Bracken, a poisonous weed, is spreading and damaging much pastureland in the Northern Hemi

ory sentences recently introduced for certain specific crimes. The judges argue that such sentences, by depriving them of all discretion in setting sentences, make it impossible for them to consider either aggravating or extenuating circumstances and so make it impossible to achieve true justice —the fitting of the severity of the punishment to the gravity of the particular crime. Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest evidence for the claim that in Bassaria the newly introduced mandatory sentences are not necessarily a change for the worse with respect to achieving true justice as defined in the argument?

A．Before mandatory sentencing, judges in eastern Bassaria imposed strikingly different sentences from those in western Bassaria for equally grave instances of the same kind of offense.

B．In Bassaria the frequency of crimes that have been made subject to mandatory sentences is lower now than it was just prior to the introduction of mandatory sentencing.

C．The law introducing mandatory sentences was passed in the legislature of Bassaria by a large majority and is unlikely to be repealed in the foreseeable future.

D．There used to be a wide difference between the minimum and the maximum sentences allowed by law in cases of crimes now subject to mandatory sentences.

E．In Bassaria judges are appointed for life and are thus not easily influenced by political pressure groups.

these people traveled across a now-submerged landmass that connected the two continents until 14,000 years ago, depending for food only on the land animals they hunted as they traveled. Recent discoveries have led to the new hypothesis that the first people came by boat a-long the southern shore of the landmass, eating fish and sea mammals. Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the new hypothesis by casting doubt on the earlier hypothesis?

A．The landmass connecting North America and Asia extended very far to the north.

B．In Europe, maritime cultures primarily dependent on the sea for food developed no earlier than 10,000 years ago.

C．People living in Asia at the time the two continents were connected hunted land animals for food.

D．The landmass was so bitterly cold that its vegetation would have been too sparse to support land animals.

E．Sophisticated and mature North American and Asian cultures that display great similarities to each other existed as far back as 8,000 years ago.

ghing all possibilities and then making the choice that can be expected to maximize benefits and minimize harm. Routinely, people process information in ways that are irrational in this sense. Any of the following, if true, would provide evidence in support of the assertions above EXCEPT:

A．People tend to act on new information, independent of its perceived relative merit, rather than on information they already have.

B．People prefer a major risk taken voluntarily to a minor one that has been forced on them, even if they know that the voluntarily taken risk is statistically more dangerous.

C．People tend to take up potentially damaging habits even though they have clear evidence that their own peers as well as experts disapprove of such behavior.

D．People avoid situations in which they could become involved in accidents involving large numbers of people more than they do situations where single-victim accidents are possible, even though they realize that an accident is more likely in the latter situations than in the former.

E．People usually give more weight to a physician"s opinion about the best treatment for a disease than they do to the opinion of a neighbor if they realize that the neighbor is not an expert in disease treatment.

businesses, wood has become an alternative energy source to coal, oil, and gas. Nevertheless, wood will never supply more than a modest fraction of our continuing energy needs. Which of the following, if true, does NOT support the claim made in the last sentence in the passage above?

A．There are many competing uses for a finite supply of wood, and suppliers give the lumber and paper industries a higher priority than they give individual consumers.

B．Wood produces thick smoke in burning, and its extensive use in densely populated cities would violate federal antipollution guidelines.

C．There are relatively narrow limits to how far wood can be trucked before it becomes more economical to burn the gasoline used for transportation instead of the wood.

D．Most apartment dwellers do not have adequate storage space for the amount of wood necessary to supply energy for heating.

E．Most commercial users of energy are located within range of a wood supply, and two-thirds of United States homes are located outside of metropolitan areas.

c oil prices in open-market countries such as the United States will rise as well, whether such countries import all or none of their oil. If the statement above concerning oil-supply disruptions is true, which of the following policies in an open-market nation is most likely to reduce the long-term economic impact on that nation of sharp and unexpected increases in international oil prices?

A．Maintaining the quantity of oil imported at constant yearly levels.

B．Increasing the number of oil tankers in its fleet.

C．Suspending diplomatic relations with major oil-producing nations.

D．Decreasing oil consumption through conservation.

E．Decreasing domestic production of oil.

while urging retention of an executive order requiring some federal contractors to set numerical goals for hiring minorities and women. "Diversity in work force participation has produced new ideas in management, product development, and marketing, " the association claimed. The association s argument as it is presented in the passage above would be most strengthened if which of the following were true?

A．The percentage of minority and women workers in business has increased more slowly than many minority and women"s groups would prefer.

B．Those businesses with the highest percentages of minority and women workers are those that have been the most innovative and profitable.

C．Disposable income has been rising as fast among minorities and women as among the population as a whole.

D．The biggest growth in sales in the manufacturing sector has come in industries that market the most innovative products.

E．Recent improvements in management practices have allowed many manufacturers to experience enormous gains in worker productivity.

try poses more serious hardships for big businesses than for small ones. Since large companies do everything on a more massive scale, they must alter more complex operations and spend much more money to meet governmental requirements. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?

A．Small companies are less likely than large companies to have the capital reserves for improvements.

B．The operations of small companies frequently rely on the same technologies as the operations of large companies.

C．Safety regulation codes are uniform, established without reference to size of company.

D．Large companies typically have more of their profits invested in other businesses than do small companies.

E．Large companies are in general more likely than small companies to diversify their markets and products.

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.

status. Even though in some localities in the United vStates the rate is higher than in many developing countries, in the United States overall the rate has been steadily declining. This decline does not necessarily indicate, however, that babies in the United States are now, on the average, healthier at birth than they were in the past. Which one of the following reasons, if true, most strongly supports the claim made above about the implications of the decline?

A．The figure for infant mortality is compiled as an overall rate and thus masks deficiencies in particular localities.

B．Low birth weight is a contributing factor in more than half of the infant deaths in the United States.

C．The United States has been developing and has achieved extremely sophisticated technology for saving premature and low-birth-weight babies, most of whom require extended hospital stays.

D．In eleven states of the United States, the infant mortality rate declined last year.

E．Babies who do not receive adequate attention from a caregiver fail to thrive and so they gain weight slowly.

pproaching extinction on the South Island. But since South Island tuatara were thought to be of the same species as North Island tuatara there was no need to protect them. But new research indicates that the South Island tuatara are a distinct species, found only in that location. Because it is now known that if the South Island tuatara are lost an entire species will thereby be lost, human beings are now obliged to prevent their extinction, even if it means killing many of their unendangered natural predators. Which one of the following principles most helps to justify the naturalists argumentation?

A．In order to maximize the number of living things on Earth, steps should be taken to preserve all local populations of animals.

B．When an animal is in danger of dying, there is an obligation to help save its life, if doing so would not interfere with the health or well-being of other animals or people.

C．The threat of local extinction imposes no obligation to try to prevent that extinction, whereas the threat of global extinction does impose such an obligation.

D．Human activities that either intentionally or unintentionally threaten the survival of an animal species ought to be curtailed.

E．Species that are found in only one circumscribed geographical region ought to be given more care and attention than are other species because they are more vulnerable to extinction.