation, comparison show that the dinners eaten at home by the two groups of adults do not differ significantly with respect to nutritional value, variety of menus, or number of courses.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?(A) The fat content of the dinners eaten at home by adults who do not work outside the home is 25 percent higher than national guidelines recommend.(B) Adults who do not work the home tend to prepare breakfast more often than adults who work outside the home.(C) Adults who work outside the home spend 2 hours less time per day on all household responsibilities, including dinner preparation, than do adults who do not work outside the home.(D) Adults who work outside the home eat dinner at home 20 percent less often than do adults who do not work outside the home.(E) Adults who work outside the home are less likely to plan dinner menus well in advance than are adults who do not work outside the home.

53010. Of the five bill collectors at Apex Collection Agency, Mr. Young has the highest rate of unsuccessful collections. Yet Mr. Young is the best bill collector on the agency’s staff.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy?(A) Mr. Young is assigned the majority of the most difficult cases at the agency.(B) The other four bill collectors at the agency all consider Mr. Young to be a very capable bill collector.(C) Mr. Young’s rate of collections per year has remained fairly steady in the last few years.(D) Before joining the agency, Mr. Young was affiliated with the credit department of a large department store.(E) None of the bill collectors at the agency has been on the agency’s staff longer than Mr. Young has.

50811. The average literate person today spends significantly less time reading than the average literate person did 50 years ago, yet many more books are sold per year now than were sold 50 years ago.

Each of the following, if true, help resolve the apparent discrepancy above EXCEPT:(A) The population of the literate people is significantly larger today that it was 50 years ago.(B) People who read books 50 years ago were more likely to read books borrowed from libraries than are people who read books today.(C) The average scholar or other person who uses books professionally today owns and consults many more different books than did the average scholar or similar professional 50 years ago.(D) People of 50 years ago were more likely than people are today to display large collections of books as a sign of education and good taste.(E) Books sold now tend to be shorter and easier to read that were books sold 50 years ago.

281

12. Economist: Money, no matter what its form and in almost every culture in which it has been used, derives its value from its scarcity, whether real or perceived.Anthropologist: But cowrie shells formed the major currency in the Solomon Island economy of the Kwara’ae, and unlimited numbers of these shells washed up daily on the beaches to which the kwara’ae had access.

Which one of the following, if true, about the Kwara’ae, best serves to resolve the apparently conflicting positions cited above?(A) During festivals they exchanged strings of cowrie-shell money with each other as part of a traditional ritual that honored their elders.(B) They considered porpoise teeth valuable, and these were generally threaded on strings to be worn as jewelry.(C) The shells used as money by men were not always from the same species of cowrie as those used as money by women.(D) They accepted as money only cowrie shells that were polished and carved by a neighboring people, and such shell preparation required both time and skilled labor.(E) After Western traders brought money in the form of precious-metal coins to the Solomon Islands, Cowrie-shell money continued to be used as one of the major media of exchange for both goods and services.

31113. Some companies in fields where skilled employees are hard to find make signing an “agreement not to compete” a condition of employment. In such an agreement the employee promises not to go work for a competing firm for a set period after leaving his or her current employer. Courts are increasingly ruling that these agreements are not binding. Yet paradoxically, for people who signed such agreements when working for competing firms, many firms are unwilling to consider hiring them during the period covered by the agreement.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the paradox?(A) Many companies will not risk having to become involved in lawsuits, even suits that they expect to have a favorable outcome.(B) In some industries, for example the broadcast media, companies’ main source of new employees tends to be people who are already employed by competing firms.(C) Most companies that require their employees to sign agreements not to compete are aware that these documents are not legally binding.(D) Many people who have signed agreements not to compete are unwilling to renege on a promise by going to work for a competing firm.(E) Many companied consider their employees established relationships with clients and other people outside the company to be valuable company assets.

34014. Police statistics have shown that automobile antitheft devices reduce the risk of car theft, but a statistical study of automobile theft by the automobile insurance industry claims that cars equipped with antitheft devices are, paradoxically, more likely to be stolen than cars that are not so equipped.

Which one of the following, if true, does the most to resolve the apparent paradox?(A) Owners of stolen cars almost invariably report the theft immediately to the police but tend to delay notifying their insurance company, in the hope that the vehicle will be recovered.(B) Most cars that are stolen are not equipped with antitheft devices, and most cars that are equipped with antitheft devices are not stolen.

(C) The most common automobile antitheft devices are audible alarms, which typically produce ten false alarms for every actual attempted theft.(D) Automobile owners who have particularly theft-prone cars and live in areas of greatest incidence of car theft are those who are most likely to have antitheft devices installed.(E) Most automobile thefts are the work of professional thieves against whose efforts antitheft devices offer scant protection.

36015. Oxygen-18 is a heavier-than-normal isotope of oxygen. In a rain cloud, water molecules containing oxygen-18 are rarer than water molecules containing normal oxygen. But in rainfall, a higher proportion of all water molecules containing oxygen-18 than of all water molecules containing ordinary oxygen descends to earth. Consequently, scientists were surprised when measurements along the entire route of rain clouds’ passage from above the Atlantic Ocean, the site of their original formation, across the Amazon forests, where it rains almost daily, showed that the oxygen-18 content of each of the clouds remained fairly constant.

Which one of the following statements, if true, best helps to resolve the conflict between scientists’ expectations, based on the known behavior of oxygen-18, and the result of their measurements of the rain clouds’ oxygen-18 content?(A) Rain clouds above tropical forests are poorer in oxygen-18 than rain clouds above unforested regions.(B) Like the oceans, tropical rain forests can create or replenish rain clouds in the atmosphere above them.(C) The amount of rainfall over the Amazon rain forests is exactly the same as the amount of rain originally collected in the clouds formed above the Atlantic Ocean.(D) The amount of rain recycled back into the atmosphere from the leaves of forest vegetation is exactly the same as the amount of rain in river runoffs that is not recycled into the atmosphere.(E) Oxygen-18 is not a good indicator of the effect of tropical rain forests on the atmosphere above them.

36916. Goodbody Inc. is in the process of finding tenants for its newly completed Parrot Quay commercial development, which will make available hundreds of thousands of square feet of new office space on what was formerly derelict property outside the financial center of the city. Surprisingly enough, the coming recession, though it will hurt most of the city’s businesses, should help Goodbody to find tenants.

Which one of the following, if true, does most to help resolve the apparent paradox?(A) Businesses forced to economize by the recession will want to take advantage of the lower rents available outside the financial center.(B) Public transportation links the financial center with the area around Parrot Quay.(C) The area in which the Parrot Quay development is located became derelict after the heavy industry that used to be there closed down in a previous recession.(D) Many of Goodbody’s other properties are in financial center and will become vacant if the recession is severe enough to force Goodbody’s tenants out of business.(E) The recession is likely to have the most severe effect not on service industries, which require a lot of office space, but on manufacturers.

38517. When old-grow forests are cleared of tall trees, more sunlight reaches the forest floor. This results in a sharp increase in the population of leafy shrubs on which the mule deer depend for

food. Yet mule deer herds that inhabit cleared forests are less well-nourished than are herds living in old-growth forests.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent paradox?(A) Mule deer have enzyme-rich saliva and specialized digestive organs that enable the deer to digest tough plants inedible to other deer species.(B) Mule deer herds that inhabit cleared forests tend to have more female with young offspring and fewer adult males than do other mule deer populations.(C) Mule deer populations are spread throughout western North America and inhabit hot, sunny climates as well as cool, wet climates.(D) As plants receive more sunlight, they produce higher amounts of tannins, compounds that inhibit digestion of the plants’ proteins.(E) Insect parasites, such as certain species of ticks, that feed primary on mule deer often dwell in trees, from which they drop onto passing deer.

40818. It might seem that an airline could increase profits by reducing airfares on all its flights in order to encourage discretionary travel and thus fill planes. Offers of across-the-board discount fares have, indeed, resulted in the sale of large numbers of reduced-price tickets. Nevertheless such offers have, in the past, actually cut the airline’s profits.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy described above?(A) Fewer than 10 percent of all air travelers make no attempt to seek out discount fares.(B) Fares for trips between a large city and a small city are higher than those for trips between two large cities even when the distances involved are the same.(C) Across-the-board discounts in fares tend to decrease revenues on flights that are normally filled, but they fail to attract passengers to unpopular flights.(D) Only a small number of people who have never before traveled by air are persuaded to do so on the basis of across-the-board discount fares.(E) It is difficult to devise an advertising campaign that makes the public aware of across-the-board discount fares while fully explaining the restrictions

42019. Switching to “low-yield” cigarettes, those that yield less nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide than regular cigarettes when tested on a standard machine, does not, in general, reduce the incidence of heart attack. This result is surprising, since nicotine and carbon monoxide have been implicated as contributing to heart disease.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy?(A) Smoking low-yield cigarettes has become fashionable, as relatively healthier styles of life have become more popular than those that have been identified as risky.(B) For those who are themselves smokers, inhaling the smoke of others is not generally a significant factor contributing to an increased risk of heart disease.(C) Nicotine does not contribute as much as to heart disease as does carbon monoxide.(D) Carbon monoxide and cigarette tar are not addictive substances.(E) People who switch from high-yield to low-yield cigarettes often compensate by increasing the number and depth of puffs in order to maintain their accustomed nicotine level.

436

20. The Gulches is an area of volcanic rock that is gashed by many channels that lead downhill from the site of a prehistoric glacier to a river. The channels clearly were cut by running water. It was once accepted as fact that the cutting occurred gradually, as the glacier melted. But one geologist theorized that the channels were cut in a short time by an enormous flood. The channels do show physical evidence of having been formed quickly, but the flood theory was originally rejected because scientists knew of no natural process that could melt so much ice so quickly. Paradoxically, today the scientific community accepts the flood theory even though scientists still do not know of a process that can melt so much ice so quickly.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent paradox in the passage?(A) Ripples, which indicate that the channels were cut by water, have been discovered in the floors of the channels.(B) The Gulches is known to be similar in certain respects to many other volcanic rock formations.(C) More than one glacier was present in the area during prehistoric times.(D) Volcanic rock is more easily cut by water than are other forms of rock.(E) Scientists now believe that the prehistoric glacier dammed a source of water, created a huge lake in the process, and then retreated.

45121. Megatrash Co., the country’s largest waste-disposal company, has been sued by environmental groups who have accused the firm of negligent handling of hazardous waste. The fines and legal fees that have resulted from the legal attacks against Megatrash have cost the company substantial amounts of money. Surprisingly, as successful lawsuits against the company have increased in number, the company has grown stronger and more profitable.

Which one of the following, if true, does the most to resolve the apparent paradox?(A) Although waste-disposal firms merely handle but do not generate toxic waste, these firms have been held legally responsible for environmental damage caused by this waste.(B) Megatrash has made substantial contributions to environmental causes, as have other large waste-disposal companies.(C) Some of the judgments against Megatrash have legally barred it from entering the more profitable areas of the waste-management business.(D) The example of Megatrash’s legal entanglements has driven most of the company’s competitors from the field and deterred potential rivals from entering it.(E) In cases in which Megatrash has been acquitted of charges of negligence, the company has paid more in legal fees than it would have been likely to pay in fines.

46322. When deciding where to locate or relocate, business look for an educated work force, a high level of services, a low business-tax rate, and close proximity to markets and raw materials. However, although each of these considerations has approximately equal importance, the lack of proximity either to markets or to raw materials often causes municipalities to lose prospective business, whereas having a higher-than-average business-tax rate rarely has this effect.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the statements above?(A) Taxes paid by business constitute only a part of the tax revenue collected by most municipalities.(B) In general, the higher the rate at which municipalities tax businesses, the more those municipalities spend on education and on providing services to businesses.

(C) Businesses sometimes leave a municipality after that municipality has raised its taxes on businesses.(D) Members of the work force who are highly educated are more likely to be willing to relocate to secure work than are less highly educated workers.(E) Businesses have sometimes tried to obtain tax reductions from municipalities by suggesting that without such a reduction the business might be forced to relocate elsewhere.

46623. In 1980 health officials began to publicize the adverse effects of prolonged exposure to the sun, and since then the number of people who sunbathe for extended periods of time has decreased considerably each year. Nevertheless, in 1982 there was a dramatic rise in newly reported cases of melanoma, a form of skin cancer found mostly in people who have had prolonged exposure to the sun.

Which one of the following, if true, helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?(A) Before 1980 a considerable number of the people who developed melanoma as a result of prolonged exposure to the sun were over forty years of age.(B) Before 1980, when most people had not yet begun to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun, sunbathing was widely thought to be healthful.(C) In 1982 scientists reported that the body’s need for exposure to sunlight in order to produce vitamin D, which helps prevent the growth of skin cancers, is less than was previously though.(D) In 1982 medical researchers perfected a diagnostic technique that allowed them to detect the presence of melanoma much earlier than had previously been possible.(E) Since 1980, those people who have continued to sunbathe for extended periods of time have used sunblocks that effectively screen out the ultraviolet rays that help cause melanoma.

48224. A long-term health study that followed a group of people who were age 35 in 1950 found that those whose weight increased by approximately half a kilogram or one pound per year after the age of 35 tended, on the whole, to live longer than those who maintained the weight they had at age 35. This finding seems at variance with other studies that have associated weight gain with a host of health problems that tend to lower life expectancy.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparently conflicting findings?(A) As people age, muscle and bone tissue tends to make up a smaller and smaller proportion of total body weight.(B) Individuals who reduce their cholesterol levels by losing weight can thereby also reduce their risk of dying from heart attacks or strokes.(C) Smokers, who tend to be leaner than nonsmokers, tend to have shorter life spans than nonsmokers.(D) The normal deterioration of the human immune system with age can be slowed down by a reduction in the number of calories consumed.(E) Diets that tend to lead to weight gain often contain not only excess fat but also unhealthful concentrations of sugar and sodium.

50025. Alcohol consumption has been clearly linked to high blood pressure, which increases the likelihood of developing heart disease. Yet in a study of the effects of alcohol consumption, the incidence of heart disease was lower among participants who drank moderate quantities of alcohol every day than it was among participants identified as nondrinkers.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?(A) Because many people who do not drink alcohol are conscious of their health habits, they are likely to engage in regular exercise and to eat nutritionally well-balanced meals.(B) Many of the participants identifies as nondrinkers were people who had been heavy drinkers but had stopped drinking alcohol prior to participating in the study.(C) Some of the participants who drank moderate quantities of alcohol every day said that they occasionally drank large quantities of alcohol.(D) Some of the participants who drank moderate quantities of alcohol every day had high blood pressure.(E) The two groups of participants were similar to each other with respect to the participants’ age, sex, geographical origin, and economic background.