GMAT Reasoning Test 21.docx

GMAT Reasoning Test 21 No. 1991 1991 04 SECTION A Isadora Duncan’s masterly writings on the dance reveal the depth of her determination to create a lyric form of the art which was free of characterization, storytelling, and the theatrical exhibition of skills. She wished to discard the traditional methods and established vocabularies of such dance forms as ballet and to explore the internal sources of human expressiveness. She shunned bodily ornamentation and strove to use only the natural movements of her body, undistorted by acrobatic exaggeration and stimulated only by internal compulsion. In her recitals Duncan danced to the music of Beethoven, Wagner, and Gluck, among others, but, contrary to popular belief, she made no attempt to visualize or to interpret the music; rather, she simply relied on it to provide the inspiration for expressing inner feelings through movement. She did not regard this use of music as ideal, however, believing that she would someday dispense with (dispense with: v.??, ??, ??) music entirely. That day never came. 17. The author is primarily concerned with Duncan’s (A) masterful lyricism as expressed in her writings on the dance (B) concerted efforts to subdue the natural movements of the dance (C) belated recognition that she could not actually fulfill all of her ideals for the dance (D) basic standards for the dance form that she wished to create and perform?D? (E) continuous responsiveness to a popular misconception about the nature of her new art form 18. The author implies that Duncan relied on music in her recitals in order to (A) interpret musical works solely by means of natural body movements (B) foster the illusion that music serves as an inspiration for the dance (C) inspire the expression of inner feeling when she danced (D) validate the public belief that music inspires the expression of feeling through movement?C? (E) counter the public belief that she made no attempt to visualize music 19. According to the passage, Duncan intended to develop an art form that would do all of the following EXCEPT (A) avoid the use of standard ballet techniques (B) revitalize an earlier established vocabulary (C) draw on internal sources of human expressiveness (D) create intended effects without the use of acrobatic exaggeration?B? (E) derive inspiration solely from inner feelings 20. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following endeavors is LEAST compatible with Duncan’s ideals for the dance? (A) Using music to stimulate the inspiration to dance (B) Attempting to free an art form of both characterization and storytelling (C) Minimizing the theatrical exhibition of skills (D) Being inspired to express inner feeling through movement?A? (E) Creating a lyric art form by drawing on inner personal resources The recent, apparently successful, prediction by mathematical models of an appearance of El Nino—the warm ocean current that periodically develops along the Pacific coast of South America—has excited researchers. Jacob Bjerknes pointed out over 20 years ago how winds might create either abnormally warm or abnormally cold water in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Nonetheless, until the development of the models no one could explain why conditions should regularly shift from one to the other, as happens in the periodic oscillations between appearances of the warm El Nino and the cold so-called anti-El Nino. The answer, at least if the current model that links the behavior of the ocean to that of the atmosphere is correct, is to be found in the ocean. It has long been known that during an El Nino, two conditions exist: (1) unusually warm water extends along the eastern Pacific, principally along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru, and (2) winds blow from the west into the warmer air rising over the warm water in the east. These winds tend to create a feedback mechanism (feedback mechanism: ????) by driving the warmer surface water into a “pile” that blocks the normal upwelling (upwelling: n.??;???(????????????????)) of deeper, cold water in the east and further warms the eastern water, thus strengthening the wind still more. The contribution of the model is to show that the winds of an El Nino, which raise sea level in the east, simultaneously send a signal to the west lowering sea level. According to the model, that signal is generated as a negative Rossby wave, a wave of depressed, or negative, sea level, that moves westward parallel to the equator at 25 to 85 kilometers per day. Taking months to traverse the Pacific, Rossby waves march to the western boundary of the Pacific basin, which is modeled as a smooth wall but in reality consists of quite irregular island chains, such as the Philippines and Indonesia. When the waves meet the western boundary, they are reflected, and the model predicts that Rossby waves will be broken into numerous coastal Kelvin waves carrying the same negative sea-level signal. These eventually shoot toward the equator, and then head eastward along the equator propelled by the rotation of the Earth at a speed of about 250 kilometers per day. When enough Kelvin waves of sufficient amplitude arrive from the western Pacific, their negative sea-level signal overcomes the feedback mechanism tending to raise the sea level, and they begin to drive the system into the opposite cold mode. This produces a gradual shift in winds, one that will eventually send positive sea-level Rossby waves westward, waves that will eventually return as cold cycle-ending positive Kelvin waves, beginning another warming cycle. 21. The primary function of the passage as a whole is to (A) introduce a new explanation of a physical phenomenon (B) explain the difference between two related physical phenomena (C) illustrate the limitations of applying mathematics to complicated physical phenomena (D) indicate the direction that research into a particular physical phenomenon should take?A? (E) clarify the differences between an old explanation of a physical phenomenon and a new model of it 22. Which of the following best describes the organization of the first paragraph? (A) A theory is presented and criticized. (B) A model is described and evaluated. (C) A result is reported and its importance explained. (D) A phenomenon is noted and its significance debated.?C? (E) A hypothesis is introduced and contrary evidence presented. 23. According to the passage, which of the following features is characteristic of an El Nino? (A) Cold coastal water near Peru (B) Winds blowing from the west (C) Random occurrence (D) Worldwide effects?B? (E) Short duration 24. According to the model presented in the passage, which of the following normally signals the disappearance of an El Nino? (A) The arrival in the eastern Pacific of negative sea-level Kelvin waves. (B) A shift in the direction of the winds produced by the start of an anti-El Nino elsewhere in the Pacific. (C) The reflection of Kelvin waves after they reach the eastern boundary of the Pacific, along Ecuador and Peru. (D) An increase in the speed at which negative Rossby waves cross the Pacific.?A? (E) The creation of a reservoir of colder, deep ocean water trapped under the pile of warmer, surface ocean water. 25. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following would result fairly immediately from the cessation of the winds of an El Nino? I. Negative Rossby waves would cease to be generated in the eastern Pacific. II. The sea level in the eastern Pacific would fall. III. The surface water in the eastern Pacific would again be cooled by being mixed with deep water. (A) I only (B) II only (C) I and II only (D) I and III only?E? (E) I, II, and III 26. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously undermine the validity of the model of El Nino that is presented in the passage? (A) During some years El Nino extends significantly farther along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru than during other years. (B) During periods of unusually cool temperatures along the eastern Pacific, an El Nino is much colder than normal. (C) The normal upwelling of cold water in the eastern Pacific depends much more on the local characteristics of the ocean than on atmospheric conditions. (D) The variations in the time it takes Rossby waves to cross the Pacific depend on the power of the winds that the waves encounter.?E? (E) The western boundary of the Pacific basin is so irregular that it impedes most coastal Kelvin waves from heading eastward. 27. The passage best supports the conclusion that during an anti-El Nino the fastest-moving signal waves are (A) negative Rossby waves moving east along the equator (B) positive Rossby waves moving west along the equator (C) negative Kelvin waves moving west along the equator (D) positive Kelvin waves moving west along the equator?E? (E) positive Kelvin waves moving east along the equator SECTION B Historians have only recently begun to note the increase in demand for luxury goods and services that took place in eighteenth-century England. McKendrick has explored the Wedgwood firm’s remarkable success in marketing luxury pottery; Plumb has written about the proliferation of provincial theaters, musical festivals, and children’s toys and books. While the fact of this consumer revolution is hardly in doubt, three key questions remain: Who were the consumers? What were their motives? And what were the effects of the new demand for luxuries? An answer to the first of these has been difficult to obtain. Although it has been possible to infer from the goods and services actually produced what manufactures and servicing trades thought their customers wanted, only a study of relevant personal documents written by actual consumers will provide a precise picture of who wanted what. We still need to know how large this consumer market was and how far down the social scale the consumer demand for luxury goods penetrated. With regard to this last question, we might note in passing that Thompson, while rightly restoring laboring people to the stage of eighteenth-century English history, has probably exaggerated the opposition of these people to the inroads of capitalist consumerism in general; for example, laboring people in eighteenth-century England readily shifted from home-brewed beer to standardized beer produced by huge, heavily capitalized urban breweries. To answer the question of why consumers became so eager to buy, some historians have pointed to the ability of manufacturers to advertise in a relatively uncensored press. This, however, hardly seems a sufficient answer. McKendrick favors a Veblen model of conspicuous consumption (conspicuous consumption: n.?????, ??) stimulated by competition for status. The “middling sort” bought goods and services because they wanted to follow fashions set by the rich. Again, we may wonder whether this explanation is sufficient. Do not people enjoy buying things as a form of self-gratification? If so (if so: ??????), consumerism could be seen as a product of the rise of new concepts of individualism and materialism (a preoccupation with or stress upon material rather than intellectual or spiritual things), but not necessarily of the frenzy for conspicuous competition. Finally, what were the consequences of this consumer demand for luxuries? McKendrick claims that it goes a long way (go a long way: v.????, ??????, ????) toward explaining the coming of the Industrial Revolution. But does it? What, for example, does the production of high-quality pottery and toys have to do with the development of iron manufacture or textile mills? It is perfectly possible to have the psychology and reality of a consumer society without a heavy industrial sector. That future exploration of these key questions is undoubtedly necessary should not, however, diminish the force of the conclusion of recent studies: the insatiable demand in eighteenth-century England for frivolous as well as useful goods and services foreshadows our own world. 17. In the first paragraph, the author mentions McKendrick and Plumb most probably in order to (A) contrast their views on the subject of luxury consumerism in eighteenth-century England (B) indicate the inadequacy of historiographical approaches to eighteenth-century English history (C) give examples of historians who have helped to establish the fact of growing consumerism in eighteenth-century England (D) support the contention that key questions about eighteenth-century consumerism remain to be answered?C? (E) compare one historian’s interest in luxury goods such as pottery to another historian’s interest in luxury services such as musical festivals 18. Which of the following items, if preserved from eighteenth-century England, would provide an example of the kind of documents mentioned in lines 16-17? (A) A written agreement between a supplier of raw materials and a supplier of luxury goods (B) A diary that mentions luxury goods and services purchased by its author (C) A theater ticket stamped with the date and name of a particular play (D) A payroll record from a company that produced luxury goods such as pottery?B? (E) A newspaper advertisement describing luxury goods and services available at a seaside resort 19. According to the passage, Thompson attributes to laboring people in eighteenth-century England which of the following attitudes toward capitalist consumerism? (A) Enthusiasm (B) Curiosity (C) Ambivalence (D) Stubbornness?E? (E) Hostility 20. In the third paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with (A) contrasting two theses and offering a compromise (B) questioning two explanations and proposing a possible alternative to them (C) paraphrasing the work of two historians and questioning their assumptions (D) examining two theories and endorsing one over the other?B? (E) raising several questions but implying that they cannot be answered 21. According to the passage, a Veblen model of conspicuous consumption has been used to (A) investigate the extent of the demand for luxury goods among social classes in eighteenth-century England (B) classify the kinds of luxury goods desired by eighteenth-century consumers (C) explain the motivation of eighteenth-century consumers to buy luxury goods (D) establish the extent to which the tastes of rich consumers were shaped by the middle classes in eighteenth-century England?C? (E) compare luxury consumerism in eighteenth-century England with such consumerism in the twentieth century 22. According to the passage, eighteenth-century England and the contemporary world of the passage’s readers are (A) dissimilar in the extent to which luxury consumerism could be said to be widespread among the social classes (B) dissimilar in their definitions of luxury goods and services (C) dissimilar in the extent to which luxury goods could be said to be a stimulant of industrial development (D) similar in their strong demand for a variety of goods and services?D? (E) similar in the extent to which a middle class could be identified as imitating the habits of a wealthier class 23. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would most probably agree with which of the following statements about the relationship between the Industrial Revolution and the demand for luxury goods and services in eighteenth-century England? (A) The growing demand for luxury goods and services was a major factor in the coming of the Industrial Revolution. (B) The Industrial Revolution exploited the already existing demand for luxury goods and services. (C) Although the demand for luxury goods may have helped bring about the Industrial Revolution, the demand for luxury services did not. (D) There is no reason to believe that the Industrial Revolution was directly driven by a growing demand for luxury goods and services.?D? (E) The increasing demand for luxury goods and services was a cultural phenomenon that has been conclusively demonstrated to have been separate from the coming of the Industrial Revolution. Researchers are finding that in many ways an individual bacterium is more analogous to a component cell of a multicellular organism than it is to a free-living, autonomous organism. Anabaena, a freshwater bacteria, is a case in point. Among photosynthetic bacteria, Anabaena is unusual: it is capable of both photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation. Within a single cell, these two biochemical processes are incompatible: oxygen produced during photosynthesis, inactivates the nitrogenase (nitrogenase: n.[??]???) required for nitrogen fixation. In Anabaena communities, however, these processes can coexist. When fixed nitrogen compounds are abundant, Anabaena is strictly photosynthetic and its cells are all alike. When nitrogen levels are low, however, specialized cells called heterocysts (heterocyst: [?]????) are produced which lack chlorophyll (necessary for photosynthesis) but which can fix nitrogen by converting nitrogen gas into a usable form. Submicroscopic channels develop which connect the heterocyst cells with the photosynthetic ones and which are used for transferring cellular products between the two kinds of Anabaena cells. 24. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true of bacteria that engage in photosynthesis? (A) They eventually become two autonomous cells. (B) They cannot normally also engage in nitrogen fixation. (C) Oxygen normally inactivates them. (D) Cellular products are constantly transferred between such bacteria.?B? (E) They normally lack chlorophyll. 25. It can be inferred from the passage that cell differentiation within Anabaena is regulated by the (A) amount of oxygen Anabaena cells produce (B) season of the year (C) amount of fixed nitrogen compounds available (D) number of microscopic channels uniting Anabaena cells?C? (E) amount of chlorophyll in Anabaena cells 26. The passage supports which of the following inferences about heterocysts? (A) Heterocysts do not produce oxygen. (B) Nitrogen gas inactivates heterocysts. (C) Chlorophyll increases the productivity of heterocysts. (D) Heterocysts allow nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis to occur in the same cell.?A? (E) Heterocysts are more important for Anabaena’s functioning than are photosynthetic cells. 27. The author uses the example of Anabaena to illustrate the(A?????????A???????Among photosynthetic bacteria, Anabaena is unusual?Unusual??Among photosynthetic bacteria???among unicellular organisms) (A) uniqueness of bacteria among unicellular organisms (B) inadequacy of an existing view of bacteria (C) ability of unicellular organisms to engage in photosynthesis (D) variability of a freshwater bacteria?B? (E) difficulty of investigating even the simplest unicellular organisms 1991 10 SECTION A Aided by the recent ability to analyze samples of air trapped in glaciers, scientists now have a clearer idea of the relationship between atmospheric composition and global temperature change over the past 160,000 years. In particular, determination of atmospheric composition during periods of glacial expansion and retreat (cooling and warming) is possible using data from the 2,000 meter Vostok ice core drilled in Antarctica. The technique involved is similar to that used in analyzing cores of marine sediments, where the ratio of the two common isotopes of oxygen, 18O and 16O, accurately reflects past temperature changes. Isotopic analysis of oxygen in the Vostok core suggests mean global temperature fluctuations of up to 10 degrees centigrade over the past 160,000 years. Data from the Vostok core also indicate that the amount of carbon dioxide has fluctuated with temperature over the same period: the higher the temperature, the higher the concentration of carbon dioxide and the lower the temperature, the lower the concentration. Although change in carbon dioxide content closely follows change in temperature during periods of deglaciation, it apparently lags behind temperature during periods of cooling. The correlation of carbon dioxide with temperature, of course, does not establish whether changes in atmospheric composition caused the warming and cooling trends or were caused by their. The correlation between carbon dioxide and temperature throughout the Vostok record is consistent and predictable. The absolute temperature changes, however, are from 5 to 14 times greater than would be expected on the basis of carbon dioxide’s own ability to absorb infrared radiation, or radiant heat. This reaction suggests that, quite aside from (aside from: adv.?...??) changes in heat-trapping gases, commonly known as greenhouse gases, certain positive feedbacks are also amplifying the temperature change. Such feedbacks might involve ice on land and sea, clouds, or water vapor, which also absorb radiant heat (radiant heat: n.[?]???). Other data from the Vostok core show that methane gas also correlates closely with temperature and carbon dioxide. The methane concentration nearly doubled, for example, between the peak of the penultimate glacial period and the following interglacial period. Within the present interglacial period it has more than doubled in just the past 300 years and is rising rapidly. Although the concentration of atmospheric methane is more than two orders of magnitude lower than that of carbon dioxide, it cannot be ignored: the radiative properties of methane make it 20 times more effective, molecule for molecule, than carbon dioxide in absorbing radiant heat. On the basis of a simulation model that climatological researchers have developed, methane appears to have been about 25 percent as important as carbon dioxide in the warming that took place during the most recent glacial retreat 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. 17. The primary purpose of the passage is to (A) interpret data (B) explain research methodology (C) evaluate a conclusion (D) suggest a new technique?A? (E) attack a theory 18. According to the passage, which of the following statements about methane is true? (A) Methane is found in marine sediments. (B) Methane is more effective than carbon dioxide in absorbing radiant heat. (C) The Earth’s atmosphere now contains more than twice as much methane as it does carbon dioxide. (D) The higher the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere, the lower the concentration of methane.?B? (E) Most of the global warming that has occurred during the past 10 years has been associated with increased methane concentration. 19. According to the passage, which of the following statements best describes the relationship between carbon dioxide and global temperature? (A) Carbon dioxide levels change immediately in response to changes in temperature. (B) Carbon dioxide levels correlate with global temperature during cooling periods only. (C) Once carbon dioxide levels increase, they remain high regardless of changes in global temperature. (D) Carbon dioxide levels increase more quickly than global temperature does.?E? (E) During cooling periods, carbon dioxide levels initially remain high and then decline. 20. The author mentions “certain positive feedbacks” (lines 35-36) in order to indicate that (A) increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere is responsible for global temperature increase (B) some climate simulation models have produced useful information (C) greenhouse gases alone do not account for global temperature increase (D) variables that benefit life are causing global temperature to increase?C? (E) beneficial substances that are not heat-trapping gases and that contribute to global temperature increase have been found in the Vostok ice core 21. It can be inferred from the passage that a long-term decrease in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere would (A) increase methane concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere (B) accompany a period of glaciation (C) encourage the formation of more oxygen isotopes in the Earth’s atmosphere (D) promote the formation of more water in the Earth’s global environment?B? (E) increase the amount of infrared radiation absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere 22. The passage suggests that when the methane concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere decreases, which of the following also happens? (A) Glaciers melt faster. (B) The concentration of carbon dioxide increases. (C) The mean global temperature decreases. (D) Carbon dioxide absorbs more radiant beat.?C? (E) More clouds form in the Earth’s atmosphere. 23. In the fourth paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with (A) restating the main idea of the passage (B) using research findings to develop a simulation model (C) outlining the direction of future reserves (D) providing an additional example of a phenomenon?D? (E) introducing a conflicting hypothesis In The Women of Mexico City, 1796-1857, Sylvia Marina Arrom argues that the status of women in Mexico City improved during the nineteenth century. According to Arrom, households headed by females and instances of women working outside the home were much more common than scholars have estimated; efforts by the Mexican government to encourage female education resulted in increased female literacy; and influential male writers wrote pieces (5: a literary, journalistic, artistic, dramatic, or musical composition 9: OPINION, VIEW “spoke his piece”) advocating education, employment, and increased family responsibilities for women, while deploring women’s political and marital inequality. Mention of the fact that the civil codes of 1870 and 1884 significantly advanced women’s rights would have further strengthened Arrom’s argument. Arrom does not discuss whether women’s improved status counteracted the effects on women of instability in the Mexican economy during the nineteenth century. However, this is not so much a weakness in her work as it is the inevitable result of scholars’ neglect of this period. Indeed, such gaps in Mexican history are precisely what make Arrom’s pioneering study an important addition to Latin American women’s history. 24. The passage is primarily concerned with doing which of the following? (A) Reviewing a historical study of the status of women in Mexico City during the nineteenth century (B) Analyzing the effects of economic instability on the status of women in Mexico during the nineteenth century (C) Advancing a thesis explaining why women’s status in Mexico City improved during the nineteenth century (D) Rejecting the thesis that the status of women in Mexico City during the nineteenth century actually improved?A? (E) Praising an author for a pioneering attempt to bridge significant gaps in Mexico’s economic history prior to 1790 25. According to the author of the passage, Arrom’s study can be characterized as “an important addition to Latin American women’s history” (lines 21-22) because it (A) offers a radical thesis concerning the status of women’s civil rights in Mexican society during the nineteenth century (B) relies on a new method of historical analysis that has not previously been applied to Latin American history (C) focuses only on the status of women in Mexican society (D) addresses a period in Mexican history that scholars have to some extent (to some extent: ?????, (??)???) neglected?D? (E) is the first study to recognize the role of the Mexican government in encouraging women’s education 26. It can be inferred from the passage that Arrom would agree with which of the following assertions? (A) Efforts by the Mexican government to encourage education for women during the nineteenth century were hampered by the economic instability of that period. (B) The most significant advances in the rights of Mexican women during the nineteenth century occurred prior to 1857. (C) Improvements in the status of women in Mexico City during the nineteenth century were accompanied by similar improvements in the status of women in other large Latin American cities. (D) Scholars have in the past accorded the most significance to nineteenth-century Mexican literature that supported the status quo in women’s political and marital rights.?E? (E) Scholars have in the past underestimated the number of households headed by females in Mexico City. 27. Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude toward Arrom’s work? (A) Uncritical approval (B) Enthusiasm tempered by minor reservations (C) Praise for her thesis, despite skepticism regarding the sources of her evidence (D) Reluctant acceptance, despite lingering doubts regarding the accuracy of her thesis?B? (E) Rejection, despite admiration for her attempt to break new ground in a hitherto neglected field SECTION B Present-day philosophers usually envision their discipline as an endeavor (activity directed toward a goal: ENTERPRISE “fields of endeavor”) that has been, since antiquity, distinct from and superior to any particular intellectual discipline, such as theology or science. Such philosophical concerns as the mind-body problem or, more generally, the nature of human knowledge, they believe, are basic human questions whose tentative philosophical solutions have served as the necessary foundations on which all other intellectual speculation (intellectual speculation: ?????) has rested. The basis for this view, however, lies in a serious misinterpretation of the past, a projection of modern concerns onto past events. The idea of an autonomous discipline called “philosophy,” distinct from and sitting in judgment on such pursuits as theology and science turns out, on close examination, to be of quite recent origin. When, in the seventeenth century, Descartes and Hobbes rejected medieval philosophy, they did not think of themselves, as modern philosophers do, as proposing a new and better philosophy, but rather as furthering “the warfare between science and theology.” They were fighting, albeit discreetly, to open the intellectual world to the new science and to liberate intellectual life from ecclesiastical philosophy and envisioned their work as contributing to the growth, not of philosophy, but of research in mathematics and physics. This link between philosophical interests and scientific practice persisted until the nineteenth century, when decline in ecclesiastical power over scholarship and changes in the nature of science provoked the final separation of philosophy from both. The demarcation of philosophy from science was facilitated by the development in the early nineteenth century of a new notion, that philosophy’s core interest should be epistemology, the general explanation of what it means to know something. Modern philosophers now trace that notion back at least to Descartes and Spinoza, but it was not explicitly articulated until the late eighteenth century, by Kant, and did not become built into the structure of academic institutions and the standard self-descriptions of philosophy professors until the late nineteenth century. Without the idea of epistemology, the survival of philosophy in an age of modern science is hard to imagine. Metaphysics, philosophy’s traditional core—considered as the most general description of how the heavens and the earth are put together—had been rendered almost completely meaningless by the spectacular progress of physics. Kant, however, by focusing philosophy on the problem of knowledge, managed to replace metaphysics with epistemology, and thus to transform the notion of philosophy as “queen of sciences” into the new notion of philosophy as a separate, foundational discipline. Philosophy became “primary” no longer in the sense of “highest” but in the sense of “underlying”. After Kant, philosophers were able to reinterpret seventeenth-and eighteenth-century thinkers as attempting to discover “How is our knowledge possible?” and to project this question back even on the ancients. 17. Which of the following best expresses the author’s main point? (A) Philosophy’s overriding interest in basic human questions is a legacy primarily of the work of Kant. (B) Philosophy was deeply involved in the seventeenth-century warfare between science and religion. (C) The set of problems of primary importance to philosophers has remained relatively constant since antiquity. (D) The status of philosophy as an independent intellectual pursuit is a relatively recent development.?D? (E) The role of philosophy in guiding intellectual speculation has gradually been usurped by science. 18. According to the passage, present-day philosophers believe that the mind-body problem is an issue that (A) has implications primarily for philosophers (B) may be affected by recent advances in science (C) has shaped recent work in epistemology (D) has little relevance to present-day philosophy?E? (E) has served as a basis for intellectual speculation since antiquity 19. According to the author, philosophy became distinct from science and theology during the (A) ancient period (B) medieval period (C) seventeenth century (D) nineteenth century?D? (E) twentieth century 20. The author suggests that Descartes’ support for the new science of the seventeenth century can be characterized as (A) pragmatic and hypocritical (B) cautious and inconsistent (C) daring and opportunistic (D) intense but fleeting?E? (E) strong but prudent 21. The author of the passage implies which of the following in discussing the development of philosophy during the nineteenth century? (A) Nineteenth-century philosophy took science as its model for understanding the bases of knowledge. (B) The role of academic institutions in shaping metaphysical philosophy grew enormously during the nineteenth century. (C) Nineteenth-century philosophers carried out a program of investigation explicitly laid out by Descartes and Spinoza. (D) Kant had an overwhelming impact on the direction of nineteenth-century philosophy.?D? (E) Nineteenth-century philosophy made major advances in understanding the nature of knowledge. 22. With which of the following statements concerning the writing of history would the author of the passage be most likely to agree? (A) History should not emphasize the role played by ideas over the role played by individuals. (B) History should not be distorted by attributing present-day consciousness to historical figures. (C) History should not be focused primarily on those past events most relevant to the present. (D) History should be concerned with describing those aspects of the past that differ most from those of the present.?B? (E) History should be examined for the lessons it can provide in understanding current problems. 23. The primary function of the passage as a whole is to (A) compare two competing models (B) analyze a difficult theory (C) present new evidence for a theory (D) correct an erroneous belief by describing its origins?D? (E) resolve a long-standing theoretical controversy Biologists have long maintained that two groups of pinnipeds (pinniped: adj.????), sea lions and walruses, are descended from a terrestrial bearlike animal, whereas the remaining group, seals, shares an ancestor with weasels. But the recent discovery of detailed similarities in the skeletal structure of the flippers in all three groups undermines the attempt to explain away (1: to get rid of by or as if by explanation; 2: to minimize the significance of by or as if by explanation) superficial resemblance as due to convergent evolution (convergent evolution: ????)—the independent development of similarities between unrelated groups in response to similar environmental pressures. Flippers may indeed be a necessary response to aquatic life; turtles, whales, and dugongs (an aquatic herbivorous mammal of a monotypic genus (Dugong) that has a bilobed tail and in the male upper incisors altered into short tusks, is related to the manatee, and inhabits warm coastal regions) also have them. But the common detailed design found among the pinnipeds probably indicates a common ancestor. Moreover, walruses and seals drive themselves through the water with thrusts of their hind flippers, but sea lions use their front flippers. If anatomical similarity in the flippers resulted from similar environmental pressures, as posited by the convergent evolution theory, one would expect walruses and seals, but not seals and sea lions, to have similar flippers. 24. According to the passage, it has been recently discovered that (A) there are detailed skeletal similarities in the flippers of pinnipeds (B) sea lions, seals, and walruses are all pinnipeds (C) pinnipeds are descended from animals that once lived on land (D) animals without common ancestors sometimes evolve in similar ways?A? (E) animals that have flippers do not all use them in the same way 25. The author implies that which of the following was part of the long-standing view concerning pinnipeds? (A) Pinnipeds are all descended from a terrestrial bearlike animal. (B) Pinnipeds share a common ancestor with turtles, whales, and dugongs. (C) Similarities among pinnipeds are due to their all having had to adapt to aquatic life. (D) There are detailed similarities in the skeletal structure of the flippers in all pinnipeds.?C? (E) Convergent evolution cannot account for the similarities among pinnipeds. 26. The author implies which of the following about the fact that turtles, whales, and dugongs all have flippers? (A) It can be explained by the hypothesis that turtles, whales, and dugongs are very closely related. (B) It can be explained by the idea of convergent evolution. (C) It suggests that turtles, whales, and dugongs evolved in separate parts of the world. (D) It undermines the view that turtles, whales, and dugongs are all descended from terrestrial ancestors.?B? (E) It is the primary difference between turtles, whales, and dugongs, on the one hand, and pinnipeds, on the other. 27. In presenting the argument in the passage, the author does which of the following? (A) Contends that key terms in an opposing view have been improperly used. (B) Contends that opponents have purposely obscured important evidence. (C) Shows that two theories thought to be in conflict are actually complementary. (D) Shows that advocates of a theory have not always stated their view in the same manner.?E? (E) Shows that an implication of a theory is contradicted by the facts. ANSWERS 1991 02 SECTION A A B E A D E D E E D C SECTION B B E E B B A D A C C D 1991 04 SECTION A D C B A A C B A E E E SECTION B C B E B C D D B C A B 1991 10 SECTION A A B E C B C D A D E B SECTION B D E D E D B D A C B E