According to official government records, in Greenland the suicide rate（suicides per 1,000

s of large equatorial stretches of the Pacific Ocean. The drought, therefore, is not evidence for the hypothesis that a long-term global warming trend, allegedly caused by atmospheric pollutants such as carbon dioxide, is occurring. Which of the following, if true, constitutes the best criticism of the argument above?

A．Most pre-1988 droughts for which we have records were preceded by shifts in temperature patterns in the Pacific Ocean.

B．There has been no warming trend in the United States over the last 100 years.

C．The consequences of global warming occur long after the actual emission of pollutants into the atmosphere.

D．Emissions of carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere increased in 1988.

E．A global warming trend could cause increases in the frequency and severity of shifts in temperature patterns in the Pacific Ocean.

of fossil fuels will not, in fact, result in a greenhouse effectan increase in average global temperatures. Since plants use carbon dioxide in larger quantities if the supply is increased, they are able to grow larger and multiply more vigorously, and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations will eventually become stable. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion that a greenhouse effect will not result from the current release of large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?

A．The expected rise in average global temperatures has not yet been observed.

B．Ocean waters absorb carbon dioxide at a greater rate when the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is higher.

C．Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have resulted in improved agricultural productivity.

D．When plants decay, they produce methane, another gas that can have a marked greenhouse effect.

E．The fact that carbon dioxide levels have risen and fallen many times in the Earth"s history suggests that there is some biological process that can reverse the greenhouse effect.

aving sexist attitudes toward women. Yet he has filled five of the nineteen vacant high-level positions in his administration with women appointees, all of whom are still serving. This shows that the governor is not sexist. Which of the following statements, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion above?

A．One of the women appointed by the governor to a high-level position is planning to resign her post.

B．The platform. of the governor"s political party required him to appoint at least five women to high-level positions.

C．Forty-seven percent of the women who voted in the state gubernatorial election three years ago voted for the governor.

D．A governor of a neighboring state recently appointed seven women to high-level positions.

E．The governor appointed two Black Americans, two Hispanic Americans, and one Asian American to high-level positions in his administration.

of memory; that is, the presence of RNA enables us to remember. Because certain chemicals are known to inhibit the synthesis of RNA in the body, we can test this hypothesis. Animals that have learned particular responses can be injected with an RNA inhibitor and then tested for memory of the learned responses. Which of the following test results would most seriously weaken the case for RNA as the basis of memory?

A．After an injection of RNA inhibitor, a wide range of behaviors in addition to the learned responses were affected.

B．After an injection of RNA inhibitor, animals that had not consistently been giving the learned responses were able to give them consistently.

C．After injections of RNA inhibitor, some animals lost memory of the learned responses totally but others lost it only partially.

D．After a small injection of RNA inhibitor, animals responded well, but as the size of the injection increased, they gave fewer of the learned responses.

E．After an injection of RNA inhibitor, animals could not learn a new response.

ear the hypnotist, they reply, "No. " Some theorists try to explain this result by arguing that the selves of hypnotized subjects are dissociated into separate parts, and that the part that is deaf is dissociated from the part that replies. Which of the following challenges indicates the most serious weakness in the attempted explanation described above?

A．Why does the part that replies not answer, "Yes"?

B．Why are the observed facts in need of any special explanation?

C．Why do the subjects appear to accept the hypnotist" s suggestion that they are deaf?

D．Why do hypnotized subjects all respond the same way in the situation described?

E．Why are the separate parts of the self the same for all subjects?

ild a house on a section of coastline regularly struck by hurricanes. Each major storm causes billions of dollars worth of damage in such coastal areas, after which owners who have insurance are able to collect an amount of money sufficient to recoup a high percentage of their losses. The passage provides the most support for an argument against a government bill proposing

A．that power companies be required to bury power lines in areas of the coastline regularly struck by hurricanes.

B．an increase in funding of weather service programs that provide a hurricane watch and warning system for coastal areas.

C．renewal of federal funding for emergency life-support programs in hurricane-stricken areas.

D．establishment of an agency committed to managing coastal lands in ecologically responsible ways.

E．establishment of a contingency fund protecting owners of uninsured houses in the coastal areas from catastrophic losses due to the hurricane damage.

sult in things getting done. Just as many tasks are still left uncompleted, phone calls un-returned, and appointments missed as there were in the days before this outbreak of busyness. Therefore, people must not be as busy as they claim. Which one of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion in the passage?

A．These days, looking busy is a status symbol.

B．People have to do much more these days than before the so-called outbreak of busyness.

C．People waste so much time talking about being busy that they fail to get things done.

D．Just as many things are getting done now as before the so-called outbreak of busyness.

E．People have more leisure time these days than before the so-called outbreak of busyness.

its. Our benefit means their pain, and they are equal to us in the capacity to feel pain. G: We must carry out such tests; otherwise, we would irresponsibly sacrifice the human lives that could have been saved by the drugs. Which of the following, if true, is the best objection that could be made from Fs point of view to counter Gs point?

A．Even though it is not necessary for people to use cosmetics, cosmetics are also being tested on sentient animals.

B．Medical science already has at its disposal a great number of drugs and other treatments for serious illnesses.

C．It is not possible to obtain scientifically adequate results by testing drugs in the test tube, without making tests on living tissue.

D．Some of the drugs to be tested would save human beings from great pain.

E．Many tests now performed on sentient animals can be performed equally well on fertilized chicken eggs that are at a very early stage of development.

y more severe than in Europe, where laws require a different kind of safety belt. It is clear from this that the United States needs to adopt more stringent standards for safety belt design to protect automobile passengers better. Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument above EXCEPT:

A．Europeans are more likely to wear safety belts than are people in the United States.

B．Unlike United States drivers, European drivers receive training in how best to react in the event of an accident to minimize injuries to themselves and to their passengers.

C．Cars built for the European market tend to have more sturdy construction than do cars built for the United States market.

D．Automobile passengers in the United States have a greater statistical chance of being involved in an accident than do passengers in Europe.

E．States that have recently begun requiring the European safety belt have experienced no reduction in the average severity of injuries suffered by passengers in automobile accidents.

ntive audience, and a different randomly selected group saw the same speaker give the same lecture, with identical mannerisms, but to a smaller, less attentive audience. The first group called the speaker thoughtful and assured. The second group called the speaker vague and long-winded. The information above can best serve as part of an argument against which of the following claims?

A．The same social behavior. can appear quite differently to different people when it is viewed in different social contexts.

B．If the second group had seen the speaker lecture to a more attentive audience, its judgment of the speaker" s personal qualities might well have been different.

C．People"s judgments of a speaker"s personal qualities are based primarily on what the speaker says and the mannerisms with which the speaker says it.

D．A listener"s convictions about a speaker"s claims can be influenced by other people"s reactions to those claims.

E．A randomly selected group can sometimes arrive at a consensus about the personal qualifications of a speaker in a particular social situation.