Which of the following, if newly discovered, would most seriously weaken the authors argum

ng disparity between the indigenous population of America in 1492—new estimates of which soar as high as 100 million, or approximately one-sixth of the human race at that time—and the few million full-blooded Native Americans alive at the end of the nineteenth century. There is no doubt that chronic disease was an important factor in the precipitous decline, and it is highly probable that the greatest killer was epidemic dis- ease, especially as manifested in virgin-soil epidemics. Virgin-soil epidemics are those in which the populations at risk have had no previous contact with the diseases that strike them and are therefore immunologically almost defenselass. That virgin-soil epidemics were important in American history is strongly indicated by evidence that a number of dangerous maladies—small pox, measles, malaria, yellow fever, and undoubtedly several more—were unknown in the pre-Columbian New World. The effects of their sudden introduction are demonstrated in the early chronicles of America, which contain reports of horrendous epidemics and steep population declines, confirmed in many cases by recent quantitative analyses of Spanish tribute records and other sources. The evidence provided by the documents of British and French colonies is not as definitive because the conquerors of those areas did not establish permanent settlements and begin to keep continuous records until the seventeenth century, by which time the worst epidemics had probably already taken place. Furthermore, the British tended to drive the native populations away, rather than enslaving them as the Spaniards did, so that the epidemics of British America occurred beyond the range of colonists direct observation. Even so, the surviving records of North America do contain references to deadly epidemics among the indigenous population. In 1616-1619 an epidemic, possibly of bubonic or pneumonic plague, swept coastal New England, killing as many as nine out of ten. During the 1630 s smallpox, the disease most fatal to the Native American people, eliminated half the population of the Huron and Iroquois confederations. In the 1820 s fever devastated the people of the Columbia River area, killing eight out of ten of them. Unfortunately, the documentation of these and other epidemics is slight and frequently unreliable, and it is necessary to supplement what little we do know with evidence from recent epidemics among Native Americans. For example, in 1952 an outbreak of measles among the Native American inhabitants of Ungava Bay. Quebec, af- fected 99 percent of the population and killed 7 percent, even though some had the benefit of modern medicine. Cases such as this demonstrate that even diseases that are not normally fatal can have devastating consequences when they strike an immunologically defenseless community.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

A．refute a common misconception.

B．provide support for a hypothesis.

C．analyze an argument.

D．suggest a solution to a dilemma.

E．reconcile opposing viewpoints.

he pressure to employ women in the work force in which of the following ways?

A．Corporate boards are under less pressure because they have such a small number of openings.

B．Corporate boards have received less pressure from stockholders, consumers, and workers within companies to include women on their boards.

C．Corporate boards have received less pressure from the media and the public to include women on their boards.

D．Corporations have only recently been pressured to include women on their boards.

E．Corporations are not subject to statutory penalty for failing to include women on their boards.

"(lines 44-45)is meant to

A．stimulate further research studies.

B．summarize an area of scientific investigation.

C．help explain why a particular research finding was obtained.

D．provide supporting evidence for a controversial scientific theory.

E．refute the conclusions of a previously mentioned research study.

Which of the following statements is supported by information stated in the passage?

A．Japanese and United States automakers differ in their approach to production processes.

B．Japanese automakers have perfected the use of single-function equipment.

C．Japanese automakers invest more capital per employee than do United States automakers.

D．United States-owned factories abroad have higher production levels than do Japanese owned plants in the United States.

E．Japanese automakers have benefited from the cultural heritage of their workers.

blocked, which of the following is likely to be true?

A．Some endorphins will be produced, and some pain signals will be intensified.

B．Some substance P is likely to be produced , so some pain signals will reach the brain.

C．Some sodium ions will be blocked, so some pain signals will not reach the brain.

D．Some prostaglandins will be produced, but production of substance P will be prevented.

E．Some peptides in the brain will receive pain signals and begin to regulate incoming pain traffic.

Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?

A．An argument is put forth and evidence for and against it given.

B．An assertion is made and opposing evidence presented.

C．Two hypotheses are described and shown to inconsistent with one another.

D．A phenomenon is identified and illustrations of this phenomenon offered.

E．A specific case of a phenomenon is discussed a generalization drawn.

iving a unanimous vote of "qualified" on the formal rating scale used by the Lawyers Committee. That committee advises the Senate on judicial appointments. Which of the following, if true, is the best reason for dismissing the senators claim that Jones is highly qualified?

A．Several members of the Lawyers" Committee are not themselves qualified for judicial appointments.

B．The Lawyers" Committee does not advise the Senate on all judicial appointments.

C．The Lawyers" Committee gives a unanimous vote of "qualified" only to those candidates for judicial appointments who meet the committee"s stringent standards for appropriate prior experience and ethical conduct.

D．The Lawyers" Committee gives a unanimous vote of either "highly qualified" or "very highly qualified" to 95 percent of all candidates for judicial appointments.

E．Jones, like most lawyers, is a member of the professional organization that originally suggested the establishment of the Lawyers" Committee.

researcher examined more than three hundred people who had engaged in unusually violent behavior. toward friends and family members. In most of the people studied, the researcher found clues of brain abnormalities, including evidence of past brain injury and physical abnormality. The researcher concluded that evidence of brain abnormalities could be used to predict violent behavior. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the researchers conclusion?

A．The incidence of brain abnormalities in the general population is as high as that in the group examined.

B．The brain abnormalities discovered in those studied are of two distinct kinds.

C．A wide variety of violent actions were exhibited by those studied.

D．Those studied in the experiment acted violently toward strangers as well as toward people they knew.

E．The study drew its subjects from a large geographical area.

ning new construction?By using those established technologies that the authors of the codes had in mind when setting specifications. This, unfortunately, means that there will never be any significant technological innovation within the industry. Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the conclusion above?

A．Among the authors of codes governing new construction are people who were formerly building contractors.

B．The authors of codes governing new construction are under pressure to set rigorous specifications.

C．What are now regarded as established technologies were once so innovative that the authors of the codes then applicable could not have foreseen them.

D．Noncompliance with the codes governing new construction can prove extremely costly to the building contractor in charge of the project.

E．The established technologies of one country" s building industry can be very different from those of another"s.

ncient ancestors of the human species, were great collections of animal bones. From the frequencies of types of bones, it can be seen that many bones represented only parts of animals that must have died elsewhere. The australopithecines thus must have been mighty hunters, to have brought home so much meat. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion drawn above?

A．The australopithecines sometimes moved from cave to cave for shelter and did not remain in one cave for a lifetime.

B．The australopithecine bones found in the caves were those of adult males, adult females, and juveniles.

C．Evidence of the use of fire was absent from the caves in which the collections of bones were found.

D．Marks on the bones, including the bones of the australopithecines, are consistent with teeth marks of large catlike animals of the period.

E．The bones in the cave did not include bones of an elephantlike animal that existed in the area at the time of the australopithecines.