GMAT Question of the Day : the selling of trademarked products through channels of distribution

Gray marketing, the selling of trademarked products through channels of distribution not authorized by the trademark holder, can involve distribution of goods either within a market region or across market boundaries. Gray marketing within a market region (“channel flow diversion”) occurs when manufacturer-authorized distributors sell trademarked goods to unauthorized distributors who then sell the goods to consumers within the same region. For example, quantity discounts from manufacturers may motivate authorized dealers to enter the gray market because they can purchase larger quantities of a product than they themselves intend to stock if they can sell the extra units through gray marketing channels.
When gray marketing occurs across market boundaries, it is typically in an international setting and may be called “parallel importing.” Manufacturers often produce and sell products in more than one country and establish a network of authorized dealers in each country. Parallel importing occurs when trademarked goods intended for one country are diverted from proper channels (channel flow diversion) and then exported to unauthorized distributors in another country.

Trademark owners justifiably argue against gray marketing practices since such practices clearly jeopardize the goodwill established by trademark owners: consumers who purchase trademarked goods in the gray market do not get the same “extended product,” which typically includes pre- and postsale service. Equally important, authorized distributors may cease to promote the product if it becomes available for much lower prices through unauthorized channels.

Current debate over regulation of gray marketing focuses on three disparate theories in trademark law that have been variously and confusingly applied to parallel importation cases: universality, exhaustion, and territoriality. The theory of universality holds that a trademark is only an indication of the source or origin of the product. This theory does not recognize the goodwill functions of a trademark. When the courts apply this theory, gray marketing practices are allowed to continue because the origin of the product remains the same regardless of the specific route of the product through the channel of distribution. The exhaustion theory holds that a trademark owner relinquishes all rights once a product has been sold. When this theory is applied, gray marketing practices are allowed to continue because the trademark owners’ rights cease as soon as their products are sold to a distributor. The theory of territoriality holds that a trademark is effective in the country in which it is registered. Under the theory of territoriality, trademark owners can stop gray marketing practices in the registering countries on products bearing their trademarks. Since only the territoriality theory affords trademark owners any real legal protection against gray marketing practices, I believe it is inevitable as well as desirable that it will come to be consistently applied in gray marketing cases.

1) Which one of the following best expresses the main point of the passage?
(A) Gray marketing is unfair to trademark owners and should be legally controlled.
(B) Gray marketing is practiced in many different forms and places, and legislators should recognize the futility of trying to regulate it.
(C) The mechanisms used to control gray marketing across markets are different from those most effective in controlling gray marketing within markets.
(D) The three trademark law theories that have been applied in gray marketing cases lead to different case outcomes.
(E) Current theories used to interpret trademark laws have resulted in increased gray marketing activity.

2) The function of the passage as a whole is to
(A) criticize the motives and methods of those who practice gray marketing
(B) evaluate the effects of both channel flow diversion and parallel importation
(C) discuss the methods that have been used to regulate gray marketing and evaluate such methods’ degrees of success
(D) describe a controversial marketing practice and evaluate several legal views regarding it
(E) discuss situations in which certain marketing practices are common and analyze the economic factors responsible for their development

3) Which one of the following does the author offer as an argument against gray marketing?
(A) Manufacturers find it difficult to monitor the effectiveness of promotional efforts made on behalf of products that are gray marketed.
(B) Gray marketing can discourage product promotion by authorized distributors.
(C) Gray marketing forces manufacturers to accept the low profit margins that result from quantity discounting.
(D) Gray marketing discourages competition among unauthorized dealers.
(E) Quality standards in the manufacture of products likely to be gray marketed may decline.

4) The information in the passage suggests that proponents of the theory of territoriality would probably differ from proponents of the theory of exhaustion on which one of the following issues?
(A) the right of trademark owners to enforce, in countries in which the trademarks are registered, distribution agreements intended to restrict distribution to authorized channels
(B) the right of trademark owners to sell trademarked goods only to those distributors who agree to abide by distribution agreements
(C) the legality of channel flow diversion that occurs in a country other than the one in which a trademark is registered
(D) the significance consumers attach to a trademark
(E) the usefulness of trademarks as marketing tools

5) The author discusses the impact of gray marketing on goodwill in order to
(A) fault trademark owners for their unwillingness to offer a solution to a major consumer complaint against gray marketing
(B) indicate a way in which manufacturers sustain damage against which they ought to be protected
(C) highlight one way in which gray marketing across markets is more problematic than gray marketing within a market
(D) demonstrate that gray marketing does not always benefit the interests of unauthorized distributors
(E) argue that consumers are unwilling to accept a reduction in price in exchange for elimination of service

6) The author’s attitude toward the possibility that the courts will come to exercise consistent control over gray marketing practices can best be characterized as one of
(A) resigned tolerance
(B) utter dismay
(C) reasoned optimism
(D) unbridled fervor
(E) cynical indifference

7) It can be inferred from the passage that some channel flow diversion might be eliminated if
(A) profit margins on authorized distribution of goods were less than those on goods marketed through parallel importing
(B) manufacturers relieved authorized channels of all responsibility for product promotion
(C) manufacturers charged all authorized distributors the same unit price for products regardless of quantity purchased
(D) the postsale service policies of authorized channels were controlled by manufacturers
(E) manufacturers refused to provide the “extended product” to consumers who purchase goods in the gray market

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GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

Although numbers of animals in a given region may fluctuate from year to year, the fluctuations are often temporary and, over long periods, trivial. Scientists have advanced three theories of population control to account for this relative constancy.
The first theory attributes a relatively constant population to periodic climatic catastrophes that decimate populations with such frequency as to prevent them from exceeding some particular limit. In the case of small organisms with short life cycles, climatic changes need not be catastrophic: normal seasonal changes in photoperiod (daily amount of sunlight), for example, can govern population growth. This theory—the density-independent view—asserts that climatic factors exert the same regulatory effect on population regardless of the number of individuals in a region.

A second theory argues that population growth is primarily density-dependent—that is, the rate of growth of a population in a region decreases as the number of animals increases. The mechanisms that manage regulation may vary. For example, as numbers increase, the food supply would probably diminish, which would increase mortality. In addition, as Lotka and Volterra have shown, predators can find prey more easily in high-density populations. Other regulators include physiological control mechanisms: for example, Christian and Davis have demonstrated how the crowding that results from a rise in numbers may bring about hormonal changes in the pituitary and adrenal glands that in turn may regulate population by lowering sexual activity and inhibiting sexual maturation. There is evidence that these effects may persist for three generations in the absence of the original provocation. One challenge for density-dependent theorists is to develop models that would allow the precise prediction of the effects of crowding.

A third theory, proposed by Wynne-Edwards and termed “epideictic,” argues that organisms have evolved a “code” in the form of social or epideictic behavior displays, such as winter-roosting aggregations or group vocalizing; such codes provide organisms with information on population size in a region so that they can, if necessary, exercise reproductive restraint. However, Wynne-Edwards’ theory, linking animal social behavior and population control, has been challenged, with some justification, by several studies.

1) The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) argue against those scientists who maintain that animal populations tend to fluctuate
(B) compare and contrast the density-dependent and epideictic theories of population control
(C) provide example of some of the ways in which animals exercise reproductive restraint to control their own numbers
(D) suggests that theories of population control that concentrate on the social behavior of animals are more open to debate than are theories that do not
(E) summarize a number of scientific theories that attempt to explain why animal populations do not exceed certain limits

2) It can be inferred from the passage that proponents of the density-dependent theory of population control have not yet been able to
(A) use their theory to explain the population growth of organisms with short life cycles
(B) reproduce the results of the study of Christian and Davis
(C) explain adequately why the numbers of a population can increase as the population’s rate of growth decreases
(D) make sufficiently accurate predictions about the effects of crowding
(E) demonstrate how predator populations are themselves regulated

3) Which of the following, if true, would best support the density-dependent theory of population control as it is described in the passage?
(A) As the number of foxes in Minnesota decrease, the growth rate of this population of foxes begins to increase.
(B) As the number of woodpeckers in Vermont decreases, the growth rate of this population of woodpeckers also begins to decrease.
(C) As the number of prairie dogs in Oklahoma increases, the growth rate of this population of prairie dogs also begins to increase.
(D) After the number of beavers in Tennessee decreases, the number of predators of these beavers begins to increase.
(E) After the number of eagles in Montana decreases, the food supply of this population of eagles also begins to decrease.

4) According to the Wynne-Edwards theory as it is described in the passage, epideictic behavior displays serve the function of
(A) determining roosting aggregations
(B) locating food
(C) attracting predators
(D) regulating sexual activity
(E) triggering hormonal changes

5) The challenge posed to the Wynne-Edwards-theory by several studies is regarded by the author with
(A) complete indifference
(B) qualified acceptance
(C) skeptical amusement
(D) perplexed astonishment
(E) agitated dismay

6) Which of the following statements would provide the most of logical continuation of the final paragraph of the passage?
(A) Thus Wynne-Edwards’ theory raises serious questions about the constancy of animal population in a region.
(B) Because Wynne-Edwards’ theory is able to explain more kinds of animal behavior than is the density-dependent theory, epideictic explanations of population regulation are now widely accepted.
(C) The results of one study, for instance, have suggested that group vocalizing is more often used to defend territory than to provide information about population density.
(D) Some of these studies have, in fact, worked out a systematic and complex code of social behavior that can regulate population size.
(E) One study, for example, has demonstrated that birds are more likely to use winter-roosting aggregations than group vocalizing in order to provide information on population size.

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GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

In recent years, teachers of introductory courses in Asian American studies have been facing a dilemma nonexistent a few decades ago, when hardly any texts in that field were available. Today, excellent anthologies and other introductory texts exist, and books on individual Asian American nationality groups and on general issues important for Asian Americans are published almost weekly. Even professors who are experts in the field find it difficult to decide which of these to assign to students; nonexperts who teach in related areas and are looking for writings for and by Asian American to include in survey courses are in an even worse position.

A complicating factor has been the continuing lack of specialized one-volume reference works on Asian Americans, such as biographical dictionaries or desktop encyclopedias. Such works would enable students taking Asian American studies courses (and professors in related fields) to look up basic information on Asian American individuals, institutions, history, and culture without having to wade through mountains of primary source material. In addition, give such works, Asian American studies professors might feel more free to include more challenging Asian American material in their introductory reading lists, since good reference works allow students to acquire on their own the background information necessary to interpret difficult or unfamiliar material.

1) The author of the passage is primarily concerned with doing which of the following?
(A) Recommending a methodology
(B) Describing a course of study
(C) Discussing a problem
(D) Evaluating a past course of action
(E) Responding to a criticism

2) The “dilemma” mentioned in line 2 can best be characterized as being caused by the necessity to make a choice when faced with a
(A) lack of acceptable alternatives
(B) lack of strict standards for evaluating alternatives
(C) preponderance of bad alternatives as compared to good
(D) multitude of different alternatives
(E) large number of alternatives that are nearly identical in content

3) The passage suggests that the factor mentioned in lines 14-17 complicates professors’ attempts to construct introductory reading lists for courses in Asian American studies in which of the following ways?
(A) By making it difficult for professors to identify primary source material and to obtain standard information on Asian American history and culture
(B) By preventing professors from identifying excellent anthologies and introductory texts in the field that are both recent and understandable to students
(C) By preventing professors from adequately evaluating the quality of the numerous texts currently being published in the field
(D) By making it more necessary for professors to select readings for their courses that are not too challenging for students unfamiliar with Asian American history and culture
(E) By making it more likely that the readings professors assign to students in their courses will be drawn solely from primary sources

4) The passage implies that which of the following was true of introductory courses in Asian American studies a few decades ago?
(A) The range of different textbooks that could be assigned for such courses was extremely limited.
(B) The texts assigned as readings in such courses were often not very challenging for students.
(C) Students often complained about the texts assigned to them in such courses.
(D) Such courses were offered only at schools whose libraries were rich in primary sources.
(E) Such courses were the only means then available by which people in the United States could acquire knowledge of the field.

5) According to the passage, the existence of good one-volume reference works about Asian Americans could result in
(A) increased agreement among professors of Asian American studies regarding the quality of the sources available in their field
(B) an increase in the number of students signing up for introductory courses in Asian American studies
(C) increased accuracy in writings that concern Asian American history and culture
(D) the use of introductory texts about Asian American history and culture in courses outside the field of Asian American studies
(E) the inclusion of a wider range of Asian American material in introductory reading lists in Asian American studies

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GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

Species interdependence in nature confers many benefits on the species involved, but it
can also become a point of weakness when one species involved in the relationship is
affected by a catastrophe. Thus, flowering plant species dependent on insect
pollination, as opposed to self-pollination or wind pollination, could be endangered
when the population of insect-pollinators is depleted by the use of pesticides.
In the forests of New Brunswick, for example, various pesticides have been sprayed in
the past 25 years in efforts to control the spruce budworm, an economically significant
pest. Scientists have now investigated the effects of the spraying of Matacil, one of
the anti-budworm agents that is least toxic to insect-pollinators. They studied
Matacil’s effects on insect mortality in a wide variety of wild insect species and on
plant fecundity, expressed as the percentage of the total flowers on an individual
plant that actually developed fruit and bore seeds.
They found that the most pronounced mortality after the spraying of Matacil occurred
among the smaller bees and one family of flies, insects that were all important
pollinators of numerous species of plants growing beneath the tree canopy of forests.
The fecundity of plants in one common indigenous species, the red-osier dogwood, was
significantly reduced in the sprayed areas as compared to that of plants in control
plots where Matacil was not sprayed. This species is highly dependent on the
insect-pollinators most vulnerable to Matacil. The creeping dogwood, a species similar
to the red-osier dogwood, but which is pollinated by large bees, such as bumblebees,
showed no significant decline in fecundity. Since large bees are not affected by the
spraying of Matacil, these results add weight to the argument that spraying where the
pollinators are sensitive to the pesticide used decreases plant fecundity.
The question of whether the decrease in plant fecundity caused by the spraying of
pesticides actually causes a decline in the overall population of flowering plant
species still remains unanswered. Plant species dependent solely on seeds for survival
or dispersal are obviously more vulnerable to any decrease in plant fecundity that
occurs, whatever its cause. If, on the other hand, vegetative growth and dispersal (by
means of shoots or runners) are available as alternative reproductive strategies for a
species, then decreases in plant fecundity may be of little consequence.
The fecundity
effects described here are likely to have the most profound impact on plant species
with all four of the following characteristics: a short life span, a narrow geographic
range, an incapacity for vegetative propagation, and a dependence on a small number of
insect-pollinator species. Perhaps we should give special attention to the conservation
of such plant species since they lack key factors in their defenses against the
environmental disruption caused by pesticide use.

1) Which of the following best summarizes the main point of the passage?
(A) Species interdependence is a point of weakness for some plants, but is generally
beneficial to insects involved in pollination.
(B) Efforts to control the spruce budworm have had deleterious effects on the red-osier
dogwood.
(C) The used of pesticides may be endangering certain plant species dependent on
insects for pollination.
(D) The spraying of pesticides can reduce the fecundity of a plant species, but
probably does not affect its overall population stability.
(E) Plant species lacking key factors in their defenses against human environmental
disruption will probably become extinct.

2) According to the author, a flowering plant species whose fecundity has declined due
to pesticide spraying may not experience an overall population decline if the plant

species can do which of the following?
(A) Reproduce itself by means of shoots and runners.
(B) Survive to the end of the growing season.
(C) Survive in harsh climates.
(D) Respond to the fecundity decline by producing more flowers.
(E) Attract large insects as pollinators.

3) The passage suggests that the lack of an observed decline in the fecundity of the
creeping dogwood strengthens the researchers conclusions regarding pesticide use
because the

(A) creeping dogwood is a species that does not resemble other forest plants
(B) creeping dogwood is a species pollinated by a broader range of insect species than
are most dogwood species
(C) creeping dogwood grows primarily in regions that were not sprayed with pesticide,
and so served as a control for the experiment
(D) creeping dogwood is similar to the red-osier dogwood, but its insect pollinators
are known to be insensitive to the pesticide used in the study
(E) geographical range of the creeping dogwood is similar to that of the red-osier
dogwood, but the latter species relies less on seeds for reproduction

4) The passage suggests that which of the following is true of the forest regions in
New Brunswick sprayed with most anti-budworm pesticides other than Matacil?

(A) The fecundity of some flowering plants in those regions may have decreased to an
even greater degree than in the regions where Matacil is used.
(B) Insect mortality in those regions occurs mostly among the larger species of
insects, such as bumblebees.
(C) The number of seeds produced by common plant species in those regions is probably
comparable to the number produced where Matacil is sprayed.
(D) Many more plant species have become extinct in those regions than in the regions
where Matacil is used.
(E) The spruce budworm is under better control in those regions than in the regions
where Matacil is sprayed.

5) It can be inferred that which of the following is true of plant fecundity as it is
defined in the passage?

(A) A plant’s fecundity decreases as the percentage of unpollinated flowers on the
plant increases.
(B) A plant’s fecundity decreases as the number of flowers produced by the plant
decreases.
(C) A plant’s fecundity increases as the number of flowers produced by the plant
increases.
(D) A plant’s fecundity is usually low if the plant relies on a small number of insect
species for pollination.
(E) A plant’s fecundity is high if the plant can reproduce quickly by means of
vegetative growth as well as by the production of seeds.

6) It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following plant species would
be LEAST likely to experience a decrease in fecundity as a result of the spraying of a

pesticide not directly toxic to plants?
(A) A flowering tree pollinated by only a few insect species
(B) A kind of insect-pollinated vine producing few flowers
(C) A wind-pollinated flowering tree that is short-lived
(D) A flowering shrub pollinated by a large number of insect species
(E) A type of wildflower typically pollinated by larger insects

7) Which of the following assumptions most probably underlies the author’s tentative
recommendation in lines 51-54?

(A) Human activities that result in environmental disruption should be abandoned.
(B) The use of pesticides is likely to continue into the future.
(C) It is economically beneficial to preserve endangered plant species.
(D) Preventing the endangerment of a species is less costly than trying to save an

already endangered one.
(E) Conservation efforts aimed at preserving a few well-chosen species are more

cost-effective than are broader-based efforts to improve the environment.

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GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

Most studies of recent Southeast Asian immigrants to the United States have focused on their adjustment to life in their adopted country and on the effects of leaving their homelands. James Tollefson’s Alien Winds examines the resettlement process from a different perspective by investigating the educational programs offered in immigrant processing centers. Based on interviews, transcripts from classes, essays by immigrants, personal visits to a teacher-training unit, and official government documents, Tollefson relies on an impressive amount and variety of documentation in making his arguments about processing centers’ educational programs.

Tollefson’s main contention is that the emphasis placed on immediate employment and on teaching the values, attitudes, and behaviors that the training personnel think will help the immigrants adjust more easily to life in the United States is often counterproductive and demoralizing. Because of concerns that the immigrants be self-supporting as soon as possible, they are trained almost exclusively for low-level jobs that do not require English proficiency. In this respect, Tollefson claims, the processing centers suit the needs of employers more than they suit the long-term needs of the immigrant community. Tollefson also detects a fundamental flaw in the attempts by program educators to instill in the immigrants the traditionally Western principles of self-sufficiency and individual success. These efforts often have the effect of undermining the immigrants’ sense of community and, in doing so, sometimes isolate them from the moral support and even from business opportunities afforded by the immigrant community. The programs also encourage the immigrants to shed their cultural traditions and ethnic identity and adopt the lifestyles, beliefs, and characteristics of their adopted country if they wish to enter fully into the national life.

Tollefson notes that the ideological nature of these educational programs has roots in the turn-of-the-century educational programs designed to assimilate European immigrants into United States society. Tollefson provides a concise history of the assimilationist movement in immigrant education, in which European immigrants were encouraged to leave behind the ways of the Old World and to adopt instead the principles and practices of the New World.

Tollefson ably shows that the issues demanding real attention in the educational programs for Southeast Asian immigrants are not merely employment rates and government funding, but also the assumptions underpinning the educational values in the programs. He recommends many improvements for the programs, including giving the immigrants a stronger voice in determining their needs and how to meet them, redesigning the curricula, and emphasizing long-term language education and job training over immediate employment and the avoiding of public assistance. Unfortunately, though, Tollefson does not offer enough concrete solutions as to how these reforms could be carried out, despite his own descriptions of the complicated bureaucratic nature of the programs.

1) Which one of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?
(A) Tollefson’s focus on the economic and cultural factors involved in adjusting to a new country offers a significant departure from most studies of Southeast Asian immigration.
(B) In his analysis of educational programs for Southeast Asian immigrants, Tollefson fails to acknowledge many of the positive effects the programs have had on immigrants’ lives.
(C) Tollefson convincingly blames the philosophy underlying immigrant educational programs for some of the adjustment problems afflicting Southeast Asian immigrants.
(D) Tollefson’s most significant contribution is his analysis of how Southeast Asian immigrants overcome the obstacles they encounter in immigrant educational programs.
(E) Tollefson traces a gradual yet significant change in the attitudes held by processing center educators toward Southeast Asian immigrants.

2) With which one of the following statements concerning the educational programs of the immigration centers would Tollefson most probably agree?
(A) Although the programs offer adequate job training, they offer inadequate English training.
(B) Some of the programs’ attempts to improve the earning power of the immigrants cut them off from potential sources of income.
(C) Inclusion of the history of immigration in the United States in the programs’ curricula facilitates adjustment for the immigrants.
(D) Immigrants would benefit if instructors in the programs were better prepared to teach the curricula developed in the teacher-training courses.
(E) The programs’ curricula should be redesigned to include greater emphasis on the shared values, beliefs, and practices in the United States.

3) Which one of the following best describes the opinion of the author of the passage with respect to Tollefson’s work?
(A) thorough but misguided
(B) innovative but incomplete
(C) novel but contradictory
(D) illuminating but unappreciated
(E) well documented but unoriginal

4) The passage suggests that which one of the following is an assumption underlying the educational approach in immigrant processing centers?
(A) There is a set of values and behaviors that if adopted by immigrants, facilitate adjustment to United States society.
(B) When recent immigrants are self-supporting rather than supported by public assistance, they tend to gain English proficiency more quickly.
(C) Immediate employment tends to undermine the immigrants sense of community with each other.
(D) Long-term success for immigrants is best achieved by encouraging the immigrants to maintain a strong sense of community.
(E) The principles of self-sufficiency and individual success are central to Southeast Asian culture and ethnicity.

5) Which one of the following best describes the function of the first paragraph of the passage?
(A) It provides the scholarly context for Tollefson’s study and a description of his methodology.
(B) It compares Tollefson’s study to other works and presents the main argument of his study.
(C) It compares the types of documents Tollefson uses to those used in other studies.
(D) It presents the accepted theory on Tollefson’s topic and the method by which Tollefson challenges it.
(E) It argues for the analytical and technical superiority of Tollefson’s study over other works on the topic.

6) The author of the passage refers to Tollefson’s descriptions of the bureaucratic nature of the immigrant educational programs in the fourth paragraph most probably in order to
(A) criticize Tollefson’s decision to combine a description of the bureaucracies with suggestions for improvement
(B) emphasize the author’s disappointment in Tollefson’s overly general recommendations for improvements to the programs
(C) point out the irony of Tollefson concluding his study with suggestions for drastic changes in the programs
(D) support a contention that Tollefson’s recommendations for improvements do not focus on the real sources of the programs’ problems
(E) suggest a parallel between the complexity of the bureaucracies and the complexity of Tollefson’s arguments

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GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

J. G. A. Pocock’s numerous investigations have all revolved around the fruitful assumption that a work of political thought can only be understood in light of the linguistic constraints to which its author was subject, for these prescribed both the choice of subject matter and the author’s conceptualization of this subject matter. Only the occasional epic theorist, like Machiavelli or Hobbes, succeeded in breaking out of these bonds by redefining old terms and inventing new ones. The task of the modern commentator is to identify the “language” or “vocabulary” with and within which the author operated. While historians of literature have always been aware that writers work within particular traditions, the application of this notion to the history of political ideas forms a sharp contrast to the assumptions of the 1950s, when it was naively thought that the close reading of a text by an analytic philosopher was sufficient to establish its meaning, even if the philosopher had no knowledge of the period of the text’s composition.

The language Pocock has most closely investigated is that of “civic humanism.” For much of his career he has argued that eighteenth-century English political thought should be interpreted as a conflict between rival versions of the “virtue” central to civic humanism. On the one hand, he argues, this virtue is described by representatives of the Tory opposition using a vocabulary of public spirit and self-sufficiency. For these writers the societal ideal is the small, independent landowner in the countryside. On the other hand, Whig writers describe such virtue using a vocabulary of commerce and economic progress; for them the ideal is the merchant.

In making such linguistic discriminations Pocock has disassociated himself from historians like Namier, who deride all eighteenth-century English political language as “cant.” But while Pocock’s ideas have proved fertile when applied to England, they are more controversial when applied to the late-eighteenth-century United States. Pocock’s assertion that Jefferson’s attacks on the commercial policies of the Federalists simply echo the language of the Tory opposition in England is at odds with the fact that Jefferson rejected the elitist implications of that group’s notion of virtue and asserted the right of all to participate in commercial society. Indeed, after promptings by Quentin Skinner, Pocock has admitted that a counterlanguage—one of rights and liberties—was probably as important in the political discourse of the late-eighteenth-century United States as the language of civic humanism. Fortunately, it is not necessary to rank the relative importance of all the different vocabularies in which eighteenth-century political argument was conducted. It is sufficient to recognize that any interesting text is probably a mixture of several of these vocabularies, and to applaud the historian who, though guilty of some exaggeration, has done the most to make us aware of their importance.

1) The main idea of the passage is that
(A) civic humanism, in any of its manifestations, cannot entirely explain eighteenth-century political discourse
(B) eighteenth-century political texts are less likely to reflect a single vocabulary than to combine several vocabularies
(C) Pocock’s linguistic approach, though not applicable to all eighteenth-century political texts, provides a useful model for historians of political theory
(D) Pocock has more successfully accounted for the nature of political thought in eighteenth-century England than in the eighteenth-century United States
(E) Pocock’s notion of the importance of language in political texts is a logical extension of the insights of historians of literature

2) According to the passage, Pocock most clearly associates the use of a vocabulary of economic progress with
(A) Jefferson
(B) Federalists
(C) English Whigs
(D) English Tories rural
(E) English landowners

3) The author’s attitude toward Pocock is best revealed by which of the following pairs of words?
(A) “fruitful” (line 2) and “cant” (line 39)
(B) “sharp” (line 16) and “elitist” (line 46)
(C) “naively” (line 17) and “controversial” (line 41)
(D) “fertile” (line 40) and “applaud” (line 60)
(E) “simply” (line 44) and “importance” (line 55)

4) The passage suggests that one of the “assumptions of the 1950s” (line 17) regarding the meaning of a political text was that this meaning
(A) could be established using an approach similar to that used by literary historians
(B) could be definitively established without reference to the text’s historical background
(C) could be closely read in several different ways depending on one’s philosophic approach
(D) was constrained by certain linguistic preconceptions held by the text’s author
(E) could be expressed most clearly by an analytic philosopher who had studied its historical context

5) The author of the passage would most likely agree that which one of the following is a weakness found in Pocock’s work?
(A) the use of the term “language” to describe the expressive features of several diverse kinds of discourse
(B) the overemphatic denigration of the role of the analytic philosopher in establishing the meaning of a political, or indeed any, text
(C) the emphasis on the overriding importance of civic humanism in eighteenth-century English political thought
(D) the insistence on a single linguistic dichotomy to account for political thought in eighteenth-century England and the United States
(E) the assignment of certain vocabularies to particular parties in eighteenth-century England without taking note of how these vocabularies overlapped

6) Which one of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
(A) A description of a thesis is offered, specific cases are considered, and an evaluation is given.
(B) A thesis is brought forward, the thesis is qualified, and evidence that calls the qualification into question is stated.
(C) A hypothesis is described, examples that suggest it is incorrect are summarized, and supporting examples are offered.
(D) A series of evaluations are given, concrete reasons are put forward, and a future direction for research is suggested.
(E) Comparisons and contrasts are made, some categories of evaluation are suggested, and a framework for applying these categories is implied.

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GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

According to a recent theory, Archean-age gold-quartz vein systems were formed over two billion years ago from magnetic fluids that originated from molten granite-like bodies deep beneath the surface of the Earth. This theory is contrary to the widely held view that the systems were deposited from metamorphic fluids, that is, from fluids that formed during the dehydration of wet sedimentary rocks.
The recently developed theory has considerable practical importance. Most of the gold deposits discovered during the original gold rushes were exposed at the Earth’s surface and were found because they had shed trails of alluvial gold that were easily traced by simple prospecting methods. Although these same methods still lead to an occasional discovery, most deposits not yet discovered have gone undetected because they are buried and have no surface expression.

The challenge in exploration is therefore to unravel the subsurface geology of an area and pinpoint the position of buried minerals. Methods widely used today include analysis of aerial images that yield a broad geological overview; geophysical techniques that provide data on the magnetic, electrical, and mineralogical properties of the rocks being investigated; and sensitive chemical tests that are able to detect the subtle chemical halos that often envelop mineralization. However, none of these high-technology methods are of any value if the sites to which they are applied have never mineralized, and to maximize the chances of discovery the explorer must therefore pay particular attention to selecting the ground formations most likely to be mineralized. Such ground selection relies to varying degrees on conceptual models, which take into account theoretical studies of relevant factors.

These models are constructed primarily from empirical observations of known mineral deposits and from theories of ore-forming processes. The explorer uses the models to identify those geological features that are critical to the formation of the mineralization being modeled, and then tries to select areas for exploration that exhibit as many of the critical features as possible.

1) The author is primarily concerned with
(A) advocating a return to an older methodology
(B) explaining the importance of a recent theory
(C) enumerating differences between two widely used methods
(D) describing events leading to a discovery
(E) challenging the assumptions on which a theory is based

2) According to the passage, the widely held view of Archean-age gold-quartz vein systems is that such systems
(A) were formed from metamorphic fluids
(B) originated in molten granite-like bodies
(C) were formed from alluvial deposits
(D) generally have surface expression
(E) are not discoverable through chemical tests

3) The passage implies that which of the following steps would be the first performed by explorers who wish to maximize their chances of discovering gold?
(A) Surveying several sites known to have been formed more than two billion years ago
(B) Limiting exploration to sites known to have been formed from metamorphic fluid
(C) Using an appropriate conceptual model to select a site for further exploration
(D) Using geophysical methods to analyze rocks over a broad area
(E) Limiting exploration to sites where alluvial gold has previously been found

4) Which of the following statements about discoveries of gold deposits is supported by information in the passage?
(A) The number of gold discoveries made annually has increased between the time of the original gold rushes and the present.
(B) New discoveries of gold deposits are likely to be the result of exploration techniques designed to locate buried mineralization.
(C) It is unlikely that newly discovered gold deposits will ever yield as much as did those deposits discovered during the original gold rushes.
(D) Modern explorers are divided on the question of the utility of simple prospecting methods as a source of new discoveries of gold deposits.
(E) Models based on the theory that gold originated from magnetic fluids have already led to new discoveries of gold deposits.

5) It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is easiest to detect?
(A) A gold-quartz vein system originating in magnetic fluids
(B) A gold-quartz vein system originating in metamorphic fluids
(C) A gold deposit that is mixed with granite
(D) A gold deposit that has shed alluvial gold
(E) A gold deposit that exhibits chemical halos

6) The theory mentioned in line 1 relates to the conceptual models discussed in the passage in which of the following ways?
(A) It may furnish a valid account of ore-forming processes, and, hence, can support conceptual models that have great practical significance.
(B) It suggests that certain geological formations, long believed to be mineralized, are in fact mineralized, thus confirming current conceptual models.
(C) It suggests that there may not be enough similarity across Archean-age gold-quartz vein systems to warrant the formulation of conceptual models.
(D) It corrects existing theories about the chemical halos of gold deposits, and thus provides a basis for correcting current conceptual models.
(E) It suggests that simple prospecting methods still have a higher success rate in the discovery of gold deposits than do more modern methods.

7) According to the passage, methods of exploring for gold that are widely used today are based on which of the following facts?
(A) Most of the Earth’s remaining gold deposits are still molten.
(B) Most of the Earth’s remaining gold deposits are exposed at the surface.
(C) Most of the Earth’s remaining gold deposits are buried and have no surface expression.
(D) Only one type of gold deposit warrants exploration, since the other types of gold deposits are found in regions difficult to reach.
(E) Only one type of gold deposit warrants exploration, since the other types of gold deposits are unlikely to yield concentrated quantities of gold.

8) It can be inferred from the passage that the efficiency of model-based gold exploration depends on which of the following?
I) The closeness of the match between the geological features identified by the model as critical and the actual geological features of a given area
II) The degree to which the model chosen relies on empirical observation of known mineral deposits rather than on theories of ore-forming processes
III) The degree to which the model chosen is based on an accurate description of the events leading to mineralization
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) I and III only
(E) I, II and III

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GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

While there is no blueprint for transforming a largely government-controlled economy into a free one, the experience of the United Kingdom since 1979 clearly shows one approach that works: privatization, in which state-owned industries are sold to private companies. By 1979, the total borrowings and losses of state-owned industries were running at about £3 billion a year. By selling many of these industries, the government has decreased these borrowings and losses, gained over £34 billion from the sales, and now receives tax revenues from the newly privatized companies. Along with a dramatically improved overall economy, the government has been able to repay 12.5 percent of the net national debt over a two-year period.
In fact, privatization has not only rescued individual industries and a whole economy headed for disaster, but has also raised the level of performance in every area. At British Airways and British Gas, for example, productivity per employee has risen by 20 percent. At Associated British Ports, labor disruptions common in the 1970’s and early 1980’s have now virtually disappeared. At British Telecom, there is no longer a waiting list—as there always was before privatization—to have a telephone installed.

Part of this improved productivity has come about because the employees of privatized industries were given the opportunity to buy shares in their own companies. They responded enthusiastically to the offer of shares; at British Aerospace, 89 percent of the eligible work force bought shares; at Associated British Ports, 90 percent; and at British Telecom, 92 percent. When people have a personal stake in something, they think about it, care about it, work to make it prosper. At the National Freight Consortium, the new employee-owners grew so concerned about their company’s profits that during wage negotiations they actually pressed their union to lower its wage demands.

Some economists have suggested that giving away free shares would provide a needed acceleration of the privatization process. Yet they miss Thomas Paine’s point that “what we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly.” In order for the far-ranging benefits of individual ownership to be achieved by owners, companies, and countries, employees and other individuals must make their own decisions to buy, and they must commit some of their own resources to the choice.

1) According to the passage, all of the following were benefits of privatizing state-owned industries in the United Kingdom EXCEPT:
(A) Privatized industries paid taxes to the government.
(B) The government gained revenue from selling state-owned industries.
(C) The government repaid some of its national debt.
(D) Profits from industries that were still state-owned increased.
(E) Total borrowings and losses of state-owned industries decreased.

2) According to the passage, which of the following resulted in increased productivity in companies that have been privatized?
(A) A large number of employees chose to purchase shares in their companies.
(B) Free shares were widely distributed to individual shareholders.
(C) The government ceased to regulate major industries.
(D) Unions conducted wage negotiations for employees.
(E) Employee-owners agreed to have their wages lowered.

3) It can be inferred from the passage that the author considers labor disruptions to be
(A) an inevitable problem in a weak national economy
(B) a positive sign of employee concern about a company
(C) a predictor of employee reactions to a company’s offer to sell shares to them
(D) a phenomenon found more often in state-owned industries than in private companies
(E) a deterrence to high performance levels in an industry

4) The passage supports which of the following statements about employees buying shares in their own companies?
(A) At three different companies, approximately nine out of ten of the workers were eligible to buy shares in their companies.
(B) Approximately 90% of the eligible workers at three different companies chose o buy shares in their companies.
(C) The opportunity to buy shares was discouraged by at least some labor unions.
(D) Companies that demonstrated the highest productivity were the first to allow their employees the opportunity to buy shares.
(E) Eligibility to buy shares was contingent on employees’ agreeing to increased work loads.

5) Which of the following statements is most consistent with the principle described in lines 30-32?
(A) A democratic government that decides it is inappropriate to own a particular industry has in no way abdicated its responsibilities as guardian of the public interest.
(B) The ideal way for a government to protect employee interests is to force companies to maintain their share of a competitive market without government subsidies.
(C) The failure to harness the power of self-interest is an important reason that state-owned industries perform poorly.
(D) Governments that want to implement privatization programs must try to eliminate all resistance to the free-market system.
(E) The individual shareholder will reap only a minute share of the gains from whatever sacrifices he or she makes to achieve these gains.

6) Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the privatization process in the United Kingdom?
(A) It depends to a potentially dangerous degree on individual ownership of shares.
(B) It conforms in its most general outlines to Thomas Paine’s prescription for business ownership.
(C) It was originally conceived to include some giving away of free shares.
(D) It has been successful, even though privatization has failed in other countries.
(E) It is taking place more slowly than some economists suggest is necessary.

7) The quotation in line 39 is most probably used to
(A) counter a position that the author of the passage believes is incorrect
(B) state a solution to a problem described in the previous sentence
(C) show how opponents of the viewpoint of the author of the passage have supported their arguments
(D) point out a paradox contained in a controversial viewpoint
(E) present a historical maxim to challenge the principle introduced in the third paragraph

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GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

After thirty years of investigation into cell genetics, researchers made startling discoveries in the 1960s and early 1970s which culminated in the development of processes, collectively known as recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) technology, for the active manipulation of a cell’s genetic code. The technology has created excitement and controversy because it involves altering DNA—which contains the building blocks of the genetic code.
Using rDNA technology, scientists can transfer a portion of the DNA from one organism to a single living cell of another. The scientist chemically “snips” the DNA chain of the host cell
at a predetermined point and attaches another piece of DNA from a donor cell at that place, creating a completely new organism.

Proponents of rDNA research and development claim that it will allow scientists to find cures for disease and to better understand how genetic information controls an organism’s development. They also see many other potentially practical benefits, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. Some corporations employing the new technology even claim that by the end of the century all major diseases will be treated with drugs derived from microorganisms created through rDNA technology. Pharmaceutical products already developed, but not yet marketed, indicate that these predictions may be realized.
Proponents also cite nonmedical applications for this technology. Energy production and waste disposal may benefit: genetically altered organisms could convert sewage and other organic
material into methane fuel. Agriculture might also take advantage of rDNA technology to produce new varieties of crops that resist foul weather, pests, and the effects of poor soil.
A major concern of the critics of rDNA research is that genetically altered microorganisms might escape from the laboratory. Because these microorganisms are laboratory creations that, in all probability, do not occur in nature, their interaction with the natural world cannot be predicted with certainty. It is possible that they could cause previously unknown, perhaps incurable diseases. The effect of genetically altered microorganisms on the world’s microbiological predator-prey relationships is another potentially serious problem pointed out by the opponents of rDNA research. Introducing a new species may disrupt or even destroy the existing ecosystem. The collapse of interdependent relationships among species, extrapolated to its extreme, could eventually result in the destruction of humanity.

Opponents of rDNA technology also cite ethical problems with it. For example, it gives scientists the power to instantly cross evolutionary and species boundaries that nature took millennia to establish. The implications of such power would become particularly profound if genetic engineers were to tinker with human genes, a practice that would bring us one step closer to Aldous Huxley’s grim vision in Brave New World of a totalitarian society that engineers human beings to fulfill specific roles.

1) In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with doing which one of the following?
(A) explaining the process and applications of rDNA technology
(B) advocating continued rDNA research and development
(C) providing evidence indicating the need for regulation of rDNA research and development
(D) summarizing the controversy surrounding rDNA research and development
(E) arguing that the environmental risks of rDNA technology may outweigh its medical benefits

2) According to the passage, which one of the following is an accurate statement about
research into the genetic code of cells?
(A) It led to the development of processes for the manipulation of DNA.
(B) It was initiated by the discovery of rDNA technology.
(C) It led to the use of new treatments for major diseases.
(D) It was universally heralded as a great benefit to humanity.
(E) It was motivated by a desire to create new organisms.

3) The potential benefits of rDNA technology referred to in the passage include all of the
following EXCEPT
(A) new methods of waste treatment
(B) new biological knowledge
(C) enhanced food production
(D) development of less expensive drugs
(E) increased energy production

4) Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken an argument of opponents of rDNA
technology?
(A) New safety procedures developed by rDNA researchers make it impossible for genetically
altered microorganisms to escape from laboratories.
(B) A genetically altered microorganism accidentally released from a laboratory is
successfully contained.
(C) A particular rDNA-engineered microorganism introduced into an ecosystem attracts predators that keep its population down.
(D) Genetically altered organisms designed to process sewage into methane cannot survive
outside the waste treatment plant.
(E) A specific hereditary disease that has plagued humankind for generations is successfully
eradicated.

5) The author’s reference in the last sentence of the passage to a society that engineers
human beings to fulfill specific roles serves to
(A) emphasize the potential medical dangers of rDNA technology
(B) advocate research on the use of rDNA technology in human genetics
(C) warn of the possible disasters that could result from upsetting the balance of nature
(D) present Brave New World as an example of a work of fiction that accurately predicted
technological developments
(E) illustrate the sociopolitical ramifications of applying genetic engineering to humans

6) Which one of the following, if true, would most strengthen an argument of the opponents of
rDNA technology?
(A) Agricultural products developed through rDNA technology are no more attractive to
consumers than are traditional crops.
(B) Genetically altered microorganisms have no natural predators but can prey on a wide
variety of other microorganisms.
(C) Drugs produced using rDNA technology cost more to manufacture than drugs produced with traditional technologies.
(D) Ecosystems are impermanent systems that are often liable to collapse, and occasionally do
so.
(E) Genetically altered microorganisms generally cannot survive for more than a few hours in
the natural environment.

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GMAT Question of The Day: Reading Comprehension

In 1887 the Dawes Act legislated wide-scale private ownership of reservation lands in the United States for Native Americans. The act allotted plots of 80 acres to each Native American adult. However, the Native Americans were not granted outright title to their lands. The act defined each grant as a “trust patent,” meaning that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the governmental agency in charge of administering policy regarding Native Americans, would hold the allotted land in trust for 25 years, during which time the Native American owners could use, but not alienate (sell) the land. After the 25-year period, the Native American allottee would receive a “fee patent” awarding full legal ownership of the land.

Two main reasons were advanced for the restriction on the Native Americans’ ability to sell their lands. First, it was claimed that free alienability would lead to immediate transfer of large amounts of former reservation land to non-Native Americans, consequently threatening the traditional way of life on those reservations. A second objection to free alienation was that Native Americans were unaccustomed to, and did not desire, a system of private landownership. Their custom, it was said, favored communal use of land.
However, both of these arguments bear only on the transfer of Native American lands to non-Native Americans: neither offers a reason for prohibiting Native Americans from transferring land among themselves. Selling land to each other would not threaten the Native American culture. Additionally, if communal land use remained preferable to Native Americans after allotment, free alienability would have allowed allottees to sell their lands back to the tribe.

When stated rationales for government policies prove empty, using an interest-group model often provides an explanation. While neither Native Americans nor the potential non-Native American purchasers benefited from the restraint on alienation contained in the Dawes Act, one clearly defined group did benefit: the BIA bureaucrats. It has been convincingly demonstrated that bureaucrats seek to maximize the size of their staffs and their budgets in order to compensate for the lack of other sources of fulfillment, such as power and prestige. Additionally, politicians tend to favor the growth of governmental bureaucracy because such growth provides increased opportunity for the exercise of political patronage. The restraint on alienation vastly increased the amount of work, and hence the budgets, necessary to implement the statute. Until allotment was ended in 1934, granting fee patents and leasing Native American lands were among the principal activities of the United States government. One hypothesis, then, for the temporary restriction on alienation in the Dawes Act is that it reflected a compromise between non-Native Americans favoring immediate alienability so they could purchase land and the BIA bureaucrats who administered the privatization system.

1. Which one of the following best summarizes the main idea of the passage?
(A) United States government policy toward Native Americans has tended to disregard their needs and consider instead the needs of non-Native American purchasers of land.
(B) In order to preserve the unique way of life on Native American reservations, use of Native American lands must be communal rather than individual.
(C) The Dawes Act’s restriction on the right of Native Americans to sell their land may have been implemented primarily to serve the interests of politicians and bureaucrats.
(D) The clause restricting free alienability in the Dawes Act greatly expanded United States governmental activity in the area of land administration.
(E) Since passage of the Dawes Act in 1887, Native Americans have not been able to sell or transfer their former reservation land freely.

2. Which one of the following statements concerning the reason for the end of allotment, if true, would provide the most support for the author’s view of politicians?
(A) Politicians realized that allotment was damaging the Native American way of life.
(B) Politicians decided that allotment would be more congruent with the Native American custom of communal land use.
(C) Politicians believed that allotment’s continuation would not enhance their opportunities to exercise patronage.
(D) Politicians felt that the staff and budgets of the BIA had grown too large.
(E) Politicians were concerned that too much Native American land was falling into the hands of non-Native Americans.

3. Which one of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
(A) The passage of a law is analyzed in detail, the benefits and drawbacks of one of its clauses are studied, and a final assessment of the law is offered.
(B) The history of a law is narrated, the effects of one of its clauses on various populations are studied, and repeal of the law is advocated
(C) A law is examined, the political and social backgrounds of one of its clauses are characterized, and the permanent effects of the law are studied.
(D) A law is described, the rationale put forward for one of its clauses is outlined and dismissed, and a different rationale for the clause is presented.
(E) The legal status of an ethnic group is examined with respect to issues of landownership and commercial autonomy, and the benefits to rival groups due to that status are explained.

4. The author’s attitude toward the reasons advanced for the restriction on alienability in the Dawes Act at the time of its passage can best be described as
(A) completely credulous
(B) partially approving
(C) basically indecisive
(D) mildly questioning
(E) highly skeptical

5. It can be inferred from the passage that which one of the following was true of Native American life immediately before passage of the Dawes Act?
(A) Most Native Americans supported themselves through farming.
(B) Not many Native Americans personally owned the land on which they lived.
(C) The land on which most Native Americans lived had been bought from their tribes.
(D) Few Native Americans had much contact with their non-Native American neighbors.
(E) Few Native Americans were willing to sell their land to non-Native Americans.

6. According to the passage, the type of landownership initially obtainable by Native Americans under the Dawes Act differed from the type of ownership obtainable after a 25-year period in that only the latter allowed
(A) owners of land to farm it
(B) owners of land to sell it
(C) government some control over how owners disposed of land
(D) owners of land to build on it with relatively minor governmental restrictions
(E) government to charge owners a fee for developing their land

7. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the author’s argument regarding the true motivation for the passage of the Dawes Act?
(A) The legislators who voted in favor of the Dawes Act owned land adjacent to Native American reservations.
(B) The majority of Native Americans who were granted fee patents did not sell their land back to their tribes.
(C) Native Americans managed to preserve their traditional culture even when they were geographically dispersed.
(D) The legislators who voted in favor of the Dawes Act were heavily influenced by BIA bureaucrats.
(E) Non-Native Americans who purchased the majority of Native American lands consolidated them into larger farm holdings.

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GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

During the 1940s and 1950s the United States government developed a new policy toward Native Americans, often known as “readjustment.” Because the increased awareness of civil rights in these decades helped reinforce the belief that life on reservations prevented Native Americans from exercising the rights guaranteed to citizens under the United States Constitution, the readjustment movement advocated the end of the federal government’s involvement in Native American affairs and encouraged the assimilation of Native Americans as individuals into mainstream society. However, the same years also saw the emergence of a Native American leadership and efforts to develop tribal instructions and reaffirm tribal identity. The clash of these two trends may be traced in the attempts on the part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to convince the Oneida tribe of Wisconsin to accept readjustment.

The culmination of BIA efforts to sway the Oneida occurred at a meeting that took place in the fall of 1956. The BIA suggested that it would be to the Oneida’s benefit to own their own property and, like other homeowners, pay real estate taxes on it. The BIA also emphasized that, after readjustment, the government would not attempt to restrict Native Americans’ ability to sell their individually owned lands. The Oneida were then offered a one-time lump-sum payment of $60,000 in lieu of the $0.52 annuity guaranteed in perpetuity to each member of the tribe under the Canandaigua Treaty.

The efforts of the BIA to “sell” readjustment to the tribe failed because the Oneida realized that they had heard similar offers before. The Oneida delegates reacted negatively to the BIA’s first suggestion because taxation of Native American lands had been one past vehicle for dispossessing the Oneida: after the distribution of some tribal lands to individual Native Americans in the late nineteenth century, Native American lands became subject to taxation, resulting in new and impossible financial burdens, foreclosures, and subsequent tax sales of property. The Oneida delegates were equally suspicious of the BIA’s emphasis on the rights of individual landowners, since in the late nineteenth century many individual Native Americans had been convinced by unscrupulous speculators to sell their lands. Finally, the offer of a lump-sum payment was unanimously opposed by the Oneida delegates, who saw that changing the terms of a treaty might jeopardize the many pending land claims based upon the treaty.

As a result of the 1956 meeting, the Oneida rejected readjustment. Instead, they determined to improve tribal life by lobbying for federal monies for postsecondary education, for the improvement of drainage on tribal lands, and for the building of a convalescent home for tribal members. Thus, by learning the lessons of history, the Oneida were able to survive as a tribe in their homeland.

1) Which one of the following would be most consistent with the policy of readjustment described in the passage?
(A) the establishment among Native Americans of a tribal system of a elected government
(B) the creation of a national project to preserve Native American language and oral history
(C) the establishment of programs to encourage Native Americans to move from reservations to urban areas
(D) the development of a large-scale effort to restore Native American lands to their original tribes
(E) the reaffirmation of federal treaty obligations to Native American tribes

2) According to the passage, after the 1956 meeting the Oneida resolved to
(A) obtain improved social services and living conditions for members of the tribe
(B) pursue litigation designed to reclaim tribal lands
(C) secure recognition of their unique status as a self-governing Native American nation within the United States
(D) establish new kinds of tribal institutions
(E) cultivate a life-style similar to that of other United States citizens

3) Which one of the following best describes the function of the first paragraph in the context of the passage as a whole?
(A) It summarizes the basis of a conflict underlying negotiations described elsewhere in the passage.
(B) It presents two positions, one of which is defended by evidence provided in succeeding paragraphs.
(C) It compares competing interpretations of a historical conflict.
(D) It analyzes the causes of a specific historical event and predicts a future development.
(E) It outlines the history of a government agency.
4) The author refers to the increased awareness of civil rights during the 1940s and 1950s most probably in order to
(A) contrast the readjustment movement with other social phenomena
(B) account for the stance of the Native American leadership
(C) help explain the impetus for the readjustment movement
(D) explain the motives of BIA bureaucrats
(E) foster support for the policy of readjustment
5) The passage suggests that advocates of readjustment would most likely agree with which one of the following statements regarding the relationship between the federal government and Native Americans?
(A) The federal government should work with individual Native Americans to improve life on reservations.
(B) The federal government should be no more involved in the affaires of Native Americans than in the affairs of other citizens.
(C) The federal government should assume more responsibility for providing social services to Native Americans.
(D) The federal government should share its responsibility for maintaining Native American territories with tribal leaders.
(E) The federal government should observe all provisions of treaties made in the past with Native Americans.

6) The passage suggests that the Oneida delegates viewed the Canandaigua Treaty as
(A) a valuable safeguard of certain Oneida rights and privileges
(B) the source of many past problems for the Oneida tribe
(C) a model for the type of agreement they hoped to reach with the federal government
(D) an important step toward recognition of their status as an independent Native American nation
(E) an obsolete agreement without relevance for their current condition

7) Which one of the following situations most closely parallels that of the Oneida delegates in refusing to accept a lump-sum payment of $60,000?
(A) A university offers s a student a four-year scholarship with the stipulation that the student not accept any outside employment; the student refuses the offer and attends a different school because the amount of the scholarship would not have covered living expenses.
(B) A company seeking to reduce its payroll obligations offers an employee a large bonus if he will accept early retirement; the employee refuses because he does not want to compromise an outstanding worker’s compensation suit.
(C) Parents of a teenager offer to pay her at the end of the month for performing weekly chores rather than paying her on a weekly basis; the teenager refuses because she has a number of financial obligations that she must meet early in the month.
(D) A car dealer offers a customer a $500 cash payment for buying a new car; the customer refuses because she does not want to pay taxes on the amount, and requests instead that her monthly payments be reduced by a proportionate amount.
(E) A landlord offers a tenant several months rent-free in exchange for the tenant’s agreeing not to demand that her apartment be painted every two years, as is required by the lease; the tenant refuses because she would have to spend her own time painting the apartment.

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GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

The majority of successful senior managers do not closely follow the classical rational model of first clarifying goals, assessing the problem, formulating options, estimating likelihoods of success, making a decision, and only then taking action to implement the decision. Rather, in their day-by-day tactical maneuvers, these senior executives rely on what is vaguely termed intuition to manage a network of interrelated problems that require them to deal with ambiguity, inconsistency, novelty, and surprise; and to integrate action into the process of thinking.

Generations of writers on management have recognized that some practicing managers rely heavily on intuition. In general, however, such writers display a poor grasp of what intuition is. Some see it as the opposite of rationality; others view it as an excuse for capriciousness.

Isenberg’s recent research on the cognitive processes of senior managers reveals that managers intuition is neither of these. Rather, senior managers use intuition in at least five distinct ways. First, they intuitively sense when a problem exists. Second, managers rely on intuition to perform well-learned behavior patterns rapidly. This intuition is not arbitrary or irrational, but is based on years of painstaking practice and hands-on experience that build skills. A third function of intuition is to synthesize isolated bits of data and practice into an integrated picture, often in an Aha! experience.

Fourth, some managers use intuition as a check on the results of more rational analysis. Most senior executives are familiar with the formal decision analysis models and tools, and those who use such systematic methods for reaching decisions are occasionally leery of solutions suggested by these methods which run counter to their sense of the correct course of action. Finally, managers can use intuition to bypass in-depth analysis and move rapidly to engender a plausible solution. Used in this way, intuition is an almost instantaneous cognitive process in which a manager recognizes familiar patterns. One of the implications of the intuitive style of executive management is that thinking is inseparable from acting. Since managers often know what is right before they can analyze and explain it, they frequently act first and explain later. Analysis is inextricably tied to action in thinking/acting cycles, in which managers develop thoughts about their companies and organizations not by analyzing a problematic situation and then acting, but by acting and analyzing in close concert.

Given the great uncertainty of many of the management issues that they face, senior managers often instigate a course of action simply to learn more about an issue. They then use the results of the action to develop a more complete understanding of the issue. One implication of thinking/acting cycles is that action is often part of defining the problem, not just of implementing the solution.

1) According to the passage, senior managers use intuition in all of the following ways EXCEPT to
(A) speed up of the creation of a solution to a problem
(B) identify a problem
(C) bring together disparate facts
(D) stipulate clear goals
(E) evaluate possible solutions to a problem

2) The passage suggests which of the following about the writers on management mentioned in line 12?
(A) They have criticized managers for not following the classical rational model of decision analysis.
(B) They have not based their analyses on a sufficiently large sample of actual managers.
(C) They have relied in drawing their conclusions on what managers say rather than on what managers do.
(D) They have misunderstood how managers use intuition in making business decisions.
(E) They have not acknowledged the role of intuition in managerial practice.

3) Which of the following best exemplifies an Aha! experience (line 28) as it is presented in the passage?
(A) A manager risks taking an action whose outcome is unpredictable to discover whether the action changes the problem at hand.
(B) A manager performs well-learned and familiar behavior patterns in creative and uncharacteristic ways to solve a problem.
(C) A manager suddenly connects seemingly unrelated facts and experiences to create a pattern relevant to the problem at hand.
(D) A manager rapidly identifies the methodology used to compile data yielded by systematic analysis.
(E) A manager swiftly decides which of several sets of tactics to implement in order to deal with the contingencies suggested by a problem.

4) According to the passage, the classical model of decision analysis includes all of the following EXCEPT
(A) evaluation of a problem
(B) creation of possible solutions to a problem
(C) establishment of clear goals to be reached by the decision
(D) action undertaken in order to discover more information about a problem
(E) comparison of the probable effects of different solutions to a problem

5) It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following would most probably be one major difference in behavior between Manager X, who uses intuition to reach decisions, and Manager Y, who uses only formal decision analysis?
(A) Manager X analyzes first and then acts; Manager Y does not.
(B) Manager X checks possible solutions to a problem by systematic analysis; Manager Y does not.
(C) Manager X takes action in order to arrive at the solution to a problem; Manager Y does not.
(D) Manager Y draws on years of hands-on experience in creating a solution to a problem; Manager X does not.
(E) Manger Y depends on day-to-day tactical maneuvering; manager X does not.

6) It can be inferred from the passage that thinking/acting cycles (line 45) in managerial practice would be likely to result in which of the following?
I) A manager analyzes a network of problems and then acts on the basis of that analysis.
II) A manager gathers data by acting and observing the effects of action.
III) A manager takes action without being able to articulate reasons for that particular action.
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III

7) The passage provides support for which of the following statements?
(A) Managers who rely on intuition are more successful than those who rely on formal decision analysis.
(B) Managers cannot justify their intuitive decisions.
(C) Managers intuition works contrary to their rational and analytical skills.
(D) Logical analysis of a problem increases the number of possible solutions.
(E) Intuition enables managers to employ their practical experience more efficiently.

8 ) Which of the following best describes the organization of the first paragraph of the passage?
(A) An assertion is made and a specific supporting example is given.
(B) A conventional model is dismissed and an alternative introduced.
(C) The results of recent research are introduced and summarized.
(D) Two opposing points of view are presented and evaluated.
(E) A widely accepted definition is presented and qualified.

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GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

oseph Glatthaar’s Forged in Battle is not the first excellent study of Black soldiers and their White officers in the Civil War, but it uses more soldiers’ letters and diaries—including rare material from Black soldiers—and concentrates more intensely on Black-White relations in Black regiments than do any of its predecessors. Glatthaar’s title expresses his thesis: loyalty, friendship, and respect among White officers and Black soldiers were fostered by the mutual dangers they faced in combat.
Glatthaar accurately describes the government’s discriminatory treatment of Black soldiers in pay, promotion, medical care, and job assignments, appropriately emphasizing the campaign by Black soldiers and their officers to get the opportunity to fight. That chance remained limited throughout the war by army policies that kept most Black units serving in rear-echelon assignments and working in labor battalions. Thus, while their combat death rate was only one-third that of White units, their mortality rate from disease, a major killer in his war, was twice as great. Despite these obstacles, the courage and effectiveness of several Black units in combat won increasing respect from initially skeptical or hostile White soldiers. As one White officer put it, “they have fought their way into the respect of all the army.”

In trying to demonstrate the magnitude of this attitudinal change, however, Glatthaar seems to exaggerate the prewar racism of the White men who became officers in Black regiments. “Prior to the war,” he writes of these men, “virtually all of them held powerful racial prejudices.” While perhaps true of those officers who joined Black units for promotion or other self-serving motives, this statement misrepresents the attitudes of the many abolitionists who became officers in Black regiments. Having spent years fighting against the race prejudice endemic in American society, they participated eagerly in this military experiment, which they hoped would help African Americans achieve freedom and postwar civil equality. By current standards of racial egalitarianism, these men’s paternalism toward African Americans was racist. But to call their feelings “powerful racial prejudices” is to indulge in generational chauvinism—to judge past eras by present standards.

1) The passage as a whole can best be characterized as which of the following?
(A) An evaluation of a scholarly study
(B) A description of an attitudinal change
(C) A discussion of an analytical defect
(D) An analysis of the causes of a phenomenon
(E) An argument in favor of revising a view

2) According to the author, which of the following is true of Glatthaar’s Forged in Battle compared with previous studies on the same topic?
(A) It is more reliable and presents a more complete picture of the historical events on which it concentrates than do previous studies.
(B) It uses more of a particular kind of source material and focuses more closely on a particular aspect of the topic than do previous studies.
(C) It contains some unsupported generalizations, but it rightly emphasizes a theme ignored by most previous studies.
(D) It surpasses previous studies on the same topic in that it accurately describes conditions often neglected by those studies.
(E) It makes skillful use of supporting evidence to illustrate a subtle trend that previous studies have failed to detect.

3) The author implies that the title of Glatthaar’s book refers specifically to which of the following?
(A) The sense of pride and accomplishment that Black soldiers increasingly felt as a result of their Civil War experiences
(B) The civil equality that African Americans achieved after the Civil War, partly as a result of their use of organizational skills honed by combat
(C) The changes in discriminatory army policies that were made as a direct result of the performance of Black combat units during the Civil War
(D) The improved interracial relations that were formed by the races’ facing of common dangers and their waging of a common fight during the Civil War
(E) The standards of racial egalitarianism that came to be adopted as a result of White Civil War veterans’ repudiation of the previous racism

4) The passage mentions which of the following as an important theme that receives special emphasis in Glatthaar’s book?
(A) The attitudes of abolitionist officers in Black units
(B) The struggle of Black units to get combat assignments
(C) The consequences of the poor medical care received by Black soldiers
(D) The motives of officers serving in Black units
(E) The discrimination that Black soldiers faced when trying for promotions

5) The passage suggests that which of the following was true of Black units’ disease mortality rates in the Civil War?
(A) They were almost as high as the combat mortality rates of White units.
(B) They resulted in part from the relative inexperience of these units when in combat.
(C) They were especially high because of the nature of these units’ usual duty assignments.
(D) They resulted in extremely high overall casualty rates in Black combat units.
(E) They exacerbated the morale problems that were caused by the army’s discriminatory policies.

6) The author of the passage quotes the White officer in lines 23-24 primarily in order to provide evidence to support the contention that
(A) virtually all White officers initially had hostile attitudes toward Black soldiers
(B) Black soldiers were often forced to defend themselves from physical attacks initiated by soldiers from White units
(C) the combat performance of Black units changed the attitudes of White soldiers toward Black soldiers
(D) White units paid especially careful attention to the performance of Black units in battle
(E) respect in the army as a whole was accorded only to those units, whether Black or White, that performed well in battle

7) Which of the following best describes the kind of error attributed to Glatthaar in lines 25-28?
(A) Insisting on an unwarranted distinction between two groups of individuals in order to render an argument concerning them internally consistent
(B) Supporting an argument in favor of a given interpretation of a situation with evidence that is not particularly relevant to the situation
(C) Presenting a distorted view of the motives of certain individuals in order to provide grounds for a negative evaluation of their actions
(D) Describing the conditions prevailing before a given event in such a way that the contrast with those prevailing after the event appears more striking than it actually is
(E) Asserting that a given event is caused by another event merely because the other event occurred before the given event occurred

8) Which of the following actions can best be described as indulging in “generational chauvinism” (lines 40-41) as that practice is defined in the passage?
(A) Condemning a present-day monarch merely because many monarchs have been tyrannical in the past.
(B) Clinging to the formal standards of politeness common in one’s youth to such a degree that any relaxation of those standards is intolerable.
(C) Questioning the accuracy of a report written by an employee merely because of the employee’s gender.
(D) Deriding the superstitions accepted as “science” in past eras without acknowledging the prevalence of irrational beliefs today.
(E) Labeling a nineteenth-century politician as “corrupt” for engaging in once-acceptable practices considered intolerable today.

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GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

A debate arose over what exactly was happening. Which embryo cells are determined, just when do they become irreversibly committed to their fates, and what are the “morphogenetic determinants” that tell a cell what to become? But the debate could not be resolved because no one was able to ask the crucial questions in a form in which they could be pursued productively. Recent discoveries in molecular biology, however, have opened up prospects for a resolution of the debate. Now investigators think they know at least some of the molecules that act as morphogenetic determinants in early development. They have been able to show that, in a sense, cell determination begins even before an egg is fertilized.

Studying sea urchins, biologist Paul Gross found that an unfertilized egg contains substances that function as morphogenetic determinants. They are located in the cytoplasm of the egg cell; i.e., in that part of the cell’s protoplasm that lies outside of the nucleus. In the unfertilized egg, the substances are inactive and are not distributed homogeneously. When the egg is fertilized, the substances become active and, presumably, govern the behavior of the genes they interact with. Since the substances are unevenly distributed in the egg, when the fertilized egg divides, the resulting cells are different from the start and so can be qualitatively different in their own gene activity.

The substances that Gross studied are maternal messenger RNA’s—products of certain of the maternal genes. He and other biologists studying a wide variety of organisms have found that these particular RNA’s direct, in large part, the synthesis of histones, a class of proteins that bind to DNA. Once synthesized, the histones move into the cell nucleus, where section of DNA wrap around them to form a structure that resembles beads, or knots, on a string. The beads are DNA segments wrapped around the histones; the string is the intervening DNA. And it is the structure of these beaded DNA strings that guide the fate of the cells in which they are located.

1) The passage is most probably directed at which kind of audience?
(A) State legislators deciding about funding levels for a state-funded biological laboratory
(B) Scientists specializing in molecular genetics
(C) Readers of an alumni newsletter published by the college that Paul Gross attended
(D) Marine biologists studying the processes that give rise to new species
(E) Undergraduate biology majors in a molecular biology course

2) It can be inferred from the passage that the morphogenetic determinants present in the early embryo are
(A) located in the nucleus of the embryo cells
(B) evenly distributed unless the embryo is not developing normally
(C) inactive until the embryo cells become irreversibly committed to their final function
(D) identical to those that were already present in the unfertilized egg
(E) present in larger quantities than is necessary for the development of a single individual

3) The main topic of the passage is
(A) the early development of embryos of lower marine organisms
(B) the main contribution of modern embryology to molecular biology
(C) the role of molecular biology in disproving older theories of embryonic development
(D) cell determination as an issue in the study of embryonic development
(E) scientific dogma as a factor in the recent debate over the value of molecular biology

4) According to the passage, when biologists believed that the cells in the early embryo were undetermined, they made which of the following mistakes?
(A) They did not attempt to replicate the original experiment of separating an embryo into two parts.
(B) They did not realize that there was a connection between the issue of cell determination and the outcome of the separation experiment.
(C) They assumed that the results of experiments on embryos did not depend on the particular animal species used for such experiments.
(D) They assumed that it was crucial to perform the separation experiment at an early stage in the embryo’s life.
(E) They assumed that different ways of separating an embryo into two parts would be equivalent as far as the fate of the two parts was concerned.

5) It can be inferred from the passage that the initial production of histones after an egg is fertilized takes place
(A) in the cytoplasm
(B) in the maternal genes
(C) throughout the protoplasm
(D) in the beaded portions of the DNA strings
(E) in certain sections of the cell nucleus

6) It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is dependent on the fertilization of an egg?
(A) Copying of maternal genes to produce maternal messenger RNA’s
(B) Synthesis of proteins called histones
(C) Division of a cell into its nucleus and the cytoplasm
(D) Determination of the egg cell’s potential for division
(E) Generation of all of a cell’s morphogenetic determinants

7) According to the passage, the morphogenetic determinants present in the unfertilized egg cell are which of the following?
(A) Proteins bound to the nucleus
(B) Histones
(C) Maternal messenger RNA’s
(D) Cytoplasm
(E) Nonbeaded intervening DNA

8) The passage suggests that which of the following plays a role in determining whether an embryo separated into two parts will develop as two normal embryos?
I) The stage in the embryo’s life at which the separation occurs
II) The instrument with which the separations is accomplished
III) The plane in which the cut is made that separates the embryo
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) I and III only
(E) I, II, and III

9) Which of the following circumstances is most comparable to the impasse biologists encountered in trying to resolve the debate about cell determination (lines 12-18)?
(A) The problems faced by a literary scholar who wishes to use original source materials that are written in an unfamiliar foreign language
(B) The situation of a mathematician who in preparing a proof of a theorem for publication detects a reasoning error in the proof
(C) The difficulties of a space engineer who has to design equipment to function in an environment in which it cannot first be tested
(D) The predicament of a linguist trying to develop a theory of language acquisition when knowledge of the structure of language itself is rudimentary at best
(E) The dilemma confronting a foundation when the funds available to it are sufficient to support one of two equally deserving scientific projects but not both

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GMAT Question of The Day: Reading Comprehension

Cultivation of a single crop on a given tract of land leads eventually to decreased yields. One reason for this is that harmful bacterial phytopathogens, organisms parasitic on plant hosts, increase in the soil surrounding plant roots. The problem can be cured by crop rotation, denying the pathogens a suitable host for a period of time. However, even if crops are not rotated, the severity of diseases brought on by such phytopathogens often decreases after a number of years as the microbial population of the soil changes and the soil becomes “suppressive” to those diseases. While there may be many reasons for this phenomenon, it is clear that levels of certain bacteria, such as Pseudomonas fluorescens, a bacterium antagonistic to a number of harmful phytopathogens, are greater in suppressive than in nonsuppressive soil. This suggests that the presence of such bacteria suppresses phytopathogens. There is now considerable experimental support for this view. Wheat yield increases of 27 percent have been obtained in field trials by treatment of wheat seeds with fluorescent pseudomonads. Similar treatment of sugar beets, cotton, and potatoes has had similar results.

These improvements in crop yields through the application of Pseudomonas fluorescens suggest that agriculture could benefit from the use of bacteria genetically altered for specific purposes. For example, a form of phytopathogen altered to remove its harmful properties could be released into the environment in quantities favorable to its competing with and eventually excluding the harmful normal strain. Some experiments suggest that deliberately releasing altered nonpathogenic Pseudomonas syringae could crowd out the nonaltered variety that causes frost damage. Opponents of such research have objected that the deliberate and large-scale release of genetically altered bacteria might have deleterious results. Proponents, on the other hand, argue that this particular strain is altered only by the removal of the gene responsible for the strain’s propensity to cause frost damage, thereby rendering it safer than the phytopathogen from which it was derived.
Some proponents have gone further and suggest that genetic alteration techniques could create organisms with totally new combinations of desirable traits not found in nature. For example, genes responsible for production of insecticidal compounds have been transposed from other bacteria into pseudomonads that colonize corn roots. Experiments of this kind are difficult and require great care: such bacteria are developed in highly artificial environments and may not compete well with natural soil bacteria. Nevertheless, proponents contend that the prospects for improved agriculture through such methods seem excellent. These prospects lead many to hope that current efforts to assess the risks of deliberate release of altered microorganisms will successfully answer the concerns of opponents and create a climate in which such research can go forward without undue impediment.

1. Which one of the following best summarizes the main idea of the passage?
(A) Recent field experiments with genetically altered Pseudomonas bacteria have shown that releasing genetically altered bacteria into the environment would not involve any significant danger.
(B) Encouraged by current research, advocates of agricultural use of genetically altered bacteria are optimistic that such use will eventually result in improved agriculture, though opponents remain wary.
(C) Current research indicates that adding genetically altered Pseudomonas syringae bacteria to the soil surrounding crop plant roots will have many beneficial effects, such as the prevention of frost damage in certain crops.
(D) Genetic alteration of a number of harmful phytopathogens has been advocated by many researchers who contend that these techniques will eventually replace such outdated methods as crop rotation.
(E) Genetic alteration of bacteria has been successful in highly artificial laboratory conditions, but opponents of such research have argued that these techniques are unlikely to produce organisms that are able to survive in natural environments.

2. The author discusses naturally occurring Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria in the first paragraph primarily in order to do which one of the following?
(A) prove that increases in the level of such bacteria in the soil are the sole cause of soil suppressivity
(B) explain why yields increased after wheat fields were sprayed with altered Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria
(C) detail the chemical processes that such bacteria use to suppress organisms parasitic to crop plants, such as wheat, sugar beets, and potatoes
(D) provide background information to support the argument that research into the agricultural use of genetically altered bacteria would be fruitful
(E) argue that crop rotation is unnecessary, since diseases brought on by phytopathogens diminish in severity and eventually disappear on their own

3. It can be inferred from the author’s discussion of Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria that which one of the following would be true of crops impervious to parasitical organisms?
(A) Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria would be absent from the soil surrounding their roots.
(B) They would crowd out and eventually exclude other crop plants if their growth were not carefully regulated.
(C) Their yield would not be likely to be improved by adding Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria to the soil.
(D) They would mature more quickly than crop plants that were susceptible to parasitical organisms.
(E) Levels of phytopathogenic bacteria in the soil surrounding their roots would be higher compared with other crop plants.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that crop rotation can increase yields in part because
(A) moving crop plants around makes them hardier and more resistant to disease
(B) the number of Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria in the soil usually increases when crops are rotated
(C) the roots of many crop plants produce compounds that are antagonistic to phytopathogens harmful to other crop plants
(D) the presence of phytopathogenic bacteria is responsible for the majority of plant diseases
(E) phytopathogens typically attack some plant species but find other species to be unsuitable hosts

5. According to the passage, proponents of the use of genetically altered bacteria in agriculture argue that which one of the following is true of the altered bacteria used in the frost-damage experiments?
(A) The altered bacteria had a genetic constitution differing from that of the normal strain only in that the altered variety had one less gene.
(B) Although the altered bacteria competed effectively with the nonaltered strain in the laboratory, they were not as viable in natural environments.
(C) The altered bacteria were much safer and more effective than the naturally occurring Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria used in earlier experiments.
(D) The altered bacteria were antagonistic to several types of naturally occurring phytopathogens in the soil surrounding the roots of frost-damaged crops.
(E) The altered bacteria were released into the environment in numbers sufficient to guarantee the validity of experimental results.

6. Which one of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the proponents’ argument regarding the safety of using altered Pseudomonas syringae bacteria to control frost damage?
(A) Pseudomonas syringae bacteria are primitive and have a simple genetic constitution.
(B) The altered bacteria are derived from a strain that is parasitic to plants and can cause damage to crops.
(C) Current genetic-engineering techniques permit the large-scale commercial production of such bacteria.
(D) Often genes whose presence is responsible for one harmful characteristic must be present in order to prevent other harmful characteristics.
(E) The frost-damage experiments with Pseudomonas syringae bacteria indicate that the altered variety would only replace the normal strain if released in sufficient numbers.

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GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

In the two decades between 1910 and 1930, over ten percent of the Black population of the United States left the South, where the preponderance of the Black population had been located, and migrated to northern states, with the largest number moving, it is claimed, between 1916 and 1918. It has been frequently assumed, but not proved, that the majority of the migrants in what has come to be called the Great Migration came from rural areas and were motivated by two concurrent factors: the collapse of the cotton industry following the boll weevil infestation, which began in 1898, and increased demand in the North for labor following the cessation of European immigration caused by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. This assumption has led to the conclusion that the migrants’ subsequent lack of economic mobility in the North is tied to rural background, a background that implies unfamiliarity with urban living and a lack of industrial skills.

But the question of who actually left the South has never been rigorously investigated. Although numerous investigations document an exodus from rural southern areas to southern cities prior to the Great Migration, no one has considered whether the same migrants then moved on to northern cities. In 1910 over 600,000 Black workers, or ten percent of the Black work force, reported themselves to be engaged in “manufacturing and mechanical pursuits,” the federal census category roughly encompassing the entire industrial sector. The Great Migration could easily have been made up entirely of this group and their families. It is perhaps surprising to argue that an employed population could be enticed to move, but an explanation lies in the labor conditions then prevalent in the South.

About thirty-five percent of the urban Black population in the South was engaged in skilled trades. Some were from the old artisan class of slavery—blacksmiths, masons, carpenters—which had had a monopoly of certain trades, but they were gradually being pushed out by competition, mechanization, and obsolescence. The remaining sixty-five percent, more recently urbanized, worked in newly developed industries—tobacco, lumber, coal and iron manufacture, and railroads. Wages in the South, however, were low, and Black workers were aware, through labor recruiters and the Black press, that they could earn more even as unskilled workers in the North than they could as artisans in the South.

After the boll weevil infestation, urban Black workers faced competition from the continuing influx of both Black and White rural workers, who were driven to undercut the wages formerly paid for industrial jobs. Thus, a move north would be seen as advantageous to a group that was already urbanized and steadily employed, and the easy conclusion tying their subsequent economic problems in the North to their rural background comes into question.

1) The author indicates explicitly that which of the following records has been a source of information in her investigation?
(A) United States Immigration Service reports from 1914 to 1930
(B) Payrolls of southern manufacturing firms between 1910 and 1930
(C) The volume of cotton exports between 1898 and 1910
(D) The federal census of 1910
(E) Advertisements of labor recruiters appearing in southern newspapers after 1910

2) In the passage, the author anticipates which of the following as a possible objection to her argument?
(A) It is uncertain how many people actually migrated during the Great Migration.
(B) The eventual economic status of the Great Migration migrants has not been adequately traced.
(C) It is not likely that people with steady jobs would have reason to move to another area of the country.
(D) It is not true that the term “manufacturing and mechanical pursuits” actually encompasses the entire industrial sector.
(E) Of the Black workers living in southern cities, only those in a small number of trades were threatened by obsolescence.

3) According to the passage, which of the following is true of wages in southern cities in 1910?
(A) They were being pushed lower as a result of increased competition.
(B) They had begun t to rise so that southern industry could attract rural workers.
(C) They had increased for skilled workers but decreased for unskilled workers.
(D) They had increased in large southern cities but decreased in small southern cities.
(E) They had increased in newly developed industries but decreased in the older trades.

4) The author cites each of the following as possible influences in a Black worker’s decision to migrate north in the Great Migration EXCEPT
(A) wage levels in northern cities
(B) labor recruiters
(C) competition from rural workers
(D) voting rights in northern states
(E) the Black press

5) It can be inferred from the passage that the “easy conclusion” mentioned in line 53 is based on which of the following assumptions?
(A) People who migrate from rural areas to large cities usually do so for economic reasons.
(B) Most people who leave rural areas to take jobs in cities return to rural areas as soon as it is financially possible for them to do so.
(C) People with rural backgrounds are less likely to succeed economically in cities than are those with urban backgrounds.
(D) Most people who were once skilled workers are not willing to work as unskilled workers.
(E) People who migrate from their birthplaces to other regions of country seldom undertake a second migration.

6) The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) support an alternative to an accepted methodology
(B) present evidence that resolves a contradiction
(C) introduce a recently discovered source of information
(D) challenge a widely accepted explanation
(E) argue that a discarded theory deserves new attention

7) According to information in the passage, which of the following is a correct sequence of groups of workers, from highest paid to lowest paid, in the period between 1910 and 1930?
(A) Artisans in the North; artisans in the South; unskilled workers in the North; unskilled workers in the South
(B) Artisans in the North and South; unskilled workers in the North; unskilled workers in the South
(C) Artisans in the North; unskilled workers in the North; artisans in the South
(D) Artisans in the North and South; unskilled urban workers in the North; unskilled rural workers in the South
(E) Artisans in the North and South, unskilled rural workers in the North and South; unskilled urban workers in the North and South

8) The material in the passage would be most relevant to a long discussion of which of the following topics?
(A) The reasons for the subsequent economic difficulties of those who participated in the Great Migration
(B) The effect of migration on the regional economies of the United States following the First World War
(C) The transition from a rural to an urban existence for those who migrated in the Great Migration
(D) The transformation of the agricultural South following the boll weevil infestation
(E) The disappearance of the artisan class in the United States as a consequence of mechanization in the early twentieth century

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GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

It can be argued that much consumer dissatisfaction with marketing strategies arises from an inability to aim advertising at only the likely buyers of a given product.
There are three groups of consumers who are affected by the marketing process. First, there is the market segment—people who need the commodity in question. Second, there is the program target—people in the market segment with the “best fit” characteristics for a specific product. Lots of people may need trousers, but only a few qualify as likely buyers of very expensive designer trousers. Finally, there is the program audience?all people who are actually exposed to the marketing program without regard to whether they need or want the product.

These three groups are rarely identical. An exception occurs occasionally in cases where customers for a particular industrial product may be few and easily identifiable. Such customers, all sharing a particular need, are likely to form a meaningful target, for example, all companies with a particular application of the product in question, such as high-speed fillers of bottles at breweries. In such circumstances, direct selling (marketing that reaches only the program target) is likely to be economically justified, and highly specialized trade media exist to expose members of the program target—and only members of the program target—to the marketing program.

Most consumer-goods markets are significantly different. Typically, there are many rather than few potential customers. Each represents a relatively small percentage of potential sales. Rarely do members of a particular market segment group themselves neatly into a meaningful program target. There are substantial differences among consumers with similar demographic characteristics. Even with all the past decade’s advances in information technology, direct selling of consumer goods is rare, and mass marketing—a marketing approach that aims at a wide audience—remains the only economically feasible mode.

Unfortunately, there are few media that allow the marketer to direct a marketing program exclusively to the program target. Inevitably, people get exposed to a great deal of marketing for products in which they have no interest and so they become annoyed.

1) The passage suggests which of the following about highly specialized trade media?
(A) They should be used only when direct selling is not economically feasible.
(B) They can be used to exclude from the program audience people who are not part of the program target.
(C) They are used only for very expensive products.
(D) They are rarely used in the implementation of marketing programs for industrial products.
(E) They are used only when direct selling has not reached the appropriate market segment.

2) According to the passage, most consumer-goods markets share which of the following characteristics?
I) Customers who differ significantly from each other
II) Large numbers of potential customers
III) Customers who each represent a small percentage of potential sales
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III

3) The passage suggests which of the following about direct selling?
(A) It is used in the marketing of most industrial products.
(B) It is often used in cases where there is a large program target.
(C) It is not economically feasible for most marketing programs.
(D) It is used only for products for which there are many potential customers.
(E) It is less successful at directing a marketing program to the target audience than are other marketing approaches.

4) The author mentions “trousers” (lines 9 and 11) most likely in order to
(A) make a comparison between the program target and the program audience
(B) emphasize the similarities between the market segment and the program target
(C) provide an example of the way three groups of consumers are affected by a marketing program
(D) clarify the distinction between the market segment and the program target
(E) introduce the concept of the program audience

5) Which of the following best exemplifies the situation described in the last two sentences of the passage?
(A) A product suitable for women age 21-30 is marketed at meetings attended only by potential customers.
(B) A company develops a new product and must develop an advertising campaign to create a market for it.
(C) An idea for a specialized product remains unexplored because media exposure of the product to its few

potential customers would be too expensive.
(D) A new product is developed and marketers collect demographic data on potential consumers before developing a specific advertising campaign.
(E) A product suitable for men age 60 and over is advertised in a magazine read by adults of all ages.

6) The passage suggests that which of the following is true about the marketing of industrial products

like those discussed in the third paragraph?
(A) The market segment and program target are identical.
(B) Mass marketing is the only feasible way of advertising such products.
(C) The marketing program cannot be directed specifically to the program target.
(D) More customers would be needed to justify the expense of direct selling.
(E) The program audience would necessarily be made up of potential customers, regardless of the marketing approach that was used.

7) The passage supports which of the following statements about demographic characteristics and marketing?
(A) Demographic research is of no use in determining how successful a product will be with a particular group of consumers.
(B) A program audience is usually composed of people with similar demographic characteristics.
(C) Psychological factors are more important than demographic factors in defining a market segments.
(D) Consumers with similar demographic characteristics do not necessarily form a meaningful program target.
(E) Collecting demographic data is the first step that marketers take in designing a marketing program.

8) It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true for most consumer-goods
markets?
(A) The program audience is smaller than the market segment.
(B) The program audience and the market segment are usually identical.
(C) The market segment and the program target are usually identical.
(D) The program target is larger than the market segment.
(E) The program target and the program audience are not usually identical.

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GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

Protein synthesis begins when the gene encoding a protein is activated. The gene’s sequence of nucleotides  is transcribed into a molecule of messenger RNA (mRNA), which reproduces the information contained in that  sequence. Transported outside the nucleus to the cytoplasm, the mRNA is translated into the protein it  encodes by an organelle known as a ribosome, which strings together amino acids in the order specified by  the sequence of elements in the mRNA molecule. Since the amount of mRNA in a cell determines the amount of  the corresponding protein, factors affecting the abundance of mRNA’s play a major part in the normal  functioning of a cell by appropriately regulating protein synthesis.

For example, an excess of certain  proteins can cause cells to proliferate abnormally and become cancerous; a lack of the protein insulin  results in diabetes.

Biologists once assumed that the variable rates at which cells synthesize different mRNA’s determine the  quantities of mRNA’s and their corresponding proteins in a cell. However, recent investigations have shown  that the concentrations of most mRNA’s correlate best, not with their synthesis rate, but rather with the  equally variable rates at which cells degrade the different mRNA’s in their cytoplasm. If a cell degrades both a rapidly and a slowly synthesized mRNA slowly, both mRNA’s will accumulate to high levels.

An important example of this phenomenon is the development of red blood cells from their unspecialized parent cells in bone marrow. For red blood cells to accumulate sufficient concentrations of hemoglobin  (which transports oxygen) to carry out their main function, the cells’ parent cells must simultaneously  produce more of the constituent proteins of hemoglobin and less of most other proteins. To do this, the parent cells halt synthesis of non-hemoglobin mRNA’s in the nucleus and rapidly degrade copies of the  non-hemoglobin mRNA’s remaining in the cytoplasm. Halting synthesis of mRNA alone would not affect the quantities of proteins synthesized by the mRNA’s still existing in the cytoplasm. Biologists now believe that most cells can regulate protein production most efficiently by varying both mRNA synthesis and   degradation, as developing red cells do, rather than by just varying one or the other.

1) The passage is primarily concerned with discussing the
(A) influence of mRNA concentrations on the development of red blood cells
(B) role of the synthesis and degradation of mRNA in cell functioning
(C) mechanism by which genes are transcribed into mRNA
(D) differences in mRNA concentrations in cell nuclei and in the cytoplasm
(E) way in which mRNA synthesis contributes to the onset of diabetes

2) The passage suggests that a biologist who held the view described in the first sentence of the second

paragraph would most probably also have believed which of the following?
(A) The rate of degradation of specific mRNA’s has little effect on protein concentrations.
(B) The rate of degradation of specific mRNA’s should be studied intensively.
(C) The rates of synthesis and degradation for any given mRNA are normally equal.
(D) Different mRNA’s undergo degradation at widely varying rates.
(E) Most mRNA’s degrade very rapidly.

3) Which of the following best describes the relationship between the second and third paragraphs of the  passage?
(A) The second paragraph presents arguments in support of a new theory and the third paragraph presents  arguments against that same theory.
(B) The second paragraph describes a traditional view and the third paragraph describes the view that has  replaced it on the basis of recent investigations.
(C) The third paragraph describes a specific case of a phenomenon that is described generally in the second paragraph.
(D) The third paragraph describes an investigation that was undertaken to resolve problems raised by  phenomena described in the second paragraph.
(E) Both paragraphs describe in detail specific examples of the phenomenon that is introduced in the first  paragraph.

4) The accumulation of concentrations of hemoglobin in red blood cells is mentioned in the passage as an  example of which of the following?
(A) The effectiveness of simultaneous variation of the rates of synthesis and degradation of mRNA
(B) The role of the ribosome in enabling a parent cell to develop properly into a more specialized form
(C) The importance of activating the genes for particular proteins at the correct moment
(D) The abnormal proliferation of a protein that threatens to make the cell cancerous
(E) The kind of evidence that biologists relied on for support of a view of mRNA synthesis that is now  considered obsolete

5) To begin to control a disease caused by a protein deficiency, the passage suggests that a promising  experimental treatment would be to administer a drug that would reduce
(A) only the degradation rate for the mRNA of the protein involved
(B) only the synthesis rate for the mRNA of the protein involved
(C) both the synthesis and degradation rates for the mRNA of the protein involved
(D) the incidence of errors in the transcription of mRNA’s from genetic nucleotide sequences
(E) the rate of activity of ribosomes in the cytoplasm of most cells

6) According to the passage, which of the following best describes the current view on the relationship  between the synthesis and the degradation of mRNA in regulating protein synthesis?
(A) Biologists have recently become convinced that the ribosome controls the rates of synthesis and degradation of mRNA.
(B) There is no consensus among biologists as to the significance of mRNA degradation in regulating protein synthesis.
(C) The concept of mRNA degradation is so new that most biologists still believe that the vital role in protein regulation belongs to mRNA synthesis.
(D) Degradation of mRNA is now considered to be the key process and mRNA synthesis is no longer believed to play a significant role.
(E) Degradation of mRNA is now considered to be as important as mRNA synthesis has been, and still is, believed to be.

7) According to the passage, which of the following can happen when protein synthesis is not appropriately regulated?
(A) Diabetes can result from errors that occur when the ribosomes translate mRNA into protein.
(B) Cancer can result from an excess of certain proteins and diabetes can result from an insulin
deficiency.
(C) A deficiency of red blood cells can occur if bone marrow cells produce too much hemoglobin.
(D) Cancer can be caused by excessively rapid degradation of certain amino acids in the cytoplasm of cells.
(E) Excessive synthesis of one protein can trigger increased degradation of mRNA’s for other proteins and create severe protein imbalances.
8) The passage suggests that a biologist who detected high levels of two proteins in a certain type of cell would be likely to consider which of the following as a possible explanation?
(A) The rate of mRNA degradation for one of the proteins increases as this type of cell develops a more  specialized function.
(B) The two proteins are most likely constituents of a complex substance supporting the cells’ specialized  function.
(C) The cells are likely to proliferate abnormally and possibly become cancerous due to the levels of  these proteins.
(D) The mRNA’s for both proteins are being degraded at a low rate in that type of cell.
(E) The mRNA’s for the two proteins are being synthesized at identical rates in that type of cell.

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GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

A conventional view of nineteenth-century Britain holds that iron manufacturers and textile manufacturers from the north of England became the wealthiest and most powerful people in society after about 1832. According to Marxist historians, these industrialists were the target of the working class in its struggle for power. A new study by Rubinstein, however, suggests that the real wealth lay with the bankers and merchants of London. Rubinstein does not deny that a northern industrial elite existed but argues that it was consistently outnumbered and outdone by a London-based commercial elite. His claims are provocative and deserve consideration.

Rubinstein’s claim about the location of wealth comes from his investigation of probate records. These indicate the value of personal property, excluding real property (buildings and land), left by individuals at death. It does seem as if large fortunes were more frequently made in commerce than in industry and, within industry, more frequently from alcohol or tobacco than from textiles or metal. However, such records do not unequivocally make Rubinstein’s case. Uncertainties abound about how the probate rules for valuing assets were actually applied. Mills and factories, being real property, were clearly excluded: machinery may also have been, for the same reason. What the valuation conventions were for stock-in-trade (goods for sale) is also uncertain. It is possible that their probate values were much lower than their actual market value: cash or near-cash, such as bank balances or stocks, were, on the other hand, invariably considered at full face value. A further complication is that probate valuations probably took no notice of a business’s goodwill (favor with the public) which, since it represents expectations about future profit-making, would today very often be a large fraction of market value. Whether factors like these introduced systematic biases into the probate valuations of individuals with different types of businesses would be worth investigating.

The orthodox view that the wealthiest individuals were the most powerful is also questioned by Rubinstein’s study. The problem for this orthodox view is that Rubinstein finds many millionaires who are totally unknown to nineteenth-century historians: the reason for their obscurity could be that they were not powerful. Indeed, Rubinstein dismisses any notion that great wealth had anything to do with entry into the governing elite, as represented by bishops, higher civil servants, and chairmen of manufacturing companies. The only requirements were university attendance and a father with a middle-class income.

Rubinstein, in another study, has begun to buttress his findings about the location of wealth by analyzing income tax returns, which reveal a geographical distribution of middle-class incomes similar to that of wealthy incomes revealed by probate records. But until further confirmatory investigation is done, his claims can only be considered partially convincing.

1) The main idea of the passage is that
(A) the Marxist interpretation of the relationship between class and power in nineteenth-century Britain is no longer viable
(B) a simple equation between wealth and power is unlikely to be supported by new data from nineteenth-century British archives
(C) a recent historical investigation has challenged but not disproved the orthodox view of the distribution of wealth and the relationship of wealth to power in nineteenth-century Britain
(D) probate records provide the historian with a revealing but incomplete glimpse of the extent and location of wealth in nineteenth-century Britain
(E) an attempt has been made to confirm the findings of a new historical study of nineteenth-century Britain, but complete confirmation is likely to remain elusive

2) The author of the passage implies that probate records as a source of information about wealth in nineteenth-century Britain are
(A) self-contradictory and misleading
(B) ambiguous and outdated
(C) controversial but readily available
(D) revealing but difficult to interpret
(E) widely used by historians but fully understandable only by specialists

3) The author suggests that the total probate valuations of the personal property of individuals holding goods for sale in nineteenth-century Britain may have been
(A) affected by the valuation conventions for such goods
(B) less accurate than the valuations for such goods provided by income tax returns
(C) less, on average, if such goods were tobacco-related than if they were alcohol-related
(D) greater, on average, than the total probate valuations of those individuals who held bank balances
(E) dependent on whether such goods were held by industrialists or by merchants or bankers

4) According to the passage, Rubinstein has provided evidence that challenges which one of the following claims about nineteenth-century Britain?
(A) The distribution of great wealth between commerce and industry was not equal.
(B) Large incomes were typically made in alcohol and tobacco rather than in textiles and metal.
(C) A London-based commercial elite can be identified.
(D) An official governing elite can be identified.
(E) There was a necessary relationship between great wealth and power.

5) The author mentions that goodwill was probably excluded from the probate valuation of a business in nineteenth-century Britain most likely in order to
(A) give an example of a business asset about which little was known in the nineteenth century
(B) suggest that the probate valuations of certain businesses may have been significant underestimations of their true market value
(C) make the point that this exclusion probably had an equal impact on the probate valuations of all nineteenth-century British businesses
(D) indicate that expectations about future profit-making is the single most important factor in determining the market value of certain businesses
(E) argue that the twentieth-century method of determining probate valuations of a business may be consistently superior to the nineteenth-century method

6) Which one of the following studies would provide support for Rubinstein’s claims?
(A) a study that indicated that many members of the commercial elite in nineteenth-century London had insignificant holdings of real property
(B) a study that indicated that in the nineteenth century, industrialists from the north of England were in fact a target for working-class people
(C) a study that indicated that, in nineteenth-century Britain, probate values of goods for sale were not as high as probate values of cash assets
(D) a study that indicated that the wealth of nineteenth-century British industrialists did not appear to be significantly greater when the full value of their real property holdings was actually considered
(E) a study that indicated that at least some members of the official governing elite in nineteenth-century Britain owned more real property than had previously been thought to be the case

7) Which one of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on Rubinstein’s argument concerning wealth and the official governing elite in nineteenth-century Britain?
(A) Entry into this elite was more dependent on university attendance than on religious background.
(B) Attendance at a prestigious university was probably more crucial than a certain minimum family income in gaining entry into this elite.
(C) Bishops as a group were somewhat wealthier, at the point of entry into this elite, than were higher civil servants or chairmen of manufacturing companies.
(D) The families of many members of this elite owned few, if any, shares in iron industries and textile industries in the north of England.
(E) The composition of this elite included vice-chancellors, many of whom held office because of their wealth.

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GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

Milankovitch proposed in the early twentieth century that the ice ages were caused by variations in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. For sometime this theory was considered untestable, largely because there was no sufficiently precise chronology of the ice ages with which the orbital variations could be matched.

To establish such a chronology it is necessary to determine the relative amounts of land ice that existed at various times in the Earth’s past. A recent discovery makes such a determination possible: relative land-ice volume for a given period can be deduced from the ratio of two oxygen isotopes, 16 and 18, found in ocean sediments. Almost all the oxygen in water is oxygen 16, but a few molecules out of every thousand incorporate the heavier isotope 18. When an ice age begins, the continental ice sheets grow, steadily reducing the amount of water evaporated from the ocean that will eventually return to it. Because heavier isotopes tend to be left behind when water evaporates from the ocean surfaces, the remaining ocean water becomes progressively enriched in oxygen 18. The degree of enrichment can be determined by analyzing ocean sediments of the period, because these sediments are composed of calcium carbonate shells of marine organisms, shells that were constructed with oxygen atoms drawn from the surrounding ocean. The higher the ratio of oxygen 18 to oxygen 16 in a sedimentary specimen, the more land ice there was when the sediment was laid down.

As an indicator of shifts in the Earth’s climate, the isotope record has two advantages. First, it is a global record: there is remarkably little variation in isotope ratios in sedimentary specimens taken from different continental locations. Second, it is a more continuous record than that taken from rocks on land. Because of these advantages, sedimentary evidence can be dated with sufficient accuracy by radiometric methods to establish a precise chronology of the ice ages. The dated isotope record shows that the fluctuations in global ice volume over the past several hundred thousand years have a pattern: an ice age occurs roughly once every 100,000 years. These data have established a strong connection between variations in the Earth’s orbit and the periodicity of the ice ages.

However, it is important to note that other factors, such as volcanic particulates or variations in the amount of sunlight received by the Earth, could potentially have affected the climate. The advantage of the Milankovitch theory is that it is testable: changes in the Earth’s orbit can be calculated and dated by applying Newton’s laws of gravity to progressively earlier configurations of the bodies in the solar system. Yet the lack of information about other possible factors affecting global climate does not make them unimportant.

1) In the passage, the author is primarily interested in
(A) suggesting an alternative to an outdated research method
(B) introducing a new research method that calls an accepted theory into question
(C) emphasizing the instability of data gathered from the application of a new scientific method
(D) presenting a theory and describing a new method to test that theory
(E) initiating a debate about a widely accepted theory

2) The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the Milankovitch theory?
(A) It is the only possible explanation for the ice ages.
(B) It is too limited to provide a plausible explanation for the ice ages, despite recent research findings.
(C) It cannot be tested and confirmed until further research on volcanic activity is done.
(D) It is one plausible explanation, though not the only one, for the ice ages.
(E) It is not a plausible explanation for the ice ages, although it has opened up promising possibilities for future research.

3) It can be inferred from the passage that the isotope record taken from ocean sediments would be less useful to researchers if which of the following were true?
(A) It indicated that lighter isotopes of oxygen predominated at certain times.
(B) It had far more gaps in its sequence than the record taken from rocks on land.
(C) It indicated that climate shifts did not occur every 100,000 years.
(D) It indicated that the ratios of oxygen 16 and oxygen 18 in ocean water were not consistent with those found in fresh water.
(E) It stretched back for only a million years.

4) According to the passage, which of the following is true of the ratios of oxygen isotopes in ocean sediments?
(A) They indicate that sediments found during an ice age contain more calcium carbonate than sediments formed at other times.
(B) They are less reliable than the evidence from rocks on land in determining the volume of land ice.
(C) They can be used to deduce the relative volume of land ice that was present when the sediment was laid down.
(D) They are more unpredictable during an ice age than in other climatic conditions.
(E) They can be used to determine atmospheric conditions at various times in the past.

5) It can be inferred from the passage that precipitation formed from evaporated ocean water has
(A) the same isotopic ratio as ocean water
(B) less oxygen 18 than does ocean water
(C) less oxygen 18 than has the ice contained in continental ice sheets
(D) a different isotopic composition than has precipitation formed from water on land
(E) more oxygen 16 than has precipitation formed from fresh water

6) According to the passage, which of the following is (are) true of the ice ages?
I) The last ice age occurred about 25,000 years ago.
II) Ice ages have lasted about 10,000 years for at least the last several hundred thousand years.
III) Ice ages have occurred about every 100,000 years for at least the last several hundred thousand years.
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and only
(E) I, II and III

7) It can be inferred from the passage that calcium carbonate shells
(A) are not as susceptible to deterioration as rocks
(B) are less common in sediments formed during an ice age
(C) are found only in areas that were once covered by land ice
(D) contain radioactive material that can be used to determine a sediment’s isotopic composition
(E) reflect the isotopic composition of the water at the time the shells were formed

8) The purpose of the last paragraph of the passage is to
(A) offer a note of caution
(B) introduce new evidence
(C) present two recent discoveries
(D) summarize material in the preceding paragraphs
(E) offer two explanations for a phenomenon

9) According to the passage, one advantage of studying the isotope record of ocean sediments is that it
(A) corresponds with the record of ice volume taken from rocks on land
(B) shows little variation in isotope ratios when samples are taken from different continental locations
(C) corresponds with predictions already made by climatologists and experts in other fields
(D) confirms the record of ice volume initially established by analyzing variations in volcanic emissions
(E) provides data that can be used to substantiate records concerning variations in the amount of sunlight received by the Earth

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GMAT Question of the Day:Reading Comprehension

At the end of the nineteenth century, a rising interest in Native American customs and an increasing desire to understand Native American culture prompted ethnologists to begin recording the life stories of Native American. Ethnologists had a distinct reason for wanting to hear the stories: they were after linguistic or anthropological data that would supplement their own field observations, and they believed that the personal stories, even of a single individual, could increase their understanding of the cultures that they had been observing from without. In addition many ethnologists at the turn of the century believed that Native American manners and customs were rapidly disappearing, and that it was important to preserve for posterity as much information as could be adequately recorded before the cultures disappeared forever.

There were, however, arguments against this method as a way of acquiring accurate and complete information. Franz Boas, for example, described autobiographies as being “of limited value, and useful chiefly for the study of the perversion of truth by memory,” while Paul Radin contended that investigators rarely spent enough time with the tribes they were observing, and inevitably derived results too tinged by the investigator’s own emotional tone to be reliable.

Even more importantly, as these life stories moved from the traditional oral mode to recorded written form, much was inevitably lost. Editors often decided what elements were significant to the field research on a given tribe. Native Americans recognized that the essence of their lives could not be communicated in English and that events that they thought significant were often deemed unimportant by their interviewers. Indeed, the very act of telling their stories could force Native American narrators to distort their cultures, as taboos had to be broken to speak the names of dead relatives crucial to their family stories.

Despite all of this, autobiography remains a useful tool for ethnological research: such personal reminiscences and impressions, incomplete as they may be, are likely to throw more light on the working of the mind and emotions than any amount of speculation from an ethnologist or ethnological theorist from another culture.

1) Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
(A) The historical backgrounds of two currently used research methods are chronicled.
(B) The validity of the data collected by using two different research methods is compared.
(C) The usefulness of a research method is questioned and then a new method is proposed.
(D) The use of a research method is described and the limitations of the results obtained are discussed.
(E) A research method is evaluated and the changes necessary for its adaptation to other subject areas are discussed.

2) Which of the following is most similar to the actions of nineteenth-century ethnologists in their editing of the life stories of Native Americans?
(A) A witness in a jury trial invokes the Fifth Amendment in order to avoid relating personally incriminating evidence.
(B) A stockbroker refuses to divulge the source of her information on the possible future increase in a stock’s value.
(C) A sports announcer describes the action in a team sport with which he is unfamiliar.
(D) A chef purposely excludes the special ingredient from the recipe of his prizewinning dessert.
(E) A politician fails to mention in a campaign speech the similarities in the positions held by her opponent for political office and by herself.

3) According to the passage, collecting life stories can be a useful methodology because
(A) life stories provide deeper insights into a culture than the hypothesizing of academics who are not members of that culture
(B) life stories can be collected easily and they are not subject to invalid interpretations
(C) ethnologists have a limited number of research methods from which to choose
(D) life stories make it easy to distinguish between the important and unimportant features of a culture
(E) the collection of life stories does not require a culturally knowledgeable investigator

4) Information in the passage suggests that which of the following may be a possible way to eliminate bias in the editing of life stories?
(A) Basing all inferences made about the culture on an ethnological theory
(B) Eliminating all of the emotion-laden information reported by the informant
(C) Translating the informant’s words into the researcher’s language
(D) Reducing the number of questions and carefully specifying the content of the questions that the investigator can ask the informant
(E) Reporting all of the information that the informant provides regardless of the investigator’s personal opinion about its intrinsic value

5) The primary purpose of the passage as a whole is to
(A) question an explanation
(B) correct a misconception
(C) critique a methodology
(D) discredit an idea
(E) clarify an ambiguity

6) It can be inferred from the passage that a characteristic of the ethnological research on Native Americans conducted during the nineteenth century was the use of which of the following?
(A) Investigators familiar with the culture under study
(B) A language other than the informant’s for recording life stories
(C) Life stories as the ethnologist’s primary source of information
(D) Complete transcriptions of informants’ descriptions of tribal beliefs
(E) Stringent guidelines for the preservation of cultural data

7) The passage mentions which of the following as a factor that can affect the accuracy of ethnologists’ transcriptions of life stories?
(A) The informants’ social standing within the culture
(B) The inclusiveness of the theory that provided the basis for the research
(C) The length of time the researchers spent in the culture under study
(D) The number of life stories collected by the researchers
(E) The verifiability of the information provided by the research informants

8) It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the usefulness of life stories as a source of ethnographic information?
(A) They can be a source of information about how people in a culture view the world.
(B) They are most useful as a source of linguistic information.
(C) They require editing and interpretation before they can be useful.
(D) They are most useful as a source of information about ancestry.
(E) They provide incidental information rather than significant insights into a way of life.

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