1.Canadians now increasingly engage in “out-shopping，” which is shopping across the national border， where prices are lower. Prices are lower outside of Canada in large part because the goods-and-services tax that pays for Canadian social services is not applied.

　　Which one of the following is best supported on the basis of the information above？

　　（A）If the upward trend in out-shopping continues at a significant level and the amounts paid by the government for Canadian social services are maintained， the Canadian goods-and-services tax will be assessed at a higher rate.

　　（B）If Canada imposes a substantial tariff on the goods bought across the border， a reciprocal tariff on cross-border shopping in the other direction will be imposed， thereby harming Canadian businesses.

　　（C）The amounts the Canadian government pays out to those who provide social services to Canadians are increasing.

　　（D）The same brands of goods are available to Canadian shoppers across the border as are available in Canada.

　　（E）Out-shopping purchases are subject to Canadian taxes when the purchaser crosses the border to bring them into Canada.

　　2. Left-handed persons suffer more frequently than do right-handed persons from certain immune disorders， such as allergies. Left-handers tend to have an advantage over the right-handed majority， however， on tasks controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain， and mathematical reasoning is strongly under the influence of the right hemisphere in most people.

　　If the information above is true， it best supports which of the following hypotheses？

　　（A） Most people who suffer from allergies or other such immune disorders are left-handed rather than right-handed.

　　（B） Most left-handed mathematicians suffer from some kind of allergy.

　　（C） There are proportionally more left-handers among people whose ability to reason mathematically is above average than there are among people with poor mathematical reasoning ability.

　　（D） If a left-handed person suffers from an allergy， that person will probably be good at mathematics.

　　（E） There are proportionally more people who suffer from immune disorders such as allergies than there are people who are left-handed or people whose mathematical reasoning ability is unusually good.

　　3. Mud from a lake on an uninhabited wooded island in northern Lake Superior contains toxic chemicals， including toxaphene， a banned pesticide for cotton that previously was manufactured and used， not in nearby regions of Canada or the northern United States， but in the southern United States. No dumping has occurred on the island. The island lake is sufficiently elevated that water from Lake Superior does not reach it.

　　The statements above， if true， most strongly support which of the following hypotheses？

　　（A） The waters of the island lake are more severely polluted than those of Lake Superior.

　　（B） The toxaphene was carried to the island in the atmosphere by winds.

　　（C） Banning chemicals such as toxaphene does not aid the natural environment

　　4.To prevent some conflicts of interest， Congress could prohibit high-level government officials from accepting positions as lobbyists for three years after such officials leave government service. One such official concluded， however， that such a prohibition would be unfortunate because it would prevent high-level government officials from earning a livelihood for three years.

　　The official's conclusion logically depends on which of the following assumptions？

　　（A） Laws should not restrict the behavior of former government officials.

　　（B） Lobbyists are typically people who have previously been high-level government officials.

　　（C） Low-level government officials do not often become lobbyists when they leave government service.

　　（D） High-level government officials who leave government service are capable of earning a livelihood only as lobbyists. （E） High-level government officials who leave government service are currently permitted to act as lobbyists for only three years.

　　5. A recent report determined that although only three percent of drivers on Maryland highways equipped their vehicles with radar detectors， thirty-three percent of all vehicles ticketed for exceeding the speed limit were equipped with them. Clearly， drivers who equip their vehicles with radar detectors are more likely to exceed the speed limit regularly than are drivers who do not.

　　The conclusion drawn above depends on which of the following assumptions？

　　（A） Drivers who equip their vehicles with radar detectors are less likely to be ticketed for exceeding the speed limit than are drivers who do not.

　　（B） Drivers who are ticketed for exceeding the speed limit are more likely to exceed the speed limit regularly than are drivers who are not ticketed.

　　（C） The number of vehicles that were ticketed for exceeding the speed limit was greater than the number of vehicles that were equipped with radar detectors.

　　（D） Many of the vehicles that were ticketed for exceeding the speed limit were ticketed more than once in the time period covered by the report.

　　（E） Drivers on Maryland highways exceeded the speed limit more often than did drivers on other state highways not covered in the report.

　　6. Researchers have found that when very overweight people， who tend to have relatively low metabolic rates， lose weight primarily through dieting， their metabolisms generally remain unchanged. They will thus burn significantly fewer calories at the new weight than do people whose weight is normally at that level. Such newly thin persons will， therefore， ultimately regain weight until their body size again matches their metabolic rate.The conclusion of the argument above depends on which of the following assumptions？

　　（A） Relatively few very overweight people who have dieted down to a new weight tend to continue to consume substantially fewer calories than do people whose normal weight is at that level.

　　（B） The metabolisms of people who are usually not overweight are much more able to vary than the metabolisms of people who have been very overweight.

　　（C） The amount of calories that a person usually burns in a day is determined more by the amount that is consumed that day than by the current weight of the individual.

　　（D） Researchers have not yet determined whether the metabolic rates of formerly very overweight individuals can be accelerated by means of chemical agents.

　　（E） Because of the constancy of their metabolic rates， people who are at their usual weight normally have as much difficulty gaining weight as they do losing it.

　　7. “Fast cycle time” is a strategy of designing a manufacturing organization to eliminate bottlenecks and delays in production. Not only does it speed up production， but it also assures quality. The reason is that the bottlenecks and delays cannot be eliminated unless all work is done right the first time.

　　The claim about quality made above rests on a questionable presupposition that

　　（A）any flaw in work on a product would cause a bottleneck or delay and so would be prevented from occurring on a “fast cycle” production line

　　（B） the strategy of “fast cycle time” would require fundamental rethinking of product design

　　（C） the primary goal of the organization is to produce a product of unexcelled quality， rather than to generate profits for stockholders

　　（D） “fast cycle time” could be achieved by shaving time off each of the component processes in production cycle

　　（E） “fast cycle time” is a concept in business strategy that has not yet been put into practice in a factory

　　8.Blood banks will shortly start to screen all donors for NANB hepatitis.Although the new screening tests are estimated to disqualify up to 5 percent of all prospective blood donors， they will still miss two-thirds of donors carrying NANB hepatitis. Therefore， about 10 percent of actual donors will still supply NANB-contaminated blood.

　　The argument above depends on which of the following assumptions？

　　（A）Donors carrying NANB hepatitis do not，in a large percentage of cases， carry other infections for which reliable screening tests are routinely performed.

　　（B） Donors carrying NANB hepatitis do not，in a large percentage of cases， develop the disease themselves at any point.

　　（C） The estimate of the number of donors who would be disqualified by tests for NANB hepatitis is an underestimate.

　　（D） The incidence of NANB hepatitis is lower among the potential blood donors than it is in the population at large.

　　（E） The donors who will still supply NANB-contaminated blood will donate blood at the average frequency for all donors.

　　9.A researcher discovered that people who have low levels of immune-system activity tend to score much lower on tests of mental health than do people with normal or high immune-system activity. The researcher concluded from this experiment that the immune system protects against mental illness as well as against physical disease.

　　The researcher's conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions？

　　（A） High immune-system activity protects against mental illness better than normal immune-system activity does.

　　（B） Mental illness is similar to physical disease in its effects on body system.

　　（C） People with high immune-system activity cannot develop mental illness.

　　（D） Mental illness does not cause people's immune-system activity to decrease.

　　（E） Psychological treatment of mental illness is not as effective as is medical treatment.

　　10.The program to control the entry of illegal drugs into the country was a failure in 1987. If the program had been successful， the wholesale price of most illegal drugs would not have dropped substantially in 1987.

　　The argument in the passage depends on which of the following assumptions？

　　（A） The supply of illegal drugs dropped substantially in 1987.

　　（B） The price paid for most illegal drugs by the average consumer did not drop substantially in 1987.

　　（C） Domestic production of illegal drugs increased at a higher rate than did the entry of such drugs into the country. （D） The wholesale price of a few illegal drugs increased substantially in 1987.

　　（E） A drop in demand for most illegal drugs in 1987 was not the sole cause of the drop in their wholesale price.