GMAT Tips: Why to Avoid the Word “Methodology” in RC Answers – and Other Tips

Reading Comprehension Exercise for MBA Entrance tests (CAT, GMAT, SNAP, IIFT, MAT)

Passage 21

Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United States by applying new social research findings on the experiences of European migrants. In his reinterpretation, migration becomes the organizing principle for rewriting the history of preindustrial North America. His approach rests on four separate propositions.

The first of these asserts that residents of early modern England moved regularly about their countryside; migrating to the New World was simply a “natural spillover.” Although at first the colonies held little positive attraction for the English—they would rather have stayed home—by the eighteenth century people increasingly migrated to America because they regarded it as the land of opportunity. Secondly, Bailyn holds that, contrary to the notion that used to flourish in America history textbooks, there was never a typical New World community. For example, the economic and demographic character of early New England towns varied considerably.

Bailyn’s third proposition suggests two general patterns prevailing among the many thousands of migrants: one group came as indentured servants, another came to acquire land. Surprisingly, Bailyn suggests that those who recruited indentured servants were the driving forces of transatlantic migration. These colonial entrepreneurs helped determine the social character of people who came to preindustrial North America. At first, thousands of unskilled laborers were recruited; by the 1730’s, however, American employers demanded skilled artisans.

Finally, Bailyn argues that the colonies were a half-civilized hinterland of the European culture system. He is undoubtedly correct to insist that the colonies were part of an Anglo-American empire. But to divide the empire into English core and colonial periphery, as Bailyn does, devalues the achievements of colonial culture. It is true, as Bailyn claims, that high culture in the colonies never matched that in England. But what of (what of 1: what is the situation with respect to 2: what importance can be assigned to) seventeenth-century New England, where the settlers created effective laws, built a distinguished university, and published books? Bailyn might respond that New England was exceptional. However, the ideas and institutions developed by New England Puritans had powerful effects on North American culture.

Although Bailyn goes on to apply his approach to some thousands of indentured servants who migrated just prior to the revolution, he fails to link their experience with the political development of the United States. Evidence presented in his work suggests how we might make such a connection. These indentured servants were treated as slaves for the period during which they had sold their time to American employers. It is not surprising that as soon as they served their time they passed up (pass up: 放弃；错过) good wages in the cities and headed west to ensure their personal independence by acquiring land. Thus, it is in the west that a peculiarly American political culture began, among colonists who were suspicious of authority and intensely anti-aristocratic.

1.   Which of the following statements about migrants to colonial North America is supported by information in the passage?

(A) A larger percentage of migrants to colonial North America came as indentured servants than as free agents interested in acquiring land.

(B) Migrants who came to the colonies as indentured servants were more successful at making a livelihood than were farmers and artisans.

(C) Migrants to colonial North America were more successful at acquiring their own land during the eighteenth century than during the seven-tenth century.

(D) By the 1730’s, migrants already skilled in a trade were in more demand by American employers than were unskilled laborers.（D）

(E) A significant percentage of migrants who came to the colonies to acquire land were forced to work as field hands for prosperous American farmers.

2.   The author of the passage states that Bailyn failed to

(A) give sufficient emphasis to the cultural and political interdependence of the colonies and England

(B) describe carefully how migrants of different ethnic backgrounds preserved their culture in the united States

(C) take advantage of social research on the experiences of colonists who migrated to colonial North America specifically to acquire land

(D) relate the experience of the migrants to the political values that eventually shaped the character of the United States（D）

(E) investigate the lives of Europeans before they came to colonial North America to determine more adequately their motivations for migrating

3.   Which of the following best summarizes the author’s evaluation of Bailyn’s fourth proposition?

(A) It is totally implausible.

(B) It is partially correct.

(C) It is highly admirable.

(D) It is controversial though persuasive.（B）

(E) It is intriguing though unsubstantiated.

4.   According to the passage, Bailyn and the author agree on which of the following statements about the culture of colonial New England?

(A) High culture in New England never equaled the high culture of England.

(B) The cultural achievements of colonial New England have generally been unrecognized by historians.

(C) The colonists imitated the high culture of England, and did not develop a culture that was uniquely their own.

(D) The southern colonies were greatly influenced by the high culture of New England.（A）

(E) New England communities were able to create laws and build a university, but unable to create anything innovative in the arts.

5.   According to the passage, which of the following is true of English migrants to the colonies during the eighteenth century?

(A) Most of them were farmers rather than trades people or artisans.

(B) Most of them came because they were unable to find work in England.

(C) They differed from other English people in that they were willing to travel.

(D) They expected that the colonies would offer them increased opportunity.（D）

(E) They were generally not as educated as the people who remained in England.

6.   The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

(A) comparing several current interpretations of early American history

(B) suggesting that new social research on migration should lead to revisions in current interpretations of early American history

(C) providing the theoretical framework that is used by most historians in understanding early American history

(D) refuting an argument about early American history that has been proposed by social historians（E）

(E) discussing a reinterpretation of early American history that is based on new social research on migration

7.   It can be inferred from the passage that American history textbooks used to assert that

(A) many migrants to colonial North America were not successful financially

(B) more migrants came to America out of religious or political conviction that came in the hope of acquiring land

(C) New England communities were much alike in terms of their economics and demographics

(D) many migrants to colonial North America failed to maintain ties with their European relations（C）

(E) the level of literacy in New England communities was very high

8.   The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about Bailyn’s work?

(A) Bailyn underestimates the effects of Puritan thought on North American culture.

(B) Bailyn overemphasizes the economic dependence of the colonies on Great Britain.

(C) Bailyn’s description of the colonies as part of an Anglo-American empire is misleading and incorrect.

(D) Bailyn failed to test his propositions on a specific group of migrants to colonial North America.（A）

(E) Bailyn overemphasizes the experiences of migrants to the New England colonies, and neglects the southern and the western parts of the New World.

 

Passage 22

Many United States companies have, unfortunately, made the search for legal protection from import competition into a major line of work. Since 1980 the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has received about 280 complaints alleging damage from imports that benefit from subsidies by foreign governments. Another 340 charge that foreign companies “dumped” their products in the United States at “less than fair value.” Even when no unfair practices are alleged, the simple claim that an industry has been injured by imports is sufficient grounds to seek relief.

Contrary to the general impression, this quest for import relief has hurt more companies than it has helped. As corporations begin to function globally, they develop an intricate web of marketing, production, and research relationships. The complexity of these relationships makes it unlikely that a system of import relief laws will meet the strategic needs of all the units under the same parent company.

Internationalization increases the danger that foreign companies will use import relief laws against the very companies the laws were designed to protect. Suppose a United States-owned company establishes an overseas plant to manufacture a product while its competitor makes the same product in the United States. If the competitor can prove injury from the imports—and that the United States company received a subsidy from a foreign government to build its plant abroad—the United States company’s products will be uncompetitive in the United States, since they would be subject to duties.

Perhaps the most brazen (marked by contemptuous boldness) case occurred when the ITC investigated allegations that Canadian companies were injuring the United States salt industry by dumping rock salt (rock salt: n.岩盐，石盐), used to de-ice roads. The bizarre aspect of the complaint was that a foreign conglomerate with United States operations was crying for (cry for: v.吵着要, 恳求) help against a United States company with foreign operations. The “United States” company claiming injury was a subsidiary of a Dutch conglomerate, while the “Canadian” companies included a subsidiary of a Chicago firm that was the second-largest domestic producer of rock salt.

1.   The passage is chiefly concerned with

(A) arguing against the increased internationalization of United States corporations

(B) warning that the application of laws affecting trade frequently has unintended consequences

(C) demonstrating that foreign-based firms receive more subsidies from their governments than United States firms receive from the United States government

(D) advocating the use of trade restrictions for “dumped” products but not for other imports（B）

(E) recommending a uniform method for handling claims of unfair trade practices

2.   It can be inferred from the passage that the minimal basis for a complaint to the International Trade Commission is which of the following?

(A) A foreign competitor has received a subsidy from a foreign government.

(B) A foreign competitor has substantially increased the volume of products shipped to the United States.

(C) A foreign competitor is selling products in the United States at less than fair market value.

(D) The company requesting import relief has been injured by the sale of imports in the United States.（D）

(E) The company requesting import relief has been barred from exporting products to the country of its foreign competitor.

3.   The last paragraph performs which of the following functions in the passage?

(A) It summarizes the discussion thus far and suggests additional areas of research.

(B) It presents a recommendation based on the evidence presented earlier.

(C) It discusses an exceptional case in which the results expected by the author of the passage were not obtained.

(D) It introduces an additional area of concern not mentioned earlier.（E）

(E) It cites a specific case that illustrates a problem presented more generally in the previous paragraph.

4.   The passage warns of which of the following dangers?

(A) Companies in the United States may receive no protection from imports unless they actively seek protection from import competition.

(B) Companies that seek legal protection from import competition may incur legal costs that far exceed any possible gain.

(C) Companies that are United States-owned but operate internationally may not be eligible for protection from import competition under the laws of the countries in which their plants operate.

(D) Companies that are not United States-owned may seek legal protection from import competition under United States import relief laws.（D）

(E) Companies in the United States that import raw materials may have to pay duties on those materials.

5.   The passage suggests that which of the following is most likely to be true of United States trade laws?

(A) They will eliminate the practice of “dumping” products in the United States.

(B) They will enable manufacturers in the United States to compete more profitably outside the United States.

(C) They will affect United States trade with Canada more negatively than trade with other nations.

(D) Those that help one unit within a parent company will not necessarily help other units in the company.（D）

(E) Those that are applied to international companies will accomplish their intended result.

6.   It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes which of the following about the complaint mentioned in the last paragraph?

(A) The ITC acted unfairly toward the complainant in its investigation.

(B) The complaint violated the intent of import relief laws.

(C) The response of the ITC to the complaint provided suitable relief from unfair trade practices to the complainant.

(D) The ITC did not have access to appropriate information concerning the case.（B）

(E) Each of the companies involved in the complaint acted in its own best interest.

7.   According to the passage, companies have the general impression that International Trade Commission import relief practices have（答案在第二段第一句话）

(A) caused unpredictable fluctuations in volumes of imports and exports

(B) achieved their desired effect only under unusual circumstances

(C) actually helped companies that have requested import relief

(D) been opposed by the business community（C）

(E) had less impact on international companies than the business community expected

8.   According to the passage, the International Trade Commission is involved in which of the following?

(A) Investigating allegations of unfair import competition

(B) Granting subsidies to companies in the United States that have been injured by import competition

(C) Recommending legislation to ensure fair

(D) Identifying international corporations that wish to build plants in the United States（A）

(E) Assisting corporations in the United States that wish to compete globally

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Reading Comprehension Passages for 15th August

Passage 19

In contrast to traditional analyses of minority business, the sociological analysis contends that minority business ownership is a group-level phenomenon, in that it is largely dependent upon social-group resources for its development. Specifically, this analysis indicates that support networks play a critical role in starting and maintaining minority business enterprises by providing owners with a range of assistance, from the informal encouragement of family members and friends to dependable sources of labor and clientele from the owner’s ethnic group (ethnic group: n.. Such self-help networks, which encourage and support ethnic minority entrepreneurs, consist of “primary” institutions, those closest to the individual in shaping his or her behavior and beliefs. They are characterized by the face-to-face association and cooperation of persons united by ties of mutual concern. They form an intermediate social level between the individual and larger “secondary” institutions based on impersonal relationships. Primary institutions comprising the support network include kinship, peer, and neighborhood or community subgroups.同种同文化之民族)

A major function of self-help networks is financial support. Most scholars agree that minority business owners have depended primarily on family funds and ethnic community resources for investment capital. Personal savings have been accumulated, often through frugal living habits that require sacrifices by the entire family and are thus a product of long-term family financial behavior. Additional loans and gifts from relatives, forthcoming because of group obligation rather than narrow investment calculation, have supplemented personal savings. Individual entrepreneurs do not necessarily rely on their kin because they cannot obtain financial backing from commercial resources. They may actually avoid banks because they assume that commercial institutions either cannot comprehend the special needs of minority enterprise or charge unreasonably high interest rates.

Within the larger ethnic community, rotating credit associations have been used to raise capital. These associations are informal clubs of friends and other trusted members of the ethnic group who make regular contributions to a fund that is given to each contributor in rotation. One author estimates that 40 percent of New York Chinatown firms established during 1900-1950 utilized such associations as their initial source of capital. However, recent immigrants and third or fourth generations of older groups now employ rotating credit associations only occasionally to raise investment funds. Some groups, like Black Americans, found other means of financial support for their entrepreneurial efforts. The first Black-operated banks were created in the late nineteenth century as depositories (depository: n. for dues (due: n. [ collected from fraternal or lodge groups, which themselves had sprung from Black churches. Black banks made limited investments in other Black enterprises. Irish immigrants in American cities organized many building and loan associations to provide capital for home construction and purchase. They, in turn, provided work for many Irish home-building contractor firms. Other ethnic and minority groups followed similar practices in founding ethnic-directed financial institutions.存放处)复]应付款)

1. Based on the information in the passage, it would be LEAST likely for which of the following persons to be part of a self-help network?

(A) The entrepreneur’s childhood friend

(B) The entrepreneur’s aunt

(C) The entrepreneur’s religious leader

(D) The entrepreneur’s neighbor（E）

(E) The entrepreneur’s banker

2. Which of the following illustrates the working of a self-help support network, as such networks are described in the passage?

(A) A public high school offers courses in book-keeping and accounting as part of its open-enrollment adult education program.

(B) The local government in a small city sets up a program that helps teen-agers find summer jobs.

(C) A major commercial bank offers low-interest loans to experienced individuals who hope to establish their own businesses.

(D) A neighborhood-based fraternal organization develops a program of on-the-job (on-the-job: adj. training for its members and their friends.在职的)（D）

(E) A community college offers country residents training programs that can lead to certification in a variety of technical trades.

3. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about rotating credit associations?

(A) They were developed exclusively by Chinese immigrants.

(B) They accounted for a significant portion of the investment capital used by Chinese immigrants in New York in the early twentieth century.

(C) Third-generation members of an immigrant group who started businesses in the 1920’s would have been unlikely to rely on them.

(D) They were frequently joint endeavors by members of two or three different ethnic groups.（B）

(E) Recent immigrants still frequently turn to rotating credit associations instead of banks for investment capital.

4. The passage best supports which of the following statements?

(A) A minority entrepreneur who had no assistance from family members would not be able to start a business.

(B) Self-help networks have been effective in helping entrepreneurs primarily in the last 50 years.

(C) Minority groups have developed a range of alternatives to standard financing of business ventures.

(D) The financial institutions founded by various ethnic groups owe their success to their unique formal organization.（C）

(E) Successful minority-owned businesses succeed primarily because of the personal strengths of their founders.

5. Which of the following best describes the organization of the second paragraph?

(A) An argument is delineated, followed by a counter-argument.

(B) An assertion is made and several examples are provided to illustrate it.

(C) A situation is described and its historical background is then outlined.

(D) An example of a phenomenon is given and is then used as a basis for general conclusions.（B）

(E) A group of parallel incidents is described and the distinctions among the incidents are then clarified.

6. According to the passage, once a minority-owned business is established, self-help networks contribute which of the following to that business?

(A) Information regarding possible expansion of the business into nearby communities

(B) Encouragement of a business climate that is nearly free of direct competition

(C) Opportunities for the business owner to reinvest profits in other minority-owned businesses

(D) Contact with people who are likely to be customers of the new business（D）

(E) Contact with minority entrepreneurs who are members of other ethnic groups

7. It can be inferred from the passage that traditional analyses of minority business would be LEAST likely to do which of the following?

(A) Examine businesses primarily in their social contexts

(B) Focus on current, rather than historical, examples of business enterprises

(C) Stress common experiences of individual entrepreneurs in starting businesses

(D) Focus on the maintenance of businesses, rather than means of starting them（A）

(E) Focus on the role of individual entrepreneurs in starting a business

8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the Irish building and loan associations mentioned in the last paragraph?

(A) They were started by third- or fourth-generation immigrants.

(B) They originated as offshoots of church-related groups.

(C) They frequently helped Irish entrepreneurs to finance business not connected with construction.

(D) They contributed to the employment of many Irish construction workers.（D）

(E) They provided assistance for construction businesses owned by members of other ethnic groups.

Passage 20

Species interdependence in nature confers many benefits on the species involved, but it can also become a point of weakness when one species involved in the relationship is affected by a catastrophe. Thus, flowering plant species dependent on insect pollination, as opposed to self-pollination or wind pollination, could be endangered when the population of insect-pollinators is depleted by the use of pesticides.

In the forests of New Brunswick, for example, various pesticides have been sprayed in the past 25 years in efforts to control the spruce budworm, an economically significant pest. Scientists have now investigated the effects of the spraying of Matacil, one of the anti-budworm agents that is least toxic to insect-pollinators. They studied Matacil’s effects on insect mortality in a wide variety of wild insect species and on plant fecundity, expressed as the percentage of the total flowers on an individual plant that actually developed fruit and bore seeds. They found that the most pronounced mortality after the spraying of Matacil occurred among the smaller bees and one family of flies, insects that were all important pollinators of numerous species of plants growing beneath the tree canopy of forests. The fecundity of plants in one common indigenous species, the red-osier dogwood, was significantly reduced in the sprayed areas as compared to that of plants in control plots where Matacil was not sprayed. This species is highly dependent on the insect-pollinators most vulnerable to Matacil. The creeping dogwood, a species similar to the red-osier dogwood, but which is pollinated by large bees, such as bumblebees, showed no significant decline in fecundity. Since large bees are not affected by the spraying of Matacil, these results add weight to the argument that spraying where the pollinators are sensitive to the pesticide used decreases plant fecundity.

The question of whether the decrease in plant fecundity caused by the spraying of pesticides actually causes a decline in the overall population of flowering plant species still remains unanswered. Plant species dependent solely on seeds for survival or dispersal are obviously more vulnerable to any decrease in plant fecundity that occurs, whatever its cause. If, on the other hand, vegetative growth and dispersal (by means of shoots or runners) are available as alternative reproductive strategies for a species, then decreases in plant fecundity may be of little consequence. The fecundity effects described here are likely to have the most profound impact on plant species with all four of the following characteristics: a short life span, a narrow geographic range, an incapacity for vegetative propagation, and a dependence on a small number of insect-pollinator species. Perhaps we should give special attention to the conservation of such plant species since they lack key factors in their defenses against the environmental disruption caused by pesticide use.

1. Which of the following best summarizes the main point of the passage?

(A) Species interdependence is a point of weakness for some plants, but is generally beneficial to insects involved in pollination.

(B) Efforts to control the spruce budworm have had deleterious effects on the red-osier dogwood.

(C) The used of pesticides may be endangering certain plant species dependent on insects for pollination.

(D) The spraying of pesticides can reduce the fecundity of a plant species, but probably does not affect its overall population stability.（C）

(E) Plant species lacking key factors in their defenses against human environmental disruption will probably become extinct.

2. According to the author, a flowering plant species whose fecundity has declined due to pesticide spraying may not experience an overall population decline if the plant species can do which of the following?

(A) Reproduce itself by means of shoots and runners.

(B) Survive to the end of the growing season.

(C) Survive in harsh climates.

(D) Respond to the fecundity decline by producing more flowers.（A）

(E) Attract large insects as pollinators.

3. The passage suggests that the lack of an observed decline in the fecundity of the creeping dogwood strengthens the researchers conclusions regarding pesticide use because the

(A) creeping dogwood is a species that does not resemble other forest plants

(B) creeping dogwood is a species pollinated by a broader range of insect species than are most dogwood species

(C) creeping dogwood grows primarily in regions that were not sprayed with pesticide, and so served as a control for the experiment

(D) creeping dogwood is similar to the red-osier dogwood, but its insect pollinators are known to be insensitive to the pesticide used in the study（D）

(E) geographical range of the creeping dogwood is similar to that of the red-osier dogwood, but the latter species relies less on seeds for reproduction

4. The passage suggests that which of the following is true of the forest regions in New Brunswick sprayed with most anti-budworm pesticides other than Matacil?

(A) The fecundity of some flowering plants in those regions may have decreased to an even greater degree than in the regions where Matacil is used.

(B) Insect mortality in those regions occurs mostly among the larger species of insects, such as bumblebees.

(C) The number of seeds produced by common plant species in those regions is probably comparable to the number produced where Matacil is sprayed.

(D) Many more plant species have become extinct in those regions than in the regions where Matacil is used.（A）

(E) The spruce budworm is under better control in those regions than in the regions where Matacil is sprayed.

5. It can be inferred that which of the following is true of plant fecundity as it is defined in the passage?

(A) A plant’s fecundity decreases as the percentage of unpollinated flowers on the plant increases.

(B) A plant’s fecundity decreases as the number of flowers produced by the plant decreases.

(C) A plant’s fecundity increases as the number of flowers produced by the plant increases.

(D) A plant’s fecundity is usually low if the plant relies on a small number of insect species for pollination.（A）

(E) A plant’s fecundity is high if the plant can reproduce quickly by means of vegetative growth as well as by the production of seeds.

6. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following plant species would be LEAST likely to experience a decrease in fecundity as a result of the spraying of a pesticide not directly toxic to plants?

(A) A flowering tree pollinated by only a few insect species

(B) A kind of insect-pollinated vine producing few flowers

(C) A wind-pollinated flowering tree that is short-lived

(D) A flowering shrub pollinated by a large number of insect species（C）

(E) A type of wildflower typically pollinated by larger insects

7. Which of the following assumptions most probably underlies the author’s tentative recommendation in lines 51-54?

(A) Human activities that result in environmental disruption should be abandoned.

(B) The use of pesticides is likely to continue into the future.

(C) It is economically beneficial to preserve endangered plant species.

(D) Preventing the endangerment of a species is less costly than trying to save an already endangered one.（B）

(E) Conservation efforts aimed at preserving a few well-chosen species are more cost-effective than are broader-based efforts to improve the environment.

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RC Passages for 23rd July

Passage 17

Prior to 1975, union efforts to organize public-sector clerical workers, most of whom are women, were somewhat limited. The factors favoring unionization drives seem to have been either the presence of large numbers of workers, as in New York City, to make it worth the effort, or the concentration of small numbers in one or two locations, such as a hospital, to make it relatively easy. Receptivity to unionization on the workers’ part was also a consideration, but when there were large numbers involved or the clerical workers were the only unorganized group in a jurisdiction, the multi-occupational unions would often try to organize them regardless of the workers’ initial receptivity. The strategic reasoning was based, first, on the concern that politicians and administrators might play off unionized against non-unionized workers, and, second, on the conviction that a fully unionized public work force meant power, both at the bargaining table and in the legislature. In localities where clerical workers were few in number, were scattered in several workplaces, and expressed no interest in being organized, unions more often than not ignored them in the pre-1975 period.
But since the mid-1970’s, a different strategy has emerged. In 1977, 34 percent of government clerical workers were represented by a labor organization, compared with 46 percent of government professionals, 44 percent of government blue-collar workers, and 41 percent of government service workers. Since then, however, the biggest increases in public-sector unionization have been among clerical workers. Between 1977 and 1980, the number of unionized government workers in blue-collar and service occupations increased only about 1.5 percent, while in the white-collar occupations the increase was 20 percent and among clerical workers in particular, the increase was 22 percent.
What accounts for this upsurge in unionization among clerical workers? First, more women have entered the work force in the past few years, and more of them plan to remain working until retirement age. Consequently, they are probably more concerned than their predecessors were about job security and economic benefits. Also, the women’s movement has succeeded in legitimizing the economic and political activism of women on their own behalf, thereby producing a more positive attitude toward unions. The absence of any comparable increase in unionization among private-sector clerical workers, however, identifies the primary catalyst—the structural change in the multi-occupational public-sector unions themselves. Over the past twenty years, the occupational distribution in these unions has been steadily shifting from predominantly blue-collar to predominantly white-collar. Because there are far more women in white-collar jobs, an increase in the proportion of female members has accompanied the occupational shift and has altered union policy-making in favor of organizing women and addressing women’s issues.

1. According to the passage, the public-sector workers who were most likely to belong to unions in 1977 were

(A) professionals
(B) managers
(C) clerical workers
(D) service workers
(E) blue-collar workers

2. The author cites union efforts to achieve a fully unionized work force (line 13-19) in order to account for why

(A) politicians might try to oppose public-sector union organizing
(B) public-sector unions have recently focused on organizing women
(C) early organizing efforts often focused on areas where there were large numbers of workers
(D) union efforts with regard to public-sector clerical workers increased dramatically after 1975
(E) unions sometimes tried to organize workers regardless of the workers’ initial interest in unionization

3. The author’s claim that, since the mid-1970’s, a new strategy has emerged in the unionization of public-sector clerical workers (line 23) would be strengthened if the author

(A) described more fully the attitudes of clerical workers toward labor unions
(B) compared the organizing strategies employed by private-sector unions with those of public-sector unions
(C) explained why politicians and administrators sometimes oppose unionization of clerical workers
(D) indicated that the number of unionized public-sector clerical workers was increasing even before the mid-1970’s
(E) showed that the factors that favored unionization drives among these workers prior to 1975 have decreased in importance

4. According to the passage, in the period prior to 1975, each of the following considerations helped determine whether a union would attempt to organize a certain group of clerical workers EXCEPT

(A) the number of clerical workers in that group
(B) the number of women among the clerical workers in that group
(C) whether the clerical workers in that area were concentrated in one workplace or scattered over several workplaces
(D) the degree to which the clerical workers in that group were interested in unionization
(E) whether all the other workers in the same jurisdiction as that group of clerical workers were unionized

5. The author states that which of the following is a consequence of the women’s movement of recent years?

(A) An increase in the number of women entering the work force
(B) A structural change in multi-occupational public-sector unions
(C) A more positive attitude on the part of women toward unions
(D) An increase in the proportion of clerical workers that are women
(E) An increase in the number of women in administrative positions

6. The main concern of the passage is to

(A) advocate particular strategies for future efforts to organize certain workers into labor unions
(B) explain differences in the unionized proportions of various groups of public-sector workers
(C) evaluate the effectiveness of certain kinds of labor unions that represent public-sector workers
(D) analyzed and explain an increase in unionization among a certain category of workers
(E) describe and distinguish strategies appropriate to organizing different categories of workers

7. The author implies that if the increase in the number of women in the work force and the impact of the women’s movement were the main causes of the rise in unionization of public-sector clerical workers, then

(A) more women would hold administrative positions in unions
(B) more women who hold political offices would have positive attitudes toward labor unions
(C) there would be an equivalent rise in unionization of private-sector clerical workers
(D) unions would have shown more interest than they have in organizing women
(E) the increase in the number of unionized public-sector clerical workers would have been greater than it has been

8. The author suggests that it would be disadvantageous to a union if

(A) many workers in the locality were not unionized
(B) the union contributed to political campaigns
(C) the union included only public-sector workers
(D) the union included workers from several jurisdictions
(E) the union included members from only a few occupations

9. The author implies that, in comparison with working women today, women working in the years prior to the mid-1970’s showed a greater tendency to

(A) prefer smaller workplaces
(B) express a positive attitude toward labor unions
(C) maximize job security and economic benefits
(D) side with administrators in labor disputes
(E) quit working prior of retirement age


Passage 18

Milankovitch proposed in the early twentieth century that the ice ages were caused by variations in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. For sometime this theory was considered untestable, largely because there was no sufficiently precise chronology of the ice ages with which the orbital variations could be matched.
To establish such a chronology it is necessary to determine the relative amounts of land ice that existed at various times in the Earth’s past. A recent discovery makes such a determination possible: relative land-ice volume for a given period can be deduced from the ratio of two oxygen isotopes, 16 and 18, found in ocean sediments. Almost all the oxygen in water is oxygen 16, but a few molecules out of every thousand incorporate the heavier isotope 18. When an ice age begins, the continental ice sheets grow, steadily reducing the amount of water evaporated from the ocean that will eventually return to it. Because heavier isotopes tend to be left behind when water evaporates from the ocean surfaces, the remaining ocean water becomes progressively enriched in oxygen 18. The degree of enrichment can be determined by analyzing ocean sediments of the period, because these sediments are composed of calcium carbonate shells of marine organisms, shells that were constructed with oxygen atoms drawn from the surrounding ocean. The higher the ratio of oxygen 18 to oxygen 16 in a sedimentary specimen, the more land ice there was when the sediment was laid down.
As an indicator of shifts in the Earth’s climate, the isotope record has two advantages. First, it is a global record: there is remarkably little variation in isotope ratios in sedimentary specimens taken from different continental locations. Second, it is a more continuous record than that taken from rocks on land. Because of these advantages, sedimentary evidence can be dated with sufficient accuracy by radiometric methods to establish a precise chronology of the ice ages. The dated isotope record shows that the fluctuations in global ice volume over the past several hundred thousand years have a pattern: an ice age occurs roughly once every 100,000 years. These data have established a strong connection between variations in the Earth’s orbit and the periodicity of the ice ages.
However, it is important to note that other factors, such as volcanic particulates or variations in the amount of sunlight received by the Earth, could potentially have affected the climate. The advantage of the Milankovitch theory is that it is testable: changes in the Earth’s orbit can be calculated and dated by applying Newton’s laws of gravity to progressively earlier configurations of the bodies in the solar system. Yet the lack of information about other possible factors affecting global climate does not make them unimportant.

1. In the passage, the author is primarily interested in

(A) suggesting an alternative to an outdated research method
(B) introducing a new research method that calls an accepted theory into question
(C) emphasizing the instability of data gathered from the application of a new scientific method
(D) presenting a theory and describing a new method to test that theory
(E) initiating a debate about a widely accepted theory

2. The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the Milankovitch theory?

(A) It is the only possible explanation for the ice ages.
(B) It is too limited to provide a plausible explanation for the ice ages, despite recent research findings.
(C) It cannot be tested and confirmed until further research on volcanic activity is done.
(D) It is one plausible explanation, though not the only one, for the ice ages.
(E) It is not a plausible explanation for the ice ages, although it has opened up promising possibilities for future research.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that the isotope record taken from ocean sediments would be less useful to researchers if which of the following were true?

(A) It indicated that lighter isotopes of oxygen predominated at certain times.
(B) It had far more gaps in its sequence than the record taken from rocks on land.
(C) It indicated that climate shifts did not occur every 100,000 years.
(D) It indicated that the ratios of oxygen 16 and oxygen 18 in ocean water were not consistent with those found in fresh water.
(E) It stretched back for only a million years.

4. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the ratios of oxygen isotopes in ocean sediments?

(A) They indicate that sediments found during an ice age contain more calcium carbonate than sediments formed at other times.
(B) They are less reliable than the evidence from rocks on land in determining the volume of land ice.
(C) They can be used to deduce the relative volume of land ice that was present when the sediment was laid down.
(D) They are more unpredictable during an ice age than in other climatic conditions.
(E) They can be used to determine atmospheric conditions at various times in the past.

5. It can be inferred from the passage that precipitation formed from evaporated ocean water has

(A) the same isotopic ratio as ocean water
(B) less oxygen 18 than does ocean water
(C) less oxygen 18 than has the ice contained in continental ice sheets
(D) a different isotopic composition than has precipitation formed from water on land
(E) more oxygen 16 than has precipitation formed from fresh water

6. According to the passage, which of the following is (are) true of the ice ages?

I. The last ice age occurred about 25,000 years ago.
II. Ice ages have lasted about 10,000 years for at least the last several hundred thousand years.
III. Ice ages have occurred about every 100,000 years for at least the last several hundred thousand years.

(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and only
(E) I, II and III

7. It can be inferred from the passage that calcium carbonate shells

(A) are not as susceptible to deterioration as rocks
(B) are less common in sediments formed during an ice age
(C) are found only in areas that were once covered by land ice
(D) contain radioactive material that can be used to determine a sediment’s isotopic composition
(E) reflect the isotopic composition of the water at the time the shells were formed

8. The purpose of the last paragraph of the passage is to

(A) offer a note of caution
(B) introduce new evidence
(C) present two recent discoveries
(D) summarize material in the preceding paragraphs
(E) offer two explanations for a phenomenon

9. According to the passage, one advantage of studying the isotope record of ocean sediments is that it

(A) corresponds with the record of ice volume taken from rocks on land
(B) shows little variation in isotope ratios when samples are taken from different continental locations
(C) corresponds with predictions already made by climatologists and experts in other fields
(D) confirms the record of ice volume initially established by analyzing variations in volcanic emissions
(E) provides data that can be used to substantiate records concerning variations in the amount of sunlight received by the Earth

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Passages for 22 July

Passage 15

In the two decades between 1910 and 1930, over ten percent of the Black population of the United States left the South, where the preponderance of the Black population had been located, and migrated to northern states, with the largest number moving, it is claimed, between 1916 and 1918. It has been frequently assumed, but not proved, that the majority of the migrants in what has come to be called the Great Migration came from rural areas and were motivated by two concurrent factors: the collapse of the cotton industry following the boll weevil infestation, which began in 1898, and increased demand in the North for labor following the cessation of European immigration caused by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. This assumption has led to the conclusion that the migrants’ subsequent lack of economic mobility in the North is tied to rural background, a background that implies unfamiliarity with urban living and a lack of industrial skills.
But the question of who actually left the South has never been rigorously investigated. Although numerous investigations document an exodus from rural southern areas to southern cities prior to the Great Migration, no one has considered whether the same migrants then moved on to northern cities. In 1910 over 600,000 Black workers, or ten percent of the Black work force, reported themselves to be engaged in “manufacturing and mechanical pursuits,” the federal census category roughly encompassing the entire industrial sector. The Great Migration could easily have been made up entirely of this group and their families. It is perhaps surprising to argue that an employed population could be enticed to move, but an explanation lies in the labor conditions then prevalent in the South.
About thirty-five percent of the urban Black population in the South was engaged in skilled trades. Some were from the old artisan class of slavery—blacksmiths, masons, carpenters—which had had a monopoly of certain trades, but they were gradually being pushed out by competition, mechanization, and obsolescence. The remaining sixty-five percent, more recently urbanized, worked in newly developed industries—tobacco, lumber, coal and iron manufacture, and railroads. Wages in the South, however, were low, and Black workers were aware, through labor recruiters and the Black press, that they could earn more even as unskilled workers in the North than they could as artisans in the South. After the boll weevil infestation, urban Black workers faced competition from the continuing influx of both Black and White rural workers, who were driven to undercut the wages formerly paid for industrial jobs. Thus, a move north would be seen as advantageous to a group that was already urbanized and steadily employed, and the easy conclusion tying their subsequent economic problems in the North to their rural background comes into question.

1. The author indicates explicitly that which of the following records has been a source of information in her investigation?

(A) United States Immigration Service reports from 1914 to 1930
(B) Payrolls of southern manufacturing firms between 1910 and 1930
(C) The volume of cotton exports between 1898 and 1910
(D) The federal census of 1910
(E) Advertisements of labor recruiters appearing in southern newspapers after 1910

2. In the passage, the author anticipates which of the following as a possible objection to her argument?

(A) It is uncertain how many people actually migrated during the Great Migration.
(B) The eventual economic status of the Great Migration migrants has not been adequately traced.
(C) It is not likely that people with steady jobs would have reason to move to another area of the country.
(D) It is not true that the term “manufacturing and mechanical pursuits” actually encompasses the entire industrial sector.
(E) Of the Black workers living in southern cities, only those in a small number of trades were threatened by obsolescence.

3. According to the passage, which of the following is true of wages in southern cities in 1910?

(A) They were being pushed lower as a result of increased competition.
(B) They had begun t to rise so that southern industry could attract rural workers.
(C) They had increased for skilled workers but decreased for unskilled workers.
(D) They had increased in large southern cities but decreased in small southern cities.
(E) They had increased in newly developed industries but decreased in the older trades.

4. The author cites each of the following as possible influences in a Black worker’s decision to migrate north in the Great Migration EXCEPT

(A) wage levels in northern cities
(B) labor recruiters
(C) competition from rural workers
(D) voting rights in northern states
(E) the Black press

5. It can be inferred from the passage that the “easy conclusion” mentioned in line 53 is based on which of the following assumptions?

(A) People who migrate from rural areas to large cities usually do so for economic reasons.
(B) Most people who leave rural areas to take jobs in cities return to rural areas as soon as it is financially possible for them to do so.
(C) People with rural backgrounds are less likely to succeed economically in cities than are those with urban backgrounds.
(D) Most people who were once skilled workers are not willing to work as unskilled workers.
(E) People who migrate from their birthplaces to other regions of country seldom undertake a second migration.

6. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) support an alternative to an accepted methodology
(B) present evidence that resolves a contradiction
(C) introduce a recently discovered source of information
(D) challenge a widely accepted explanation
(E) argue that a discarded theory deserves new attention

7. According to information in the passage, which of the following is a correct sequence of groups of workers, from highest paid to lowest paid, in the period between 1910 and 1930?

(A) Artisans in the North; artisans in the South; unskilled workers in the North; unskilled workers in the South
(B) Artisans in the North and South; unskilled workers in the North; unskilled workers in the South
(C) Artisans in the North; unskilled workers in the North; artisans in the South
(D) Artisans in the North and South; unskilled urban workers in the North; unskilled rural workers in the South
(E) Artisans in the North and South, unskilled rural workers in the North and South; unskilled urban workers in the North and South

8. The material in the passage would be most relevant to a long discussion of which of the following topics?

(A) The reasons for the subsequent economic difficulties of those who participated in the Great Migration
(B) The effect of migration on the regional economies of the United States following the First World War
(C) The transition from a rural to an urban existence for those who migrated in the Great Migration
(D) The transformation of the agricultural South following the boll weevil infestation
(E) The disappearance of the artisan class in the United States as a consequence of mechanization in the early twentieth century


Passage 16

In 1896 a Georgia couple suing for damages in the accidental death of their two year old was told that since the child had made no real economic contribution to the family, there was no liability for damages. In contrast, less than a century later, in 1979, the parents of a three-year-old sued in New York for accidental-death damages and won an award of $750,000.
The transformation in social values implicit in juxtaposing these two incidents is the subject of Viviana Zelizer’s excellent book, Pricing the Priceless Child. During the nineteenth century, she argues, the concept of the “useful” child who contributed to the family economy gave way gradually to the present-day notion of the “useless” child who, though producing no income for, and indeed extremely costly to, its parents, is yet considered emotionally “priceless.” Well established among segments of the middle and upper classes by the mid-1800’s, this new view of childhood spread throughout society in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries as reformers introduced child-labor regulations and compulsory education laws predicated in part on the assumption that a child’s emotional value made child labor taboo.
For Zelizer the origins of this transformation were many and complex. The gradual erosion of children’s productive value in a maturing industrial economy, the decline in birth and death rates, especially in child mortality, and the development of the companionate family (a family in which members were united by explicit bonds of love rather than duty) were all factors critical in changing the assessment of children’s worth. Yet “expulsion of children from the ‘cash nexus,’ although clearly shaped by profound changes in the economic, occupational, and family structures,” Zelizer maintains, “was also part of a cultural process ‘of sacrelization’ of children’s lives.” Protecting children from the crass business world became enormously important for late-nineteenth-century middle-class Americans, she suggests; this sacralization was a way of resisting what they perceived as the relentless corruption of human values by the marketplace.
In stressing the cultural determinants of a child’s worth, Zelizer takes issue with practitioners of the new “sociological economics,” who have analyzed such traditionally sociological topics as crime, marriage, education, and health solely in terms of their economic determinants. Allowing only a small role for cultural forces in the form of individual “preferences,” these sociologists tend to view all human behaviors as directed primarily by the principle of maximizing economic gain. Zelizer is highly critical of this approach, and emphasizes instead the opposite phenomenon: the power of social values to transform price. As children became more valuable in emotional terms, she argues, their “exchange” or “surrender” value on the market, that is, the conversion of their intangible worth into cash terms, became much greater.

1. It can be inferred from the passage that accidental-death damage awards in America during the nineteenth century tended to be based principally on the

(A) earnings of the person at time of death
(B) wealth of the party causing the death
(C) degree of culpability of the party causing the death
(D) amount of money that had been spent on the person killed
(E) amount of suffering endured by the family of the person killed

2. It can be inferred from the passage that in the early 1800’s children were generally regarded by their families as individuals who

(A) needed enormous amounts of security and affection
(B) required constant supervision while working
(C) were important to the economic well-being of a family
(D) were unsuited to spending long hours in school
(E) were financial burdens assumed for the good of society

3. Which of the following alternative explanations of the change in the cash value of children would be most likely to be put forward by sociological economists as they are described in the passage?

(A) The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because parents began to increase their emotional investment in the upbringing of their children.
(B) The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because their expected earnings over the course of a lifetime increased greatly.
(C) The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because the spread of humanitarian ideals resulted in a wholesale reappraisal of the worth of an individual.
(D) The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because compulsory education laws reduced the supply, and thus raised the costs, of available child labor.
(E) The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because of changes in the way negligence law assessed damages in accidental death cases.

4. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) review the literature in a new academic sub-field
(B) present the central thesis of a recent book
(C) contrast two approaches to analyzing historical change
(D) refute a traditional explanation of a social phenomenon
(E) encourage further work on a neglected historical topic

5. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following statements was true of American families over the course of the nineteenth century?

(A) The average size of families grew considerably.
(B) The percentage of families involved in industrial work declined dramatically.
(C) Family members became more emotionally bonded to one another.
(D) Family members spent an increasing amount of time working with each other.
(E) Family members became more economically dependent on each other.

6. Zelizer refers to all of the following as important influences in changing the assessment of children’s worth EXCEPT changes in

(A) the mortality rate
(B) the nature of industry
(C) the nature of the family
(D) attitudes toward reform movements
(E) attitudes toward the marketplace

7. Which of the following would be most consistent with the practices of sociological economics as these practices are described in the passage?

(A) Arguing that most health-care professionals enter the field because they believe it to be the most socially useful of any occupation
(B) Arguing that most college students choose majors that they believe will lead to the most highly paid jobs available to them
(C) Arguing that most decisions about marriage and divorce are based on rational assessments of the likelihood that each partner will remain committed to the relationship
(D) Analyzing changes in the number of people enrolled in colleges and universities as a function of changes in the economic health of these institutions
(E) Analyzing changes in the ages at which people get married as a function of a change in the average number of years that young people have lived away from their parents


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