All questions of Reading Comprehension (RC) for GMAT Exam

Research shows that when people work with a positive mind-set, performance on nearly every level—productivity, creativity, engagement—improves. Yet the correlation between happiness and performance is perhaps not so easily understood by many. For one, most people believe that success precedes happiness, but, because success is a moving target, the happiness that results from success is fleeting.  Instead people who cultivate a positive mind-set perform better in the face of a challenge. In a meta-analysis of 225 academic studies, researchers found strong evidence of directional causality between life satisfaction and successful business outcomes.

What is even more encouraging is that even though our genetics and our environment have an impact on how happy we are, our general sense of well-being is surprisingly malleable. Our habits, our interactions with coworkers, our attitude towards stress—all these aspects can be managed to increase our happiness and our chances of success. Habits such as taking short breaks and constantly having a positive engagement with coworkers not only reduce stress substantially but also enhance our productivity and thus better our prospects of professional success. Accordingly, encouraging employees to accept some level of stress as an inevitability and perceive it as a motivator and a fuel to growth, is vital for boosting the performance of the workforce.

The author is primarily concerned with

Logical arguments are usually classified as either deductive or inductive, depending on the process used to arrive at them. In the process of deduction, you begin with some statements, called premises, which are assumed to be true, and you then determine what else would have to be true if the premises are true. For example, in mathematics you can begin with some axioms and then determine what you can prove to be true given those axioms are true. With deduction you can provide absolute proof of your conclusions, since your premises are considered correct. The premises themselves, however, remain unproven and unprovable; they must be accepted on face value, or by faith, or for the purpose of exploration.

On the other hand, in the process of induction, you begin with some data, and then determine what general conclusion(s) can logically be derived from that data. In other words, you determine what theory or theories could explain the data. For example, you note that the probability of becoming schizophrenic is greatly increased if at least one parent is schizophrenic, and from that you conclude that schizophrenia may be inherited. That is certainly a reasonable hypothesis given the data. Note, however, that induction does not prove that the theory is correct. There are often alternative theories that are also supported by the data. For example, the behavior of the schizophrenic parent may cause the child to be schizophrenic, not the genes. What is important in induction is that the theory does indeed offer a logical explanation of the data. To conclude that the parents have no effect on the schizophrenia of the children is not supportable given the data, and would not be a logical conclusion.

Both deduction and induction by themselves are inadequate for a scientific approach. While deduction gives absolute proof, it never makes contact with the real world; there is no place for observation or experimentation - no way to test the validity of the premises. And, while induction is driven by observation, it never approaches actual proof of a theory. Accordingly, a synthesis of these two logical approaches is required for an actual scientific method.

 

The author’s primarily concerned with

Globally, about a third of the food produced for human consumption goes to waste, implying that a third of the water, land use, energy and financial resources that go into producing it are also squandered. Yet people often think of food as environmentally benign because it is biodegradable, while label food packaging as a wasteful use of resources leading to nothing but more pollution, despite the reality that the energy that goes into packaging makes up a mere 10% of the total energy that goes into producing, transporting, storing and preparing food. Needless to say, their view ignores the negative impact of food production, supply, and consumption, and the benefits possible from the right kind of food packaging.

Indeed the dislike for food packaging is not all baseless. There is a lot of bad and wasteful packaging out there. But any assessment of its impact on the environment must take into account the benefits one can derive from packaging in the shape of reduced food waste that can be realized by protecting and dispensing food properly. For instance, two percent of the milk produced in the US goes bad on supermarket shelves before it can be purchased. This dairy waste can be avoided with packaging technology such as Tetra Pak that saves milk from spoiling, even without refrigeration. However, environmentally aware consumers tend to dislike Tetra Pak material because they think it cannot be recycled. The truth, however, is that it can be recycled, but the process is rather complicated. Irrespective of the recycling aspect, Tetra Pak is a good environmental bet because it can extend the shelf life of milk up to nine months, reducing the need for refrigeration — and reducing the amount of milk that goes bad on retail shelves. Clearly, the environmental benefit of the food-protection technology outweighs the negative impact of the packaging itself.

Which of the following is the function of the first paragraph in the passage?

Research shows that when people work with a positive mind-set, performance on nearly every level—productivity, creativity, engagement—improves. Yet the correlation between happiness and performance is perhaps not so easily understood by many. For one, most people believe that success precedes happiness, but, because success is a moving target, the happiness that results from success is fleeting.  Instead people who cultivate a positive mind-set perform better in the face of a challenge. In a meta-analysis of 225 academic studies, researchers found strong evidence of directional causality between life satisfaction and successful business outcomes.

What is even more encouraging is that even though our genetics and our environment have an impact on how happy we are, our general sense of well-being is surprisingly malleable. Our habits, our interactions with coworkers, our attitude towards stress—all these aspects can be managed to increase our happiness and our chances of success. Habits such as taking short breaks and constantly having a positive engagement with coworkers not only reduce stress substantially but also enhance our productivity and thus better our prospects of professional success. Accordingly, encouraging employees to accept some level of stress as an inevitability and perceive it as a motivator and a fuel to growth, is vital for boosting the performance of the workforce.

According to the passage, which of the following is true?

Globally, about a third of the food produced for human consumption goes to waste, implying that a third of the water, land use, energy and financial resources that go into producing it are also squandered. Yet people often think of food as environmentally benign because it is biodegradable, while label food packaging as a wasteful use of resources leading to nothing but more pollution, despite the reality that the energy that goes into packaging makes up a mere 10% of the total energy that goes into producing, transporting, storing and preparing food. Needless to say, their view ignores the negative impact of food production, supply, and consumption, and the benefits possible from the right kind of food packaging.

Indeed the dislike for food packaging is not all baseless. There is a lot of bad and wasteful packaging out there. But any assessment of its impact on the environment must take into account the benefits one can derive from packaging in the shape of reduced food waste that can be realized by protecting and dispensing food properly. For instance, two percent of the milk produced in the US goes bad on supermarket shelves before it can be purchased. This dairy waste can be avoided with packaging technology such as Tetra Pak that saves milk from spoiling, even without refrigeration. However, environmentally aware consumers tend to dislike Tetra Pak material because they think it cannot be recycled. The truth, however, is that it can be recycled, but the process is rather complicated. Irrespective of the recycling aspect, Tetra Pak is a good environmental bet because it can extend the shelf life of milk up to nine months, reducing the need for refrigeration — and reducing the amount of milk that goes bad on retail shelves. Clearly, the environmental benefit of the food-protection technology outweighs the negative impact of the packaging itself.

Which of the following statement can be derived from the passage?

Globally, about a third of the food produced for human consumption goes to waste, implying that a third of the water, land use, energy and financial resources that go into producing it are also squandered. Yet people often think of food as environmentally benign because it is biodegradable, while label food packaging as a wasteful use of resources leading to nothing but more pollution, despite the reality that the energy that goes into packaging makes up a mere 10% of the total energy that goes into producing, transporting, storing and preparing food. Needless to say, their view ignores the negative impact of food production, supply, and consumption, and the benefits possible from the right kind of food packaging.

Indeed the dislike for food packaging is not all baseless. There is a lot of bad and wasteful packaging out there. But any assessment of its impact on the environment must take into account the benefits one can derive from packaging in the shape of reduced food waste that can be realized by protecting and dispensing food properly. For instance, two percent of the milk produced in the US goes bad on supermarket shelves before it can be purchased. This dairy waste can be avoided with packaging technology such as Tetra Pak that saves milk from spoiling, even without refrigeration. However, environmentally aware consumers tend to dislike Tetra Pak material because they think it cannot be recycled. The truth, however, is that it can be recycled, but the process is rather complicated. Irrespective of the recycling aspect, Tetra Pak is a good environmental bet because it can extend the shelf life of milk up to nine months, reducing the need for refrigeration — and reducing the amount of milk that goes bad on retail shelves. Clearly, the environmental benefit of the food-protection technology outweighs the negative impact of the packaging itself.

The author is primarily concerned with

Émile Durkheim, a French sociologist who rose to prominence in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, is credited with being one of the principal founders of modern sociology. When Durkheim began writing, sociology was not recognized as an independent field of study. As part of the campaign to change this scenario, he went to great lengths to separate sociology from all other disciplines, especially philosophy.

Durkheim’s perspective differed from other sociologists of his era as his theories were founded on things external in nature such as social facts, as opposed to those internal in nature, such as the motivations and desires of individuals. As per him, social phenomena arise when a certain reality emerges from the behavior of interacting individuals, but this same reality cannot be explained in terms of the characteristics of individual agents. For instance, he could argue that social formations such as gangs, political parties and associations are comprised of individual members, but the macro outcome resulting from such organizations operates in a different level and produces results that would not occur on an individual level. He, therefore, believed that the society was far superior to any of its individual components and could hence exert a coercive power on individuals to lead them to acceptable levels of satisfaction. His idea was that happiness and wants are tied to each other. He said, “To pursue a goal which is by definition unattainable is to condemn oneself to a state of perpetual unhappiness... To achieve any other result, the passions first must be limited. But since the individual has no way of limiting them, this must be done by some force exterior to him”. This exterior force of course in his opinion was the society.

 

Which of the following is stated in the passage?

To maximize profits, an employer should control his or her environment in a factory, shop, or office and make sure that examples of energy and efficiency are numerous enough to catch employee attention and establish an atmosphere of industry. In the workplace, there are instances in which it would be in the mutual interest of the employer and the employees to increase the speed of work, but conditions may limit or forbid the use of pace-setters. In construction work and in some of the industries, where there are minute subdivisions of operations and continuity of processes, this method of increasing efficiency is very commonly applied with the use of time cards and software. In many factories, however, such an effort to “speed up” production might stir resentment, even among the workers paid at a fixed rate for each unit produced or action performed, and have an effect exactly opposite to that desired. The alternative, of course, is for the employer to secure unconscious pace setting by providing incentives for the naturally ambitious men and women in the way of a premium or bonus system or other reward for above-average efficiency.

Accordingly, to take advantage of the benefits of conscious or voluntary imitation, workers must be provided with examples that appeal to them as admirable and inspire the wish to emulate them. A common application of this principle is seen in the choice of department heads, foremen, and other bosses. Invariably these people win promotion by industry, skill, and efficiency greater than that displayed by their direct peers, or by mastery of their skills that enables them to show their less efficient peers how any and all operations should be conducted. This focusing of attention upon individuals worthy of imitation has been carried much farther by various companies. Some create weekly or monthly papers published primarily for circulation within the organization to record every incident reflecting unusual skill, initiative, or personal power in an individual member of the organization. A big order closed, a difficult contract secured, a complex or delicate operation performed in less than the usual time, a new personal record in production, the invention of an unproved method or machine—whatever the achievement, it is described and glorified, its perpetrator praised and held up for emulation. This, indeed, is one of the methods by which the larger sales organizations have obtained remarkable results.

Which of the following best illustrates an instance of successful unconscious pace-setting?

The prevailing theory of our Moon's origin is that it was created by a giant impact between a large planet-like object and the proto-Earth very early in the evolution of our solar system. The energy of this impact was sufficiently high that the Moon formed from melted material that began with a deep liquid magma ocean. As the Moon cooled, this magma ocean solidified into different mineral components, the lightest of which floated upwards to form the oldest crust. Although samples of this presumed ancient crust were brought back to Earth by the Apollo 16 mission in 1972, it was not until recently that scientists could successfully date them. Recent analysis of one of the samples, a rock called ferroan anorthosite or FAN, which is believed to be the oldest of the Moon's crustal rocks, has given scientists new insights into the formation of the Moon, suggesting that the Moon may be much younger than currently believed.

The sample that had been carefully stored at NASA’s Johnson Space Center had to be extensively pre-cleaned to remove terrestrial contamination. Once the sample was contamination free, the researchers were able to study it. The team analyzed the isotopes of the elements lead and neodymium to place the age of the sample at 4.36 billion years. This figure is significantly younger than earlier estimates of the Moon's age that range to nearly as old as the age of the solar system itself at 4.567 billion years. The new, younger age obtained for the oldest lunar crust is similar to ages obtained for the oldest terrestrial minerals -- zircons from Western Australia -- suggesting that the oldest crust on both Earth and the Moon formed at approximately the same time.

This study is the first in which a single sample of FAN yielded consistent ages from multiple isotope dating techniques. This result strongly suggests that these ages pinpoint the time at which this sample crystallized. The extraordinarily young age of this lunar sample either means that the Moon solidified significantly later than previous estimates -- and therefore the moon itself is much younger than previously believed -- or that this sample does not represent a crystallization product of the original magma ocean. Either scenario requires major revision to existing models for the formation of the Moon.

The passage states which of the following?

In the year 1898, the United States made its earliest plunge into imperialism. For the first time, the nation secured overseas lands, dominions too thickly populated to be adapted for the purposes of colonization. By earlier conquests and purchases such as those of Louisiana, Florida, Texas, California, and New Mexico, the United States had secured relatively empty territories, which a flow of emigrants from the Eastern States of the US could rapidly Americanize. But in Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Hawaii, there was never a serious attempt to colonize on the part of the American citizens. The reasons behind these conquests were similar to the ones that led to the European partition of Africa in the 19^th century. The year 1898 indeed represented a strong shift in the foreign policy.

Even though in the years after the Civil War (1861-1865), Denmark offered to sell St. Thomas and St. Johns cheaply, the United States refused to purchase them, and declined to annex San Domingo or to entertain Sweden's proposal to purchase its West Indian territory. In 1893, instead of annexing Hawaii, the US attempted to bolster up the sovereignty of the native Queen. Then suddenly Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam were annexed; Hawaii was incorporated and Samoa was divided with Germany. America finally abandoned isolationism for good. 

In part, this change in foreign policy was due to military considerations. The possession of Hawaii, Panama and Guantanamo in Cuba was obviously necessary for the defense of America’s coasts. Just as the Monroe Doctrine was intended to protect the country from the approach of great military powers, so these new acquisitions were desired to pre-empt close-lying bases, from which fleets in enemy possession could  assail the country’s trade or cut off its communication. Such strategic considerations, however, do not explain the whole of the new imperialistic policy. Economic motives played a greater part. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, merchants had begun to think in terms of foreign markets and the US financiers in terms of foreign investments. The growing population had made increasing demands upon food products, leaving less to be exported, and at the same time exports of manufactures had increased. Many citizens believed that the United States could not afford to adhere to a policy of isolation while other nations were reaching out for the command of new markets.

Which of the following best describes the purpose of the third paragraph of the passage?

PASSAGE:Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities-as well as new and significant risks.  Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and the other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies.  Now congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms field with the government.  Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.  

Corporate response appears to have been substantial.  Accoring to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority business rose from $77 to $1. 1 billion in 1977.  The projected total of corporate contracts with minority business for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over $3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too.  First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them.  If, there after, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses.  The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneur’s who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids.  Both consume valuable time and resources and a small cmpany’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.

A second risk is that White-owned companies may-seek to cash inon the increasing apportion-ments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns, of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, white and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming – and remaining dependent.  Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.
Q. It can be inferred from the passage that, compared with the requirements of law, the percentage goals set by “some federal and local agencies” are 

Irrespective of the general state of the economy, paying less for the same thing appeals to most consumers, who seem to have an intuitive dislike for inflation. But much as we may like to pay less, a sustained decline in prices, deflation, may not be in our best interests. Deflation, in fact, is considered to be a bigger evil than inflation, and evokes strong action by policymakers who would try everything possible to prop up prices. Deflation often results from a slowdown in which reduction in demand vis-à-vis supply causes prices to dip. With a sharp decline in prices, consumers tend to postpone purchases in the belief that prices will head further lower. This adds to the pressure on businesses, which in addition to a fall in prices also see an accumulation of inventory. Production cuts are hence resorted to, resulting in factory closures and consequent layoffs or salary cuts. With unemployment increasing, income levels in the economy fall, leading to further cuts in consumer spending and more pressure on prices. A vicious cycle emerges; the cascade effect is felt across sectors; and the economy goes into defeatist mode.

To prevent deflations and to tackle the downward spiral caused by them, governments resort to large-scale spending, undertaking massive projects to increase employment, incomes, and prices and pumping in huge sums of money to propel demand. For instance, in the aftermath of the financial market crash in 2008, the US government undertook big-ticket stimulus measures and QE (quantitative easing) to revive the economy.

However, not all dips in prices are bad. A fall in prices of goods and services due to technological innovations and increased competition could actually benefit both the consumers and the producers. Such a situation is very different from deflation, which affects prices across the economy on a sustained basis (mainly due to decreasing demand or liquidity problems) and which should indeed be considered a red flag.

Which of the following statements would the author most likely agree with?

The poverty line, also known as the poverty threshold, is defined as the minimum level of income that is necessary for the people of a specific nation. The poverty line of a country is calculated by identifying the total amount of necessary expenses that an average adult requires over the course of one year, with the main such expense usually being house rent. Additionally, this calculation also typically includes the basic expenses of food and clothing. This measure of minimum income required is purely quantitative and does not estimate either the specific needs of people from different low-income groups or the different ways in which low-income groups experience poverty in different countries. The solely quantitative basis of calculating the minimum required income, therefore, may in fact lead to either the overestimation or the underestimation of the number of people who actually live under the poverty line in a given country. Another reason that renders the poverty line short of being a very reliable indicator of actual poverty levels is that certain nations, usually developed ones, with strong welfare systems fail to account for ‘in-kind’ transfers when calculating the poverty threshold.  Such calculations do not regard the benefits received from antipoverty programs such as food stamps, housing assistance, etc. as income, thereby presenting a distorted picture of the level of poverty in the nation.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

In general, psychology is the study of human thought and consciousness and includes everything from the biological way in which cognitive processes occur to why people behave in certain ways. Sociology, on the other hand, is the study of society and how people interact with each other in different ways. The major differences between psychology and sociology typically concern the focal points of each field and how those foci are studied. In psychology, for example, the focus of research typically involves understanding the human cognitive process and how the brain functions in general. In sociology, however, there is a great deal of importance placed on the role that society has in the formation of human thought and action. Even though sociology does include how people think with relation to each other, human thought is not necessarily the sole focus. Also, since it studies the interactions between people, sociology can lay much more importance on actions than psychology does, stressing the importance of human behavior over cognitive responses or processes.

 

There are some ways in which both psychology and sociology are similar, however, such as the ways in which the fields cross into each other. Social psychology, for example, is quite similar to sociology in that it focuses on how people interact and how society affects the thoughts and mental activities of individual people. Explorations within sociology on how social interactions can be based on various psychological principles can also connect the two disciplines. Ultimately, someone interested in different facets of psychology and sociology is likely to study both fields and find that there are numerous ways in which they can relate and enhance each other.

Which of the following best captures the function of the second paragraph?

Researchers bet their bottom dollar on a combination of polar ice cores, tree-rings, geochemistry, and a medieval chronicle little-known in the West to solve one of vulcanology’s most enduring mysteries: which peak blew its top in the mid-13th century, causing a catastrophic eruption that ranks as one of the biggest in the recorded history? As with any investigation, the team had to rule out other suspects as it followed a trail of clues - and even read palms, or at least palm leaves, ultimately finding the culprit of the massive 1257 AD eruption, which the researchers say is Samalas volcano on Lombok Island in Indonesia.

For decades, scientists have been searching for the volcano responsible for the largest spike in sulfate deposits in the last 7,000 years, which were revealed in the ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica. The spike indicated a massive eruption around 1257 that may have sent up to eight times more sulfate into the stratosphere than the 1883 eruption of Karaktau, often held up as an archetype of volcanoes behaving badly. Researchers say the 1257 mystery spew is comparable in scope to a second-century AD eruption in the Taupo Volcanic Zone of New Zealand, known as the most intense historic volcanic event. Multitude of futile attempts for a few decades compelled the researchers to write the project off as “unsolved”. Some thirty years later, one of the researchers’ tips came from Babad Lombok, a 13th century historical record in Old Javanese, written on palm leaves, the chronicle referencing a massive eruption of Samalas that created an enormous caldera.The current research zeroed in on Samalas, part of the Mount Rinjani volcanic complex.

The team was able to accumulate a sizable amount of incriminating evidence, including pyroclastic deposits from the eruption more than 100 feet thick found more than 15 miles from the ruins of the volcano. The range of deposits and the volume suggest that the Samalas eruption exceeded that of the Tambora event in 1815. The team sampled carbonized tree trunks and branches in the Samalas deposit zone and used radiocarbon dating to confirm a mid 13th-century eruption. Reviewing wind patterns, researchers were even able to narrow the timeframe for the eruption. The distribution, to the west, of volcanic ash and other ejecta from Samalas suggest that the dry season’s easterly trade winds were prevalent, putting the eruption window between May and October of 1257.

The author is primarily concerned with: 

In general, psychology is the study of human thought and consciousness and includes everything from the biological way in which cognitive processes occur to why people behave in certain ways. Sociology, on the other hand, is the study of society and how people interact with each other in different ways. The major differences between psychology and sociology typically concern the focal points of each field and how those foci are studied. In psychology, for example, the focus of research typically involves understanding the human cognitive process and how the brain functions in general. In sociology, however, there is a great deal of importance placed on the role that society has in the formation of human thought and action. Even though sociology does include how people think with relation to each other, human thought is not necessarily the sole focus. Also, since it studies the interactions between people, sociology can lay much more importance on actions than psychology does, stressing the importance of human behavior over cognitive responses or processes.

 

There are some ways in which both psychology and sociology are similar, however, such as the ways in which the fields cross into each other. Social psychology, for example, is quite similar to sociology in that it focuses on how people interact and how society affects the thoughts and mental activities of individual people. Explorations within sociology on how social interactions can be based on various psychological principles can also connect the two disciplines. Ultimately, someone interested in different facets of psychology and sociology is likely to study both fields and find that there are numerous ways in which they can relate and enhance each other.

Which of the following would the author most likely agree with?

Eating fish and other foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids could help people maintain healthy brains as they age as well as protect their hearts, new research suggests. Per this research, participants with low levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood had slightly smaller brains and scored lower on memory and cognitive tests than people with higher blood levels of omega-3s.

The researchers then looked at and ranked the level of omega-3 fatty acids in the participants' blood. People who scored in the bottom 25% in omega-3 fatty acid levels were compared with the rest of the study participants. Researchers found that those who had the lowest level of omega-3 fatty acid levels in their blood had lower brain gray matter volume compared with those with higher levels.

Gray matter volume is crucial to brain health. When it remains higher, brain health is being maintained. Decrease in gray matter volume indicates that brain cells are shrinking. The findings showed that consumption of baked or broiled fish on a weekly basis was positively associated with retention of gray matter volume in several areas of the brain. In fact the greater hippocampal, posterior cingulate, and orbital frontal cortex volumes obtained by optimal fish consumption led to reduced risk of contracting MCI or Alzheimer’s by almost five-fold.

The most recent U.S. dietary guidelines—released last year—recommend at least two servings of seafood a week. Some doctors and diet experts recommend that patients consume fish three times a week or take fish-oil supplements so they get enough omega-3 fatty acids to obtain health benefits.

According to the passage, people who eat foods rich in Omega 3 acids experience which of the following benefits

PASSAGE:Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities-as well as new and significant risks.  Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and the other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies.  Now congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms field with the government.  Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.  

Corporate response appears to have been substantial.  Accoring to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority business rose from $77 to $1. 1 billion in 1977.  The projected total of corporate contracts with minority business for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over $3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too.  First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them.  If, there after, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses.  The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneur’s who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids.  Both consume valuable time and resources and a small cmpany’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.

A second risk is that White-owned companies may-seek to cash inon the increasing apportion-ments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns, of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, white and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming – and remaining dependent.  Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.
Q. The authors implied that the minority owned concern that does the greater part of its business with one large corporate customer should 

PASSAGE:Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities-as well as new and significant risks.  Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and the other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies.  Now congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms field with the government.  Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.  

Corporate response appears to have been substantial.  Accoring to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority business rose from $77 to $1. 1 billion in 1977.  The projected total of corporate contracts with minority business for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over $3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too.  First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them.  If, there after, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses.  The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneur’s who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids.  Both consume valuable time and resources and a small cmpany’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.

A second risk is that White-owned companies may-seek to cash inon the increasing apportion-ments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns, of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, white and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming – and remaining dependent.  Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.
 

Q. The passage most likely appeared in 

The role of nurturing in determining one’s behavioral traits has been hotly contested. Historically, geneticists believed that behavioral traits are inherited. After all, many properties of the brain are genetically organized and don't depend on information coming in from the senses. Since active genes are essentially inherited, most traditional geneticists believe that nurturing environment plays little role in shaping one’s behavioral traits.

However, a new line of research indicated that methyl groups can activate dormant genes, bringing about a slew of changes much later in a person’s life. The methyl group works like a placeholder in a cookbook, attaching to the DNA within each cell to select only those recipes - er, genes - necessary for that particular cell’s proteins, telling the DNA what kind of cells to form.  The first such observation was in which methyl groups activated by causes ranging from exposure to certain chemicals to changes in diet set off a cascade of cellular changes resulting in cancer. Because methyl groups are attached to the genes, residing beside but separate from the double-helix DNA code, their study is dubbed epigenetics - “epi” referring to Greek for outer or above. 

Behavioral geneticists, encouraged by this discovery proved that traumatic experiences such as child neglect, drug abuse, or other severe stresses also set off epigenetic changes to the DNA inside the neurons of a person’s brain, permanently altering behavior.  Similarly, through multivariate analysis, they proved that identical twins, in scenarios where one twin has gone through a life altering event, can have vastly different reaction to a stressful situation.

Which of the following may be inferred from the passage?

The role of nurturing in determining one’s behavioral traits has been hotly contested. Historically, geneticists believed that behavioral traits are inherited. After all, many properties of the brain are genetically organized and don't depend on information coming in from the senses. Since active genes are essentially inherited, most traditional geneticists believe that nurturing environment plays little role in shaping one’s behavioral traits.

However, a new line of research indicated that methyl groups can activate dormant genes, bringing about a slew of changes much later in a person’s life. The methyl group works like a placeholder in a cookbook, attaching to the DNA within each cell to select only those recipes - er, genes - necessary for that particular cell’s proteins, telling the DNA what kind of cells to form.  The first such observation was in which methyl groups activated by causes ranging from exposure to certain chemicals to changes in diet set off a cascade of cellular changes resulting in cancer. Because methyl groups are attached to the genes, residing beside but separate from the double-helix DNA code, their study is dubbed epigenetics - “epi” referring to Greek for outer or above. 

Behavioral geneticists, encouraged by this discovery proved that traumatic experiences such as child neglect, drug abuse, or other severe stresses also set off epigenetic changes to the DNA inside the neurons of a person’s brain, permanently altering behavior.  Similarly, through multivariate analysis, they proved that identical twins, in scenarios where one twin has gone through a life altering event, can have vastly different reaction to a stressful situation.

In the context of this passage, what is the importance of the example illustrating how cancer is caused?

Although postcolonial theory does not propose a simple causal relation between literature and political action, it nonetheless views literature as an enabler of nationalism and in turn political action: literature imagines the community of the nation, giving it a virtually mythical status. The power of the national imaginary to inspire political action is never in doubt, but the precise mechanisms by which this happens or whether indeed any kind of direct causality is involved remains unclear. It may very well be that literature and political action are reciprocating parts of a complex process for which such questions are peripheral.

 

An example of such reciprocation is an early play by Yeats, The King’s Threshold (1904), in which an ancient Irish poet goes on hunger strike to protest against his king.  This play might be thought to have engendered the hunger strikes Irish republicans resorted to, first during the struggle with Britain from 1916 to 1920, then in the civil war that followed as they fought against the Free State government forces, and finally in 1981 as they resisted continuing British rule in Northern Ireland. Similarly in reciprocation, when the Republican mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, died in hunger strike in 1920, Yeats revised his play, and gave it a revised conclusion – a tragic ending, attributing the tragic ending as a great improvement & much more representative of the then political climate.

The passage mentions the instance of death of Republican mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney to illustrate

 

Information is the essence of universe and means distinction between things. It is the very basic principle of physics that distinctions never disappear even though they might get scrambled or mixed away even after a seemingly irreversible change – say a magazine gets dissolved into pulp at a recycling plan, the information on the pages of the magazines will be re-organized and not eliminated and in theory the decay can be reversed; the pulp reconstructed into words and photographs. The only exception to this principle in physics is if the magazine were thrown into a black hole, a singular object in this regard, since nothing can emerge out of it after all. Even after Stephen Hawking showed in 1975 that black holes can radiate away matter and energy, the radiation seemed devoid of any structure, indicating that all information is lost in a black hole – a conclusion that has been hotly contested by physicists all over the world who argue that the entire structure of theoretical physics will disintegrate once you accept the notion that information can be lost, even if in a black hole.

Even though Hawking was not easily convinced, the physicists adopted a new theory called the holograph principle that states that when an object falls inside a black hole the stuff inside it may be lost but the objects information may be imprinted on the surface of black hole and with the right tools you may reconstruct the magazine from the black hole just as you would have reconstructed it from the pulp. This principle which may sound like an accounting trick has some serious implications if true. It implies that all information about 3 dimensional objects is stored in 2 dimensions and that there is a limit to how much information can be stored on a given surface area.  While this theory plugs a key gap in Hawkins assertion its corollaries spring some interesting implications that may have a tough time standing up to the scrutiny.

Which of the following best describes author’s feelings regarding Holograph principle?

Marginal analysis is an important decision-making tool in the business world. Pricing decisions tend to heavily involve analysis regarding marginal contributions to revenues and costs. In business, the practice of setting the price of a product to equal the extra cost of producing an extra unit of output, i.e. the marginal cost of producing the unit, is known as marginal-cost pricing. In the marginal analysis of pricing decisions, if marginal revenue, the increase in revenue from the sale of an additional unit of output, is greater than marginal cost at some level of output, marginal profit is positive, and, therefore, a greater quantity should be produced. Alternatively, if marginal revenue is less than the marginal cost, marginal profit is negative and a lesser quantity should be produced. Accordingly, firms tend to use this analysis to increase their production until marginal revenue equals marginal cost, and then charge a price which is determined by the demand curve.  For instance, businesses often set prices close to marginal cost during periods of poor sales. If, for example, an item has a marginal cost of $1.00 and a normal selling price of $2.00, the firm selling the item might wish to lower the price to $1.10 - if demand has waned. The business would choose this approach because the incremental profit of 10 cents from the transaction is better than no sale at all.

Which of the following is stated in the passage?

Characterized by change of ideals, Sanskritization traditionally denoted the process by which castes placed lower in the caste hierarchy sought upward mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the upper castes. It became an inevitable feature of those castes that experienced a vast gap between their ritual and politico-economic positions. Such castes enjoyed a high level of political and economic power. Accordingly, economic elevation was not a sought- after goal through Sanskritization. Infact, sometimes a group could start by acquiring political power, which led to economic betterment and Sanskritization.

Although there is no unanimity on whether it has been a major process of cultural change in Indian history, it has occurred almost in every part of the Indian sub-continent. However, the nature of the process is by no means uniform as the cultural norms or customs being imitated may vary from Sanskrit or Hindu traditional forms to tribal and even the Islamic patterns. Also, with the passage of time, the boundaries of the definition have blurred and today Sanskritization is no longer limited to the changes in the customs, rituals and ideology and way of life of a caste placed lower in the caste hierarchy; it has now begun to stand for cross imitation of customs and way of life among different social groups. In essence, Sanskritization is only an illustration of the operation of the ‘reference group’ process. A reference group is a group that is used as a standard to evaluate one’s rituals, attitudes, customs etc. As long as the caste has prestige in the social groups, it serves as a model. Accordingly, a ruling group or caste will also serve as a model if it commands prestige in the society.

In the passage, which of the following is NOT mentioned?

It is exceedingly difficult to make people realize that an evil is an evil. For instance, we seize a man and deliberately do him a malicious injury: say, imprison him for years. One would not suppose that it needed any exceptional clearness of wit to recognize in this an act of diabolical cruelty. But in England  such a recognition provokes a stare of surprise, followed by an explanation that the outrage is punishment or justice or something else that is all right, or perhaps by a heated attempt to argue that we should all be robbed and murdered in our beds if such senseless villainies as sentences of imprisonment were not committed daily. It is useless to argue that even if this were true, which it is not, the alternative to adding crimes of our own to the crimes from which we suffer is not helpless submission. Chickenpox is an evil; but if I were to declare that we must either submit to it or else repress it by seizing everyone who suffers from it and punishing them by inoculation with smallpox, I should be laughed at; for though nobody could deny that the result would be to prevent chickenpox to some extent by making people avoid it much more carefully, and to effect a further apparent prevention by making them conceal it very anxiously, yet people would have sense enough to see that the deliberate propagation of smallpox was a creation of evil, and must therefore be ruled out in favor of purely humane and hygienic measures. Yet in the precisely parallel case of a man breaking into my house and stealing my diamonds I am expected as a matter of course to steal ten years of his life. If he tries to defeat that monstrous retaliation by shooting me, my survivors hang him. The net result suggested by the police statistics is that we inflict atrocious injuries on the burglars we catch in order to make the rest take effectua precautions against detection; so that instead of saving out diamonds from burglary we only greatly decrease our chances of ever getting them back, and increase our chances of being shot by the robber.

The passage is most probably intended to 

A. serve as an introduction to a more detailed discussion of poverty 
B. censure imprisonment as a punitive measure 
C. analyze the possible repercussions of social evils 
D. continue a prior discussion of strong measures against social evils 
E. make people recognize social evils in the face of deliberate obfuscation

PASSAGE:Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities-as well as new and significant risks.  Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and the other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies.  Now congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms field with the government.  Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.  

Corporate response appears to have been substantial.  Accoring to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority business rose from $77 to $1. 1 billion in 1977.  The projected total of corporate contracts with minority business for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over $3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too.  First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them.  If, there after, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses.  The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneur’s who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids.  Both consume valuable time and resources and a small cmpany’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.

A second risk is that White-owned companies may-seek to cash inon the increasing apportion-ments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns, of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, white and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming – and remaining dependent.  Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.

Q. The passage supplies information that would answer which of the following questions? 

Although the journal Social Text was never at the forefront of publishing articles on feminism and never debated whether capitalism was the source of women’s oppression in 1970s or whether male supremacy was itself a systematic form of domination, it is not clear whether social feminist’s classification of the journal as the one run by “boy’s club” could have been completely justified till recently. There could have been many reasons that the journal’s mission statement as set out in its first prospectus in 1979 did not take notice of the burning issues feminists were then discussing. May be triumvirate of founding editors were too focused on Marxist high theory to consider gender alongside economic class as an important mode of social organization and oppression, or on the other hand they may have simply chosen on purpose to not include feminism specifically in its charter.

The recent paper by Rosa Luxemburg suggests that the first prospectus contained the seeds of its own feminist undoing. The founders demarcated fields of focus for the journal that could hardly be explored without attention to gender, sexuality, and the historical experiences of women. They were rather interested in “everyday life,” “mass culture,” and “consumer society”. Hence, the little feminist work that appears in Social Text is in the realm of cultural analysis not revolutionary praxis and is often buried in the back of the journal in “Unequal Developments,” the section that offers reviews and experimental writing.

 

For example, in the second edition of the journal in the section Unequal Developments, Christine Holmland performs a thorough feminist dissection of the then-current Disney film ‘The North Avenue Irregulars’, showing how this comedy about a group of church ladies who take on the local mafia superficially celebrates, but finally deflates the idea of women’s activism, and along the way reinforces gendered roles at every level of social life.

What does the passage suggest about the kind of articles published by Social Text journal in relation to feminism?

Origami is capable of turning a simple sheet of paper into a pretty paper crane, but the principles behind the paper-folding art can also be applied to making a microfluidic device for a blood test, or for storing a satellite's solar panel in a rocket's cargo bay. A team of researchers is turning kirigami, a related art form that allows the paper to be cut, into a technique that can be applied equally to structures on those vastly divergent length scales. The researchers lay out the rules for folding and cutting a hexagonal lattice, a structure made from strips of material that cross over each other with spaces between, into a wide variety of useful three-dimensional shapes. 

A hexagonal lattice may seem like an odd choice for a starting point, but the researchers think that the pattern has advantages over a seemingly simpler tessellation, such as one made from squares; for instance, it is easier to fill a space with a hexagonal lattice and move from 2-D to 3-D. Starting from a flat hexagonal grid on a sheet of paper, the researchers outlined the fundamental cuts and folds that allow the resulting shape to keep the same proportions of the initial lattice, even if some of the material is removed. This is a critical quality for making the transition from paper to materials that might be used in real-world applications.

Having a set of rules that draws on fundamental mathematical principles means that the kirigami approach can be applied equally across length scales, and with almost any material that can be selected on the basis of its relevance to the ultimate application, whether it is in nanotechnology, architecture, or aerospace.The rules also guarantee that "modules," basic shapes such as channels that can direct the flow of fluids, can be combined into more complex ones. Kirigami is particularly attractive for nanoscale applications, where the simplest, most space-efficient shapes are necessary, and self-folding materials would circumvent some of the fabrication challenges inherent in working with other materials at such small scales.

Which of the following statements would the author most likely agree with?

PASSAGE:In strongly territorial birds such as the indigo bunting, song is the main mechanism for securing g, defining, and defending an adequate breeding are.  When  population density is high, only the strongest males can retain a suitable area.  The weakest males do not breed or are forced to nest on poor or marginal territories.

During the breeding season, the male indigo bunting sings in his territory; each song lasts two or three seconds with a very short pause between songs, Melodic and rhythmic characteristics are produced by rapid changes in sound frequency and some regularity of silent periods between sounds.  These modulated sounds form recognizable units, called figures, each of which is reproduced again and again with remarkable consistency.  Despite the large frequency range of these sounds and the rapid frequency changes that the birds makes, the n umber of figures is very limited.  Further, although we found some unique figures in different geographical populations, more than 90 percent of all Indigo bunting figures are extremely stable on the geographic basis .  In our studies of isolated buntings we found that male indigo buntings are capable of singing many more types of figures than they usually do.  Thus, it would seem that they copy their figures from other buntings they hear signing.

Realizing that the ability to distinguish the songs of one species from those of another could be an important factor in the volition of the figures, we tested species recognition of a song.  When we played a tape recording of a lazuli bunting or a painted bunting, male indigo bunting did not respond;  Even when a dummy of male indigo bunting was placed near the tape recorder.  Playing an indigo bunting song, however, usually brought an immediate response, making it clear that a male indigo bunting can readily distinguished songs of its own species from those of other species.

The role of the songs figures in interspecies recognition was then examined.  We created experimental songs composed of new figures by playing a normal song backwards, which changed the detailed forms of the figures without altering frequency ranges or gross temporal features.  Since the male indigos gave almost a full response to the backward song, we concluded that a wide range of figures shapes can evoke positive responses.  It seems likely, therefore, that a specific configuration is not essential for interspecies recognition, but it is clear that song figures must confirm to a particular frequency range, must be within narrow limits of duration, and must be spaced at particular intervals.

There is evident that new figures may arise within a population through a slow process of change and selection.  This variety is probably a valuable adaptation for survival: if every bird sang only a few types of figures, in dense woods or underbrush a female might have difficulty recognizing her mate’s song and a male might not be able to distinguished a neighbor from a stranger.  Our studies led us to conclude that there must be a balance between song stability and conservatism, which lead to clear-cut species recognition, and song variation, which leads to individual recognition.
Q. It can be inferred that the investigation that determined the similarly among more than 90 percent of all the figures produced by birds living in different regions was undertaken to answer which of the following questions? I.How much variations, if any, is there in the figure types produced by indigo buntings in different locales? II.Do local populations of indigo buntings develop their own dialects of figure types? III.Do figure similarities among indigo buntings decline with increasing geographic separation?

Often it was believed that super intelligence leads to financial success, but a study by Malcolm Gadwall identified determination as the most important predictor of success. It certainly helps to be smart, but there are plenty of people as smart as Bill Gates who have achieved next to nothing. The study further concluded that there are aspects called components of determination that are more relevant than others, and more importantly, some of these components can be cultivated while others are innate.  One of these components – sheer willfulness, the desire to get something when you want it, no matter what – is most important.  Unfortunately, the study concluded that a good deal of willfulness must be inborn because it is common to see families in which one sibling has much more of it than the other sibling. Circumstances can alter it, but at the high end of the scale, nature seems to be more important than nurture. But a strong willed person needs to be disciplined and not self-indulgent, making discipline the second component of determination. Hence, determination implies your willfulness is balanced by discipline. This is because the stronger your will, the less anyone will be able to argue with you except yourself, and someone should argue with you because everyone has base impulses, but if you have more will than discipline you'll just give into these impulses and as a result end up on a local maximum such as drug addiction. Another important thing that the study concludes is that discipline can be cultivated, and in fact does tend to vary quite a lot in the course of an individual's life, and since determination is the product of will and discipline, you can become more determined by being more disciplined. The last component that the study discovered – another malleable one – is ambition. If willfulness and discipline are what get you to your destination, ambition is how you choose it and the fact that ambition is malleable means there is a lot you can do to increase it.  Hence to summarize, determination consists of willfulness balanced with discipline and aimed by ambition - fortunately at least two of these three qualities can be cultivated.

The author is primarily concerned with:

A

comparing and contrasting the roles played by intelligence and determination as a predictor of financial success.

The prevailing theory of our Moon's origin is that it was created by a giant impact between a large planet-like object and the proto-Earth very early in the evolution of our solar system. The energy of this impact was sufficiently high that the Moon formed from melted material that began with a deep liquid magma ocean. As the Moon cooled, this magma ocean solidified into different mineral components, the lightest of which floated upwards to form the oldest crust. Although samples of this presumed ancient crust were brought back to Earth by the Apollo 16 mission in 1972, it was not until recently that scientists could successfully date them. Recent analysis of one of the samples, a rock called ferroan anorthosite or FAN, which is believed to be the oldest of the Moon's crustal rocks, has given scientists new insights into the formation of the Moon, suggesting that the Moon may be much younger than currently believed.

The sample that had been carefully stored at NASA’s Johnson Space Center had to be extensively pre-cleaned to remove terrestrial contamination. Once the sample was contamination free, the researchers were able to study it. The team analyzed the isotopes of the elements lead and neodymium to place the age of the sample at 4.36 billion years. This figure is significantly younger than earlier estimates of the Moon's age that range to nearly as old as the age of the solar system itself at 4.567 billion years. The new, younger age obtained for the oldest lunar crust is similar to ages obtained for the oldest terrestrial minerals -- zircons from Western Australia -- suggesting that the oldest crust on both Earth and the Moon formed at approximately the same time.

This study is the first in which a single sample of FAN yielded consistent ages from multiple isotope dating techniques. This result strongly suggests that these ages pinpoint the time at which this sample crystallized. The extraordinarily young age of this lunar sample either means that the Moon solidified significantly later than previous estimates -- and therefore the moon itself is much younger than previously believed -- or that this sample does not represent a crystallization product of the original magma ocean. Either scenario requires major revision to existing models for the formation of the Moon.

Which of the following captures the primary purpose of the passage?

PASSAGE:In strongly territorial birds such as the indigo bunting, song is the main mechanism for securing g, defining, and defending an adequate breeding are.  When  population density is high, only the strongest males can retain a suitable area.  The weakest males do not breed or are forced to nest on poor or marginal territories.

During the breeding season, the male indigo bunting sings in his territory; each song lasts two or three seconds with a very short pause between songs, Melodic and rhythmic characteristics are produced by rapid changes in sound frequency and some regularity of silent periods between sounds.  These modulated sounds form recognizable units, called figures, each of which is reproduced again and again with remarkable consistency.  Despite the large frequency range of these sounds and the rapid frequency changes that the birds makes, the n umber of figures is very limited.  Further, although we found some unique figures in different geographical populations, more than 90 percent of all Indigo bunting figures are extremely stable on the geographic basis .  In our studies of isolated buntings we found that male indigo buntings are capable of singing many more types of figures than they usually do.  Thus, it would seem that they copy their figures from other buntings they hear signing.

Realizing that the ability to distinguish the songs of one species from those of another could be an important factor in the volition of the figures, we tested species recognition of a song.  When we played a tape recording of a lazuli bunting or a painted bunting, male indigo bunting did not respond;  Even when a dummy of male indigo bunting was placed near the tape recorder.  Playing an indigo bunting song, however, usually brought an immediate response, making it clear that a male indigo bunting can readily distinguished songs of its own species from those of other species.

The role of the songs figures in interspecies recognition was then examined.  We created experimental songs composed of new figures by playing a normal song backwards, which changed the detailed forms of the figures without altering frequency ranges or gross temporal features.  Since the male indigos gave almost a full response to the backward song, we concluded that a wide range of figures shapes can evoke positive responses.  It seems likely, therefore, that a specific configuration is not essential for interspecies recognition, but it is clear that song figures must confirm to a particular frequency range, must be within narrow limits of duration, and must be spaced at particular intervals.

There is evident that new figures may arise within a population through a slow process of change and selection.  This variety is probably a valuable adaptation for survival: if every bird sang only a few types of figures, in dense woods or underbrush a female might have difficulty recognizing her mate’s song and a male might not be able to distinguished a neighbor from a stranger.  Our studies led us to conclude that there must be a balance between song stability and conservatism, which lead to clear-cut species recognition, and song variation, which leads to individual recognition.

Q. The primary purpose of passage is to 

In general, psychology is the study of human thought and consciousness and includes everything from the biological way in which cognitive processes occur to why people behave in certain ways. Sociology, on the other hand, is the study of society and how people interact with each other in different ways. The major differences between psychology and sociology typically concern the focal points of each field and how those foci are studied. In psychology, for example, the focus of research typically involves understanding the human cognitive process and how the brain functions in general. In sociology, however, there is a great deal of importance placed on the role that society has in the formation of human thought and action. Even though sociology does include how people think with relation to each other, human thought is not necessarily the sole focus. Also, since it studies the interactions between people, sociology can lay much more importance on actions than psychology does, stressing the importance of human behavior over cognitive responses or processes.

 

There are some ways in which both psychology and sociology are similar, however, such as the ways in which the fields cross into each other. Social psychology, for example, is quite similar to sociology in that it focuses on how people interact and how society affects the thoughts and mental activities of individual people. Explorations within sociology on how social interactions can be based on various psychological principles can also connect the two disciplines. Ultimately, someone interested in different facets of psychology and sociology is likely to study both fields and find that there are numerous ways in which they can relate and enhance each other.

Which of the following can be inferred from the cited section?

Should taxpayers pay to read the results of public funded research or do they have the right to those. This issue is the center of hotly contested debate in the House of Representatives as a part of the Research Works Act.  The Research Works Act would forbid the National Institute of Health to require, as it now does, that its grantees provide copies of the papers they publish in peer-reviewed journals to the library. If the bill passes, to read the results of federally funded research, most Americans would have to buy access to individual articles at a cost of $15 or $30 apiece, making citizens pay for research already funded by them.

Publishers of journals such as Cell, Science, and The New England Journal of Medicine, who are backing the bill, argue that they add value to the finished product and that requiring them to provide free access to journal articles within a year of publication denies them their fair compensation and makes it difficult for them to generate profits comparable to the profits in the industry.  Furthermore they claim that while the research may be publically funded, the journals are not, claiming that they add significant value in the peer review process that makes the published articles worthwhile.

But in fact, these journals receive billions of dollars in subscription payments, a good portion of their revenue today that is derived largely from public funds. Moreover, even the peer review process, which the journals claim is their primary value add, is funded by public funds. The researchers who volunteer their time to review their peers’ work come primarily from universities and research organizations that are funded by taxpayers’ dollars.

Rather than rolling back public access, Congress should move to enshrine a simple principle in United States law: if taxpayers paid for it, they own it. This is already the case for scientific papers published by researchers at the N.I.H. campus in Bethesda, Md., whose work has been explicitly excluded from copyright protection since 1976 because it was funded by public. It would be easy to extend this coverage to all works funded by the federal government.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

PASSAGE:In strongly territorial birds such as the indigo bunting, song is the main mechanism for securing g, defining, and defending an adequate breeding are.  When  population density is high, only the strongest males can retain a suitable area.  The weakest males do not breed or are forced to nest on poor or marginal territories.

During the breeding season, the male indigo bunting sings in his territory; each song lasts two or three seconds with a very short pause between songs, Melodic and rhythmic characteristics are produced by rapid changes in sound frequency and some regularity of silent periods between sounds.  These modulated sounds form recognizable units, called figures, each of which is reproduced again and again with remarkable consistency.  Despite the large frequency range of these sounds and the rapid frequency changes that the birds makes, the n umber of figures is very limited.  Further, although we found some unique figures in different geographical populations, more than 90 percent of all Indigo bunting figures are extremely stable on the geographic basis .  In our studies of isolated buntings we found that male indigo buntings are capable of singing many more types of figures than they usually do.  Thus, it would seem that they copy their figures from other buntings they hear signing.

Realizing that the ability to distinguish the songs of one species from those of another could be an important factor in the volition of the figures, we tested species recognition of a song.  When we played a tape recording of a lazuli bunting or a painted bunting, male indigo bunting did not respond;  Even when a dummy of male indigo bunting was placed near the tape recorder.  Playing an indigo bunting song, however, usually brought an immediate response, making it clear that a male indigo bunting can readily distinguished songs of its own species from those of other species.

The role of the songs figures in interspecies recognition was then examined.  We created experimental songs composed of new figures by playing a normal song backwards, which changed the detailed forms of the figures without altering frequency ranges or gross temporal features.  Since the male indigos gave almost a full response to the backward song, we concluded that a wide range of figures shapes can evoke positive responses.  It seems likely, therefore, that a specific configuration is not essential for interspecies recognition, but it is clear that song figures must confirm to a particular frequency range, must be within narrow limits of duration, and must be spaced at particular intervals.

There is evident that new figures may arise within a population through a slow process of change and selection.  This variety is probably a valuable adaptation for survival: if every bird sang only a few types of figures, in dense woods or underbrush a female might have difficulty recognizing her mate’s song and a male might not be able to distinguished a neighbor from a stranger.  Our studies led us to conclude that there must be a balance between song stability and conservatism, which lead to clear-cut species recognition, and song variation, which leads to individual recognition.
Q. It can be inferred from the passage that the existence of only a limited number of indigo bunting figures servers primarily to

Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities-as well as new and significant risks.  Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and the other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies.  Now congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms field with the government.  Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.  

Corporate response appears to have been substantial.  Accoring to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority business rose from $77 to $1. 1 billion in 1977.  The projected total of corporate contracts with minority business for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over $3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too.  First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them.  If, there after, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses.  The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneur’s who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids.  Both consume valuable time and resources and a small cmpany’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.

A second risk is that White-owned companies may-seek to cash inon the increasing apportion-ments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns, of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, white and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming – and remaining dependent.  Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.
Q. Which of the following if true, would most weaken the author’s assertion that, in 1970’s, corporate response to federal requirements (lines 18-19) was substantial?

Despite radical differences in what limbs do and what they look like, the underlying blueprint of all limbs in land based animals, whether those limbs are wings in birds, flippers in penguins, or hands in humans, is the same - one bone, the humerus in the arm or the femur in the leg, articulates with two bones, which attach to a series of small blobs, which connect with the fingers or toes. Want to make a bat wing? Make the fingers really long. Want to make a horse? Elongate the middle fingers and toes and  lose the outer ones. The differences between creatures lie in differences in the shapes and sizes of the bones and the numbers of blobs, fingers, and toes.

In the 1950s and 1960s a number of biologists, including Edgar Zwilling and John Saunders, did extraordinarily creative experiments on chicken eggs to understand how skeletal structure of limbs  forms and uncovered some of the key mechanisms that build limbs that have the same architecture but are as different as bird wings, lizards webbings,  and human hands .  They discovered that two little patches of tissue essentially control the development of the pattern of bones inside limbs. These patches of tissue were named the zone of polarizing activity (ZPA). The cells in the ZPA made special molecules that then spread across the limb to instruct cells to make femur, articulates, and connecting toes. The concentration of these molecules was the important factor and decided the length of femur, articulates, connecting toes, and even the length of individual toe fingers. Later experiments with other animals such as the bat, frog, etc. proved that the mechanism to form limbs remained the same - formation of limbs in every creature was controlled by the ZPA – just the concentration of these special molecules varied corresponding to the desired structure.

The reason for this inherent commonality in architecture still remained a conundrum for decades. Why did nature not develop architectures better optimized to the functional needs of various organisms? The discovery of Tiktaalik, a transition between non-tetrapod vertebrates ("fish") to early tetrapods solved this mystery, providing evidence that all land based creatures that have limbs, hands, etc. share a common ancestor. The fact that our DNA and that of all land based animals can be traced back to Tiktaalik further provided evidence  that all appendages, whether they are hands or limbs, are built by similar kinds of genes and that this great evolutionary transformation did not involve the origin of new DNA: much of the shift likely involved using ancient genes, such as those involved in development of Tiktaalik’s limbs, in new ways to make wings in birds or various sized limbs with fingers and toes, explaining the diversity in shapes while maintaining the similarity in architecture. 

In the context of the passage, why was the discovery of the Tiktaalik important? 

Though the truism about Inuits having a hundred words for snow is an exaggeration, languages really are full of charming quirks that reveal the character of a culture. Dialects of Scottish Gaelic, for instance, traditionally spoken in the Highlands and, later on, in fishing villages, have a great many very specific words for seaweed, as well as names for each of the components of a rabbit snare and a word for an egg that emerges from a hen sans shell. Unfortunately for those who find these details fascinating, languages are going extinct at an incredible clip, - one dies every 14 days - and linguists are rushing around with tape recorders and word lists, trying to record at least a fragment of each before they go. The only way the old tongues will stick around is if populations themselves decide that there is something of value in them, whether for reasons of patriotism, cultural heritage, or just to lure in some language-curious tourists. But even when the general public opinion is for preservation of their linguistic diversity, linguists are finding it increasingly difficult to achieve such a task.

Mathematicians can help linguists out in this mission. To provide a test environment for programs that encourage the learning of endangered local languages, Anne Kandler and her colleagues decided to make a mathematical model of the speakers of Scottish Gaelic. This was an apposite choice because the local population was already becoming increasingly conscious about the cultural value of their language and statistics of the Gaelic speakers was readily available. The model the mathematicians built not only uses statistics such as the number of people speaking the languages, the number of polyglots and rate of change in these numbers but also figures which represent the economic value of the language and the perceived cultural value amongst people. These numbers were substituted in the differential equations of the model to find out the number of new Gaelic speakers required annually to stop the dwindling of the Gaelic population. The estimate of the number determined by Kandler’s research helped the national Gaelic Development Agency to formulate an effective plan towards the preserving the language.  

Many languages such as Quechua, Chinook and Istrian Vlashki can be saved using such mathematical models. Results from mathematical equations can be useful in strategically planning preservation strategies. Similarly mathematical analysis of languages which have survived against many odds can also provide useful insights which can be applied towards saving other endangered languages.

The Author’s conclusion that ‘languages such as Quechua, Chinook, and Istrian Vlashki can be saved using such mathematical models’ (beginning of last para.) is most weakened if which of the following is found to be true?

PASSAGE:Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities-as well as new and significant risks.  Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and the other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies.  Now congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms field with the government.  Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.  

Corporate response appears to have been substantial.  Accoring to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority business rose from $77 to $1. 1 billion in 1977.  The projected total of corporate contracts with minority business for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over $3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too.  First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them.  If, there after, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses.  The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneur’s who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids.  Both consume valuable time and resources and a small cmpany’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.

A second risk is that White-owned companies may-seek to cash inon the increasing apportion-ments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns, of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, white and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming – and remaining dependent.  Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.

Q. According to the passage, civil rights activists maintain that one disadvantage under which minority owned businesses have traditionally had to labor is that they have 

PASSAGE:Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities-as well as new and significant risks.  Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and the other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies.  Now congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms field with the government.  Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.  

Corporate response appears to have been substantial.  Accoring to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority business rose from $77 to $1. 1 billion in 1977.  The projected total of corporate contracts with minority business for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over $3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too.  First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them.  If, there after, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses.  The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneur’s who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids.  Both consume valuable time and resources and a small cmpany’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.

A second risk is that White-owned companies may-seek to cash inon the increasing apportion-ments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns, of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, white and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming – and remaining dependent.  Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.

Q. The primary purpose of the passage is to 

PASSAGE:Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities-as well as new and significant risks.  Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and the other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies.  Now congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms field with the government.  Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.  

Corporate response appears to have been substantial.  Accoring to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority business rose from $77 to $1. 1 billion in 1977.  The projected total of corporate contracts with minority business for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over $3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too.  First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them.  If, there after, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses.  The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneur’s who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids.  Both consume valuable time and resources and a small cmpany’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.

A second risk is that White-owned companies may-seek to cash inon the increasing apportion-ments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns, of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, white and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming – and remaining dependent.  Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.

Q. The passage suggests that the failure of a large business to have its bids for subcontracts results quickly in order might cause it to