Logical Reasoning MCQ Set 11

Question : By analyzing the garbage of a large number of average-sized households, a group of modern urban anthropologists has found that a household discards less food the more standardized-made up of canned and prepackaged foods-its diet is. The more standardized a household's diet is, however, the greater the quantities of fresh produce the household throws away.
Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

1. An increasing number of households rely on a highly standardized diet.
2. The less standardized a household's diet is, the more nonfood waste the household discards.
3. The less standardized a household's diet is, the smaller is the proportion of fresh produce in the household's food waste.
4. The less standardized a household's diet is, the more canned and prepackaged foods the household discards as waste.
5. The more fresh produce a household buys, the more fresh produce it throws away.

In the past, teachers, bank tellers, and secretaries were predominantly men; these occupations slipped in pay and status when they became largely occupied by women. Therefore, if women become the majority in currently male-dominated professions like accounting, law, and medicine, the income and prestige of these professions will also drop.

Question1 : The argument above is based on

1. another argument that contains circular reasoning
2. an attempt to refute a generalization by means of an exceptional case
3. an analogy between the past and the future
4. an appeal to popular beliefs and values
5. an attack on the character of the opposition.

Question2 : Which of the following, if true, would most likely be part of the evidence used to refute the conclusion above?

1. Accountants, lawyers, and physicians attained their current relatively high levels of income and prestige at about the same time that the pay and status of teachers, bank tellers, and secretaries slipped.
2. When large numbers of men join a female-dominated occupation, such as airline flight attendant, the status and pay of the occupation tend to increase.
3. The demand for teachers and secretaries has increased significantly in recent years, while the demand for bank tellers has remained relatively stable.
4. If present trends in the awarding of law degrees to women continue, it will be at least two decades before the majority of lawyers are women.
5. The pay and status of female accountants, lawyers, and physicians today are governed by significantly different economic and sociological forces than were the pay and status of female teachers, bank tellers, and secretaries in the past.

Question1 : An electric-power company gained greater profits and provided electricity to consumers at lower rates per unit of electricity by building larger-capacity more efficient plants and by stimulating greater use of electricity within its area. To continue these financial trends, the company planned to replace an old plant by a plant with triple the capacity of its largest plant.
The company's plan as described above assumed each of the following EXCEPT:

1. Demand for electricity within the company's area of service would increase in the future.
2. Expenses would not rise beyond the level that could be compensated for by efficiency or volume of operation, or both.
3. The planned plant would be sufficiently reliable in service to contribute a net financial benefit to the company as a whole.
4. Safety measures to be instituted for the new plant would be the same as those for the plant it would replace.
5. The tripling of capacity would not result in insuperable technological obstacles to efficiency.

Question1 : Of the countries that were the world's twenty largest exporters in 1953, four had the same share of total world exports in 1984 as in 1953. Theses countries can therefore serve as models for those countries that wish to keep their share of the global export trade stable over the years.
Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the suitability of those four countries as models in the sense described?

1. Many countries wish to increase their share of world export trade, not just keep it stable.
2. Many countries are less concerned with exports alone than with he balance between exports and imports.
3. With respect to the mix of products each exports, the four countries are very different from each other.
4. Of the four countries, two had a much larger, and two had a much smaller, share of total world exports in 1970 than in 1984.
5. The exports of the four countries range from 15 percent to 75 percent of the total national output.

Meteorologists say that if only they could design an accurate mathematical model of the atmosphere with all its complexities, they could forecast the weather with real precision. But this is an idle boast, immune to any evaluation, for any inadequate weather forecast would obviously be blamed on imperfections in the model.

Question1 : Which of the following, if true, could best be used as a basis for arguing against the author's position that the meteorologists' claim cannot be evaluated?

1. Certain unusual configurations of data can serve as the basis for precise weather forecasts even though the exact causal mechanisms are not understood.
2. Most significant gains in the accuracy of the relevant mathematical models are accompanied by clear gains in the precision of weather forecasts.
3. Mathematical models of the meteorological aftermath of such catastrophic events as volcanic eruptions are beginning to be constructed.
4. Modern weather forecasts for as much as a full day ahead are broadly correct about 80 percent of the time.
5. Meteorologists readily concede that the accurate mathematical model they are talking about is not now in their power to construct.

Question2 : Which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the meteorologists' boast, aside from the doubt expressed in the passage above?

1. The amount of energy that the Earth receives from the Sun is monitored closely and is known not to be constant.
2. Volcanic eruptions, the combustion of fossil fuels, and several other processes that also cannot be quantified with any accuracy are known to have a significant and continuing impact on the constitution of the atmosphere.
3. As current models of the atmosphere are improved, even small increments in complexity will mean large increases in the number of computers required for the representation of the models
4. Frequent and accurate data about the atmosphere collected at a large number of points both on and above the ground are a prerequisite for the construction of a good model of the atmosphere.
5. With existing models of the atmosphere, large scale weather patterns can be predicted with greater accuracy than can relatively local weather patterns.

In the United States, the Postal Service has a monopoly on first-class mail, but much of what is sent first class could be transmitted electronically. Electronic transmittal operators argue that if the Postal Service were to offer electronic transmission, it would have an unfair advantage, since its electronic transmission service could be subsidized from the profits of the monopoly.

Question1 : Which of the following, if each is true, would allay the electronic transmittal operators' fears of unfair competition?

1. If the Postal Service were to offer electronic transmission, it could not make a profit on first-class mail.
2. If the Postal Service were to offer electronic transmission, it would have a monopoly on that kind of service.
3. Much of the material that is now sent by first-class mail could be delivered much faster by special package couriers, but is not sent that way because of cost.
4. There is no economy of scale in electronic transmission-that is, the cost per transaction does not go down as more pieces of information are transmitted.
5. Electronic transmission will never be cost-effective for material not sent by first-class mail such as newspapers and bulk mail.

Question2 : Which of the following questions can be answered on the basis of the information in the passage above?

1. Is the Postal Service as efficient as privately owned electric transmission services?
2. If private operators were allowed to operate first-class mail services, would they choose to do so?
3. Do the electronic transmittal operators believe that the Postal Service makes a profit on first-class mail?
4. Is the Postal Service prohibited from offering electronic transmission services ?
5. Is the Postal Service expected to have a monopoly on electronic transmission?