1.(Z7-8)Many large department stores in Montalia now provide shopping carts for their customers. Since customers using shopping carts tend to buy more than those without shopping carts, most of these stores are experiencing strong sales growth, while most other department stores are not. Therefore, in order to boost sales, managers of Jerrod’s, Montalia’s premier department store, are planning to purchase shopping carts and make them available to the store’s customers next month.
Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt whether the managers’ plan, if implemented, will achieve its goal?
A. Since most customers associate shopping carts with low-quality discount stores, Jerrod’s high-quality image would likely suffer if shopping carts were introduced.
B. Because the unemployment rate has declined to very low levels, Jerrod’s now has to pay significantly higher wages in order to retain its staff.
C. A number of department stores that did not make shopping carts available to their customers have had to close recently due to falling profits.
D. Shopping carts are not very expensive, but they generally need to be replaced every few years.
E. Stores that make shopping carts available to their customers usually have to hire people to retrieve the carts from parking areas.
2. (Z7-28)Editorial in Krenlandian Newspaper:
Krenland’s steelmakers are losing domestic sales because of lower-priced imports, in many cases because foreign governments subsidize their steel industries in ways that are banned by international treaties. But whatever the cause, the cost is ultimately going to be jobs in Krenland’s steel industry. Therefore, it would protect not only steel companies but also industrial employment in Krenland if our government took measures to reduce cheap steel imports.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the editorial’s argument?
A. Because steel from Krenland is rarely competitive in international markets, only a very small portion of Krenlandian steelmakers’ revenue comes from exports.
B. The international treaties that some governments are violating by giving subsidies to steelmakers do not specify any penalties for such violations.
C. For many Krenlandian manufacturers who face severe international competition in both domestic and export markets, steel constitutes a significant part of their raw material costs.
D. Because of advances in order-taking, shipping, and inventory systems, the cost of shipping steel from foreign producers to Krenland has fallen considerably in recent years.
E. Wages paid to workers in the steel industry in Krenland differ significantly from wages paid to workers in many of the countries that export steel to Krenland.
3.(T3-21)Driving the steep road to the mountaintop Inca ruins of Machu Picchu is potentially dangerous and hiking there is difficult. Now the Peruvian government is installing a cable car that will make access much easier, and hence results in a large increase in tourisms. However, since the presence of large numbers of tourists tends to accelerate the deterioration of a site, installation of a cable car is certain to result in harm to the ruins.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the argument?
A. The daily number of tourists that are expected to take the cable car to Machu Picchu is smaller than the original resident
B. The construction of the cable car terminal at Machu Picchu will require the use of potentially damaging heavy machinery at the site.
C. Machu Picchu is already one of the most popular tourist sites in Peru
D. Natural weathering will continue to be a more significant cause of the deterioration of Machu Picchu than tourist traffic
E. The cable car will replace the tour buses whose large wheels and corrosive exhaust at present do significant damage to the site.
4.(T4-21)The OLEX Petroleum Company has recently determined that it could cut its refining costs by closing its Grenville refinery and consolidating all refining at its Tasberg refinery. Closing the Grenville refinery, however, would mean the immediate loss of about 1,2000 jobs in the Grenville area. Eventually the lives of more than 10,000 people would be seriously disrupted. Therefore, OLEX’s decision, announced yesterday, to keep Grenville open shows that at OLEX social concerns sometimes outweigh the desire for higher profits.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument given?
A. The Grenville refinery, although it operates at a higher cost than the Tasberg refinery, has nevertheless been moderately profitable for many years.
B. Even though OLEX could consolidate all its refining at the Tasberg plant, doing so at the Grenville plant would not be feasible.
C. The Tasberg refinery is more favorably situated than the Grenville refinery with respect to the major supply routes for raw petroleum.
D. If the Grenville refinery were ever closed and operations at the Tasberg refinery expanded, job openings at Tasberg would to the extent possible be filled with people formerly employed at Grenville.
E. Closure of the Grenville refinery would mean compliance, at enormous cost, with demanding local codes regulating the cleanup of abandoned industrial sites.
5. Dental researchers recently discovered that tooth-brushes can become contaminated with bacterial that cause pneumonia and strep throat. They found that contamination usually occurs after toothbrushes have been used for four weeks. For that reason, people should replace their toothbrushes at least once a month.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?
(A) The dental researchers could not discover why toothbrush contamination usually occurred only after toothbrushes had been used for four weeks.
(B) The dental researchers failed to investigate contamination of toothbrushes by viruses, yeasts, and other pathogenic microorganisms.
(C) The dental researchers found that among people who used toothbrushes contaminated with bacterial that cause pneumonia and strep throat, the incidence of these diseases was no higher than among people who used uncontaminated toothbrushes.
(D) The dental researchers found that people who rinsed their toothbrushes thoroughly in hot water after each use were as likely to have contaminated toothbrushes as were people who only rinsed their toothbrushes hurriedly in cold water after each use.
(E) The dental researchers found that, after six weeks of use, greater length of use of a toothbrush did not correlate with a higher number of bacterial being present.
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