I felt the wall of the tunnel shiver. The master alarm squealed through my earphones. Almost simultaneously, Jack yelled down to me that there was a warning light on. Fleeting but spectacular sights snapped into and out of view, the snow, the shower of debris, the moon, looming close and big, the dazzling sunshine for once unfiltered by layers of air. The last twelve hours before re-entry were particularly bone-chilling. During this period, I had to go up into the command module. Even after the fiery re-entry splashing down in 81°F water in south pacific, we could still see our frosty breath inside the command module.
The word 'Command Module' used twice in the given passage indicates perhaps that it deals with
Answer: B
Command module is the control center and living quarters for most of the lunar mission for astronauts. The fourth sentence in the passage indicates flight. In summary, the passage is about flight into outer space, so option c is correct.
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Which one of the following reasons would one consider as more as possible for the warning lights to be on?
Answer: A
Catastrophe means tragedy and imminent means close at hand. A one type of tragedy close at hand and this is a nearest tragedy.So the answer is c
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The statement that the dazzling sunshine was "for once unfiltered by layers of air" means
Answer: D
Correct answer: None of the above
Unfiltered by layers of air says the sunlight reached them without passing through an atmosphere - that is, they were outside it. It says nothing about the sun's heat or about wind, and unpolluted air is still air, which is exactly what was absent.
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Economists have long recognized a persistent and unfounded belief among the population which has come to be known as the anti-foreign bias. As a result of this bias, most people systematically underestimate the economic benefits of interactions with foreign nations. Some psychologists believe that this bias is rooted in a natural distrust of the "other," while others believe that a form of folk wisdom, seemingly in accord with common sense but nonetheless incorrect, explains the bias. This wisdom asserts that in any transaction there is a winner and a loser and any foreign nation that wants to engage in trade must be doing so because it seeks its own advantage. But nothing could be further from truth.
No less an authority than Adam Smith, one of the fathers of the modern free market system, spoke glowingly of foreign trade in his influential treatise Wealth of Nations. "What is prudence in the conduct of every private family, can scarce be folly in a great kingdom," said Smith. His point is simple. A baker trades his bread to the cobbler for shoes and both men benefit from the trade because of the value of specialization. The same principle works for nations. Even more startling, a basic economic theorem, the Law of Comparative Advantage, states that mutually beneficial trade is possible even if one nation is less productive than the other.
Suppose a citizen of Country X can produce either 10 computers or five bushels of wheat and a citizen of Country Y can produce either three computers or two bushels of wheat. If one citizen from Country X switches from producing wheat to computers and three citizens from Country Y switch from producing computers to wheat, there is a net gain of one computer and one bushel of wheat.
The passage is primarily concerned with which of the following?
Answer: C
Correct answer: Demonstrating the fallacy of a particular way of thinking.
The passage names the anti-foreign bias, reports the folk wisdom behind it, says nothing could be further from truth, and then brings Smith and the Law of Comparative Advantage against it. The baker and the cobbler are the illustration used in that refutation, not the object of the passage.
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The author most likely mentions the "baker" and the "cobbler" in order to:
Answer: C
Correct answer: provide a concrete illustration of an economic principle
The pair is introduced immediately after Smith's remark about the private family and the great kingdom, and the passage draws the moral itself: both men benefit from the trade because of the value of specialization. The same principle works for nations. The example is used, not assessed.
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The author most probably uses the word "startling" in reference to the Law of Comparative Advantage because:
Answer: B
Correct answer: the Law of Comparative Advantage holds even when there is a large disparity in productivity between two nations
The passage says the theorem states that mutually beneficial trade is possible even if one nation is less productive than the other. That is what makes it startling: intuition says the less productive party must lose, and the law says otherwise.
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As it is described in the passage, which of the following most closely resembles "folk wisdom?"
Answer: D
Correct answer: A mother tells her child to put on a jacket so he won't catch a cold
Folk wisdom is defined in the passage as something seemingly in accord with common sense but nonetheless incorrect. Cold weather does not cause colds, yet the advice feels obviously right - which is the pattern exactly. Reading the sky is often reliable, an unanswerable question is not wisdom at all, and buying lottery tickets is a hope rather than a belief about how things work.
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In response to the increasing environmental damage wrought by poachers, authorities placed a ban on ivory in the 1980s. Although the ban resulted in an initial decrease in the sale and trade of illegal ivory and a concurrent increase in the elephant population, more pressing needs caused most Western nations to withdraw funding for poaching prevention programs. Without significant financial support, poorer countries were unable to effectively combat poachers. The resulting explosion in the ivory trade has seen prices increase to nearly 10 times the $45 per pound price at the beginning of the decade.
Unfortunately, the countries with the worst poaching problems have also tended to be the ones least able to combat the problem due to unstable political systems, corruption, lack of comprehensive enforcement programs, or some combination of all these factors. One primary hindrance to better enforcement of the ivory ban came from an inability to definitively identify the country of origin of illegal ivory.
Countries used this uncertainty to avoid responsibility for curbing illegal poaching in their territories by attempting to blame other countries for the oversights in enforcement. Now, though, zoologists have perfected a new DNA identification system. First, scientists gathered genetic data from the population of African elephants, an arduous effort that ultimately resulted in a detailed DNA-based map of the distribution of African elephants. Then, the researchers developed a method to extract DNA evidence from ivory, allowing them to match the ivory with elephant populations on the map. Zoologists hope this new method will pinpoint the exact origin of poached ivory and force countries to accept their responsibility in enforcing the ban.
The passage suggests which of the following about the ivory ban?
Answer: D
Correct answer: Western monetary support was a major factor in its success
The passage links the two directly: the ban worked at first, then most Western nations withdrew funding, and without significant financial support, poorer countries were unable to effectively combat poachers. The collapse follows the withdrawal, which is what makes the funding a major factor.
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The response of the countries with the worst poaching problems to the situation was most analogous to:
Answer: C
Correct answer: a criminal who argues that it is not he but one of his accomplices who is guilty of the crime
The passage says such countries used the uncertainty about the ivory's origin to avoid responsibility… by attempting to blame other countries. Shifting the blame onto another party while the offence is not in dispute is exactly the analogy required; concealment and deception are different moves.
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The passage suggests which of the following about the DNA-based map created by zoologists?
Answer: A
Correct answer: Its assemblage involved a great deal of work on the part of zoologists
The passage calls the gathering of genetic data from the African elephant population an arduous effort. What the map can do about responsibility or precision is not claimed in those terms, and nothing is said about updating it.
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