(A) The speed limit alone is probably not responsible for the continued reduction in highway deaths in the years after 1974.
(B) People have been driving less since 1974.
(C) Driver-education courses have been more effective since 1974 in teaching drivers to drive safely.
(D) In recent years highway patrols have been less effective in catching drivers who speed.
(E) The change in the speed limit cannot be responsible for the abrupt decline in highway deaths in 1974.
2. Neighboring landholders: Air pollution from the giant aluminum refinery that has been built 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.
3. Sales taxes tend to be regressive, affecting poor people more severely than wealthy people. When all purchases of consumer goods are taxed at a fixed percentage of the purchase price, poor people pay a larger proportion of their income in sales taxes than wealthy people do.It can be correctly inferred on the basis of the statements above that which of the following is true?
(A) Poor people constitute a larger proportion of the taxpaying population than wealthy people do.
(B) Poor people spend a larger proportion of their income on purchases of consumer goods than wealthy people do.
(C) Wealthy people pay, on average, a larger amount of sales taxes than poor people do.
(D) The total amount spent by all poor people on purchases of consumer goods exceeds the total amount spent by all wealthy people on consumer goods.
(E) The average purchase price of consumer goods bought by wealthy people is higher than that of consumer goods bought by poor people.
4. Reviewing historical data, medical researchers in California found that counties with the largest number of television sets per capita have had the lowest incidence of a serious brain disease, mosquito-borne encephalitis. The researchers have concluded that people in these counties stay indoors more and thus avoid exposure to the disease.The researchers’ conclusion would be most strengthened if which of the following were true?
(A) Programs designed to control the size of disease-bearing mosquito populations have not affected the incidence of mosquito borne encephalitis.
(B) The occupations of county residents affect their risk of exposure to mosquito-borne encephalitis more than does television-watching.
(C) The incidence of mosquito-borne encephalitis in counties with the largest number of television sets per capita is likely to decrease even further.
(D) The more time people in a county spend outdoors, the greater their awareness of the dangers of mosquito-borne encephalitis.
(E) The more television sets there are per capita in a county, the more time the average county resident spends watching television.
5. The city’s public transportation system should be removed from the jurisdiction of the municipal government, which finds it politically impossible either to raise fares or to institute cost-saving reductions in service. If public transportation were handled by a private firm, profits would be vigorously pursued, thereby eliminating the necessity for covering operating costs with government funds.The statements above best support the conclusion that
(A) the private firms that would handle public transportation would have experience in the transportation industry
(B) political considerations would not prevent private firms from ensuring that revenues cover operating costs
(C) private firms would receive government funding if it were needed to cover operating costs
(D) the public would approve the cost-cutting actions taken by the private firm
(E) the municipal government would not be resigned to accumulating merely enough income to cover costs
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