Grammarians have for years condemned as ungrammati-cal the English phrase "between you and

lop the Earth as a result of nuclear war. Atmospheric scientists and weather experts cannot reliably and accurately predict tomorrow s weather. Yet the effect of nuclear explosions on local and worldwide atmospheric conditions must follow the same laws that control everyday weather changes. If the weather cannot be predicted with present knowledge, neither can a nuclear-winter scenario. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument made above that if scientists cannot reliably predict the daily weather, their predictions of a " nuclear winter" cannot be believed?

A．The scientific theory of a nuclear winter uses data that is available to those who forecast the daily weather.

B．Scientists" predictions about a nuclear winter are necessarily speculative, since they cannot be verified by harmless experimentation.

C．Weather forecasters usually do not insist that their predictions are infallible.

D．Scientific predictions of catastrophic natural events such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes usually have less reliability than everyday weather predictions.

E．The scientific theory of a nuclear winter is concerned with drastic climatic changes rather than day-to-day fluctuations in the weather.

ted around 1820, but some sixteenth-century European maps show a body that resembles the polar landmass, even though explorers of the period never saw it. Some scholars, therefore, argue that the continent must have been discovered and mapped by the ancients, whose maps are known to have served as models for the European cartographers. Which of the following, if true, is most damaging to the inference drawn by the scholars?

A．The question of who first sighted Antarctica in modern times is still much debated, and no one has been able to present conclusive evidence.

B．Between 3,000 and 9,000 years ago, the world was warmer than it is now, and the polar landmass was presumably smaller.

C．There are only a few sixteenth-century global maps that show a continental landmass at the South Pole.

D．Most attributions of surprising accomplishments to ancient civilizations or even extraterrestrials are eventually discredited or rejected as preposterous.

E．Ancient philosophers believed that there had to be a large landmass at the South Pole to balance the northern continents and make the world symmetrical.

from accidents and unsafe conditions on the job. There has actually been an increase in the number of job-related accidents under OSHA. This demonstrates the agencys ineffectiveness. Which of the following, if true, concerning the period during which the increase occurred, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A．A number of job categories, excluded from the jurisdiction of OSHA in the legislation originally establishing the agency, have continued to be outside OSHA"s jurisdiction.

B．OSHA has been assigned a greater number of kinds of workplace activities to monitor.

C．There has been an increase in the total number of people at work, and the ratio of work-related deaths and injuries to size of work force has fallen in OSHA-supervised occupations.

D．Regulations issued by OSHA have met with political criticism from elected officials and the mass media.

E．The increase in job-related accidents has occurred mainly in a single job category, whereas the number of job-related accidents has remained approximately constant in other categories.

body after 120 days. Because the parasite cannot travel to a new generation of red blood cells, any fever that develops in a person more than 120 days after that person has moved to a malaria-free region is not due to the malarial parasite. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?

A．The fever caused by the malarial parasite may resemble the fever caused by flu viruses.

B．The anopheles mosquito, which is the principal insect carrier of the malarial parasite, has been eradicated in many parts of the world.

C．Many malarial symptoms other than the fever, which can be suppressed with antimalarial medication, can reappear within 120 days after the medication is discontinued.

D．In some cases, the parasite that causes malarial fever travels to cells of the spleen, which are less frequently eliminated from a person" s body than are red blood cells.

E．In any region infested with malaria-carrying mosquitoes, there are individuals who appear to be immune to malaria.

from those of the other partner reveals that such couples share fewer activities with each other and have more violent arguments than do couples in a relationship in which both partners follow the same sleeping and waking patterns. Thus, mismatched sleeping and waking cycles can seriously jeopardize a marriage. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A．Married couples in which both spouses follow the same sleeping and waking patterns also occasionally have arguments than can jeopardize the couple"s marriage.

B．The sleeping and waking cycles of individuals tend to vary from season to season.

C．The individuals who have sleeping and waking cycles that differ significantly from those of their spouses tend to argue little with colleagues at work.

D．People in unhappy marriages have been found to express hostility by adopting a different sleeping and waking cycle from that of their spouses.

E．According to a recent study, most people"s sleeping and waking cycles can be controlled and modified easily.

sell one to the Clifton Asphalt plant for no payment other than the cost savings between the total amount the asphalt plant actually paid for oil using its former burner during the last two years and the total amount it will pay for oil using the Hotco burner during the next two years. On installation, the plant will make an estimated payment, which will be adjusted after two years to equal the actual cost savings. Which of the following, if it occurred, would constitute a disadvantage for Hotco of the plan described above?

A．Another manufacturer"s introduction to the market of a similarly efficient burner.

B．The Clifton Asphalt plant"s need for more than one new burner.

C．Very poor efficiency in the Clifton Asphalt plant"s old burner.

D．A decrease in the demand for asphalt.

E．A steady increase in the price of oil beginning soon after the new burner is installed.

ates, believed that a government that centralizes power in one individual or institution is dangerous to its citizens. Biographers claim that Tocqueville disliked-centralized government because he blamed Napoleons rule for the poverty of his childhood in Normandy. Which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the biographers claim?

A．Although Napoleon was popularly blamed at the time for the terrible living conditions in Normandy, historians now know that bad harvests were really to blame for the poor economic conditions.

B．Napoleon was notorious for refusing to share power with any of his political associates.

C．Tocqueville said he knew that if his father had not suffered ill health, his family would have had a steady income and a comfortable standard of living.

D．Although Tocqueville asserted that United States political life was democratic, the United States of the nineteenth century allowed political power to be concentrated in a few institutions.

E．Tocqueville once wrote in a letter that, although his childhood was terribly impoverished, it was not different from the experience of his friends and neighbors in Normandy.

t 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.

months after it is reported. The police have been unfairly criticized for allowing such cars to be vandalized during this period. Because it is illegal for car owners to abandon cars on the street, police need not be concerned about protecting such cars. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A．In the past, vehicles abandoned in Middletown were removed from the streets an average of four months after initial reports to police.

B．In one recent year, more than 150 abandoned vehicles were vandalized in Middletown, but police made no arrests for those actions.

C．Some cars initially classified by Middletown"s police as abandoned were later reclassified as stolen vehicles.

D．Middletown"s understaffed police force must give the disposition of abandoned cars low priority because of the number of violent crimes now committed there.

E．In the most recent year for which data are available, there were 28 percent fewer reports of abandoned vehicles than the yearly average for the previous ten years.

ain! Measure for measure, cream cheese has half the calories of butter. Indulge yourself with a clear conscience. The advertisement above is potentially misleading if which of the following is true?

A．Even butter is expensive in comparison with spreads that are still less expensive, such as margarine.

B．When using cream cheese as a spread, people tend to use several times as much as when using butter.

C．Other brands of cream cheese are approximately equal in caloric content to the brand advertised.

D．Even apart from caloric content, people generally think of cream cheese as luxurious because of its smooth taste.

E．Butter and cream cheese each contain a nutrient that the other does not.