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GMAT - Critical Reasoning - Test 38

in Critical Reasoning

Read the passage and choose the option that best answer the question.

1. It is strange that in Sentacity there are so many corner shops selling food items. After all there are many supermarkets in the city which sell food at cheaper prices, and many of these supermarkets are open 24-hours.

Which of the following, if true, would be of least help in explaining the paradoxical observation?

A. The corner shops are selling specialist food items not available in the supermarkets.
B. The supermarkets are mostly located on the outskirts of the city and require residents to use cars or public transport to reach them.
C. The main business of the local shops is newspaper distribution and food items represent a small part of their turnover.
D. The corner shops are mainly family-owned businesses and have been there for much longer than the supermarkets and are perceived as an important feature of the community.
E. The corner shops are willing to make home deliveries.

2. Neighboring landholders: Air pollution from the giant aluminum refinery that has been built next to our land is killing our plants. Company spokesperson: The refinery is not to blame, since our study shows that the damage is due to insects and fungi. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion drawn by the company spokesperson?

A. The study did not measure the quantity of pollutants emitted into the surrounding air by the aluminum refinery.
B. The neighboring landholders have made no change in the way they take care of their plants.
C. Air pollution from the refinery has changed the chemical balance in the plants' environment, allowing the harmful insects and fungi to thrive.
D. Pollutants that are invisible and odorless are emitted into the surrounding air by the refinery.
E. The various species of insects and fungi mentioned in the study have been occasionally found in the locality during the past hundred years.

3. By analyzing the garbage of a large number of average-sized households, a group of modern urban anthropologists has found that a household discards less food the more standardized?made up of canned and prepackaged foods?its diet is. The more standardized a household's diet is, however, the greater the quantities of fresh produce the household throws away. Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

A. An increasing number of households rely on a highly standardized diet.
B. The less standardized a household's diet is, the more nonfood waste the household discards.
C. The less standardized a household's diet is, the smaller is the proportion of fresh produce in the household's food waste.
D. The less standardized a household's diet is, the more canned and prepackaged foods the household discards as waste.
E. The more fresh produce a household buys, the more fresh produce it throws away.

4. Teresa: Manned spaceflight does not have a future, since it cannot compete economically with other means of accomplishing the objectives of spaceflight. Edward: No mode of human transportation has a better record of reliability: two accidents in twenty-five years. Thus manned spaceflight definitely has a positive future. Which of the following is the best logical evaluation of Edward's argument as a response to Teresa's argument?

A. It cites evidence that, if true, tends to disprove the evidence cited by Teresa in drawing her conclusion.
B. It indicates a logical gap in the support that Teresa offers for her conclusion.
C. It raises a consideration that outweighs the argument Teresa makes.
D. It does not meet Teresa's point because it assumes that there is no serious impediment to transporting people into space, but this was the issue raised by Teresa.
E. It fails to respond to Teresa's argument because it does not address the fundamental issue of whether space activities should have priority over other claims on the national budget.

5. Opponents of laws that require automobile drivers and passengers to wear seat belts argue that in a free society people have the right to take risks as long as the people do not harm others as a result of taking the risks. As a result, they conclude that it should be each person's decision whether or not to wear a seat belt. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion drawn above?

A. Many new cars are built with seat belts that automatically fasten when someone sits in the front seat.
B. Automobile insurance rates for all automobile owners are higher because of the need to pay for the increased injuries or deaths of people not wearing seat belts.
C. Passengers in airplanes are required to wear seat belts during takeoffs and landings.
D. The rate of automobile fatalities in states that do not have mandatory seat-belt laws is greater than the rate of fatalities in states that do have such laws.
E. In automobile accidents, a greater number of passengers who do not wear seat belts are injured than are passengers who do wear seat belts.

6. The average age of chief executive officers (CEO's) in a large sample of companies is 57. The average age of CEO's in those same companies 20 years ago was approximately eight years younger. On the basis of those data, it can be concluded that CEO's in general tend to be older now. Which of the following casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?

A. The dates when the CEO's assumed their current positions have not been specified.
B. No information is given concerning the average number of years that CEO's remain in office.
C. The information is based only on companies that have been operating for at least 20 years.
D. Only approximate information is given concerning the average age of the CEO's 20 years ago.
E. Information concerning the exact number of companies in the sample has not been given.

7. A milepost on the towpath read ?21? on the side facing the hiker as she approached it and ?23? on its back. She reasoned that the next milepost forward on the path would indicate that she was halfway between one end of the path and the other. However, the milepost one mile further on read ?20? facing her and ?24? behind. Which of the following, if true, would explain the discrepancy described above?

A. The numbers on the next milepost had been reversed.
B. The numbers on the mileposts indicate kilometers, not miles.
C. The facing numbers indicate miles to the end of the path, not miles from the beginning.
D. A milepost was missing between the two the hiker encountered.
E. The mileposts had originally been put in place for the use of mountain bikers, not for hikers.

8. In Argonia the average rate drivers pay for car accident insurance is regulated to allow insurance companies to make a reasonable profit. Under the regulations, the rate any individual driver pays never depends on the actual distance driven by that driver each year. Therefore, Argonians who drive less than average partially subsidize the insurance of those who drive more than average. The conclusion above would be properly drawn if it were also true that in Argonia

A. the average accident insurance rate for all drivers rises whenever a substantial number of new drivers buy insurance
B. the average cost to insurance companies of insuring drivers who drive less than the annual average is less than the average cost of insuring drivers who drive more than the annual average
C. the lower the age of a driver, the higher the insurance rate paid by that driver
D. insurance company profits would rise substantially if drivers were classified in terms of the actual number of miles they drive each year
E. drivers who have caused insurance companies to pay costly claims generally pay insurance rates that are equal to or lower than those paid by other drivers

9. The reason much refrigerated food spoils is that it ends up out of sight at the back of the shelf. So why not have round shelves that rotate? Because such rotating shelves would have just the same sort of drawback, since things would fall off the shelves' edges into the rear corners. Which of the following is presupposed in the argument against introducing rotating shelves?

A. Refrigerators would not be made so that their interior space is cylindrical.
B. Refrigerators would not be made to have a window in front for easy viewing of their contents without opening the door.
C. The problem of spoilage of refrigerated food is not amenable to any solution based on design changes.
D. Refrigerators are so well designed that there are bound to be drawbacks to any design change.
E. Rotating shelves would be designed to rotate only while the refrigerator door was open.

10. Any combination of overwork and stress inevitably leads of insomnia. Managers at HiCorp , Inc., all suffer from stress. A majority of the managers?despite their doctors' warnings?work well over 60 hours per week, whereas the other managers work no more than the normal 40 hours per week. HiCorp gives regular bonuses only to employees who work more than 40 hours per week. Which of the following conclusions is most strongly supported by the statements above?

A. Managers at HiCorp work under conditions that are more stressful than the conditions under which managers at most other companies work.
B. Most of the employee bonuses given by HiCorp are given to managers.
C. At HiCorp , insomnia is more widespread among managers than among any other group of employees.
D. No manager at HiCorp who works only 40 hours per week suffers from overwork.
E. Most of the managers at HiCorp who receive regular bonuses have insomnia.