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READING COMPREHENSION SET I MCQs

Total Questions : 290 | Page 1 of 29 pages
Question 1. It can be inferred from the passage that the minimal basis for a complaint to the International Trade Commission is which of the following?  
  1.    A foreign competitor has substantially increased the volume of products shipped to the United States.
  2.    A foreign competitor is selling products in the United States at less than fair market value.
  3.    The company requesting import relief has been injured by the sale of imports in the United States.
  4.    The company requesting import relief has been barred from exporting products to the country of its foreign competitor.
 Discuss Question
Answer: Option C. -> The company requesting import relief has been injured by the sale of imports in the United States.
:
C
The best answer is C, which can be inferred from the case given in the 3rd paragraph.
Question 2. Which of the following can be inferred about the experiment described in the first paragraph?
  1.    Researchers had difficulty verifying the existence of electroreceptors in the anteater because electroreceptors respond to such a narrow range of electrical field strengths.
  2.    Researchers found that the level of nervous activity in the anteater’s brain increased dramatically as the strength of the electrical stimulus was increased.
  3.    Researchers found that some areas of the anteater’s snout were not sensitive to a weak electrical stimulus.
  4.    Researchers tested small areas of the anteater’s snout in order to ensure that only electroreceptors were responding to the stimulus.
 Discuss Question
Answer: Option C. -> Researchers found that some areas of the anteater’s snout were not sensitive to a weak electrical stimulus.
:
C
The best answer is C. In the experiment described in the first passage, researchers described the electroreceptors in the anteater’s snout as “clustered” at the tip. Thus, it can be inferred that nervous activity was not recorded across the entire snout, but only in certain areas. Therefore, some areas of the snout, including those containing the tactile receptors, were not stimulated by the weak fields used in the experiment, as choice C suggests.
There is no information in the description of the experiment provided in the passage to suggest A, B or D.
Question 3. It can be inferred from the last paragraph of the passage that which of the following must be true of the Earth as it orbits the Sun? 
  1.    Most meteor streams it encounters are more than 2,000 years old.
  2.    When passing through a meteor stream, it usually passes near to the stream’s center.
  3.    It crosses the Geminid meteor stream once every year.
  4.    It usually takes over a day to cross the actual Geminid meteor stream.
 Discuss Question
Answer: Option C. -> It crosses the Geminid meteor stream once every year.
:
C
This question asks you to draw an inference from information in the last paragraph of the passage. The best answer is C. According to the passage, the Geminid meteor shower occurs yearly; because meteor showers occur whenever the Earth passes through a meteor stream, one can infer that the Earth crosses the Geminid stream once every year. Choice A is incorrect because the passage provides no information from which to generalize about the age of meteor streams. Choice B, which is directly contradicted by the passage, is also incorrect. Choice D is incorrect. The passage says that the Earth would take just over a day to cross the stream if the stream were 5,000 years old. However, in the next few lines the passage states that in fact an average of only 19 hours elapsed between the time that the Earth entered the stream until the time that it exited, leading researchers to conclude that the stream is only about 3,000 years old.
Question 4. The passage suggests that if the grievances of porters in one part of the United States had been different from those of porters in another part of the country, which of the following would have been the case?
  1.    It would have been more difficult for the Pullman Company to have had a single labor policy.
  2.    It would have been more difficult for the Brotherhood to control its channels of communication.
  3.    It would have been more difficult for the Brotherhood to build its membership.
  4.    It would have been easier for the Pullman Company’s union to attract membership.
 Discuss Question
Answer: Option C. -> It would have been more difficult for the Brotherhood to build its membership.
:
C
The best answer is C. The passage indicates that it was an advantage to Randolph in building the Brotherhood’s membership that Black workers shared “the same grievances from city to city”, suggesting that it would have been more difficult to build the membership of the Brotherhood if Black workers in different parts of the country had had different grievances.
There is no information in the passage to support A, B and D.
Question 5. Snyder et al suggest that caffeine's ability to bind to A1 and A2 receptors can be at least partially attributed to which of the following? 
  1.    The chemical relationship between caffeine and phosphodiesterase
  2.    The structural relationship between caffeine and adenosine
  3.    The structural similarity between caffeine and neurotransmitters
  4.    The natural occurrence of caffeine and adenosine in the brain
 Discuss Question
Answer: Option B. -> The structural relationship between caffeine and adenosine
:
B
B is the best answer. This question asks you to identify information that is suggested rather than directly stated in the passage. To answer it, first look for the location in the passage of the information specified in the question. The A1 and A2 receptors are mentioned in lines 23-26. Lines 27-35 go on to describe Snyder et al's hypothesis about the effects of caffeine on behavior. They propose that caffeine, “which is structurally similar to adenosine,” is able to bind to A1 and A2 receptors in the brain, the same receptors that adenosine normally binds to. Thus, the passage suggests that the structural relationship between caffeine and adenosine may be partially responsible for caffeine's ability to bind to A1 and A2 receptors.
Question 6. The tone that the author uses while asking "What French winemaker will ever admit that?" is best described as:
  1.    caustic
  2.    satirical
  3.    critical
  4.    hypocritical
 Discuss Question
Answer: Option B. -> satirical
:
B
Option (b)
The writer is using satire to mildly tease the French winemaker.
Question 7. The primary purpose of the passage is to:
  1.    review the literature in a new academic subfield
  2.    present the central thesis of a recent book
  3.    contrast two approaches to analyzing historical change
  4.    refute a traditional explanation of a social phenomenon
 Discuss Question
Answer: Option B. -> present the central thesis of a recent book
:
B
B is the best answer.
In the first paragraph, the author contrasts two incidents that are said to exemplify the transformation in social values that forms the subject ofZelizer’s book. The second and third paragraphs consist of a brief history of that transformation, as Zelizer presents it, and an account of the factors she considers important in bringing it about. In the last paragraph, the author explains how Zelizer’s thesis differs from that of sociological economists. Thus, the passage serves primarily to present the central thesis of Zelizer’s book. Amisrepresent the subject matter of the passage. D misrepresents the author’s approach. C is incorrect because although the passage does contrast two approaches, this contrast takes place only in the final paragraph.
Question 8. According to the passage, today’s successful firms, unlike successful firms in the past, may earn the greatest profits by:
  1.    investing in research to produce cheaper versions of existing technology.
  2.    being the first to market a competing technology.
  3.    adapting rapidly to a technological standard previously set by a competing firm.
  4.    emphasizing the development of methods for the mass production and distribution of a new technology.
 Discuss Question
Answer: Option D. -> emphasizing the development of methods for the mass production and distribution of a new technology.
:
D
The best answer is D. The passage sets up a contrast with “traditional” ways to benefit from marketing a product by stating that market place success based on leadership in “mass production and distribution” is characteristic of today’s companies, not those of the past.
Choice B is incorrect because it describes the way in which companies have achieved success in the past.
Choices A and C are incorrect: they present ways of earning profits that are not discussed in the passage.
Question 9. The author of the passage most probably discusses the function of tactile receptors as indicated in the lines of the passage by (*) in order to:
  1.    eliminate and alternative explanation of anteaters’ response to electrical stimuli.
  2.    highlight a type of sensory organ that has a function identical to that of electroreceptors.
  3.    point out a serious complication in the research on electroreceptors in anteaters.
  4.    suggest that tactile receptors assist electroreceptors in the detection of electrical signals.
 Discuss Question
Answer: Option A. -> eliminate and alternative explanation of anteaters’ response to electrical stimuli.
:
A
The best answer is A. Because tactile receptors also respond to electrical stimulation, the researchers’ conclusion that electroreceptors exist is valid only if it can be demonstrated that the nervous activity recorded in the anteater’s brain did not originate in the tactile receptors.
There is no indication in the passage that tactile receptors function like electroreceptors (B) or that tactile receptors assist electroreceptors (D).
There is no information in the passage to suggest that the presence of tactile receptors complicated research onelectroreceptors, so (C) is not correct.
Question 10. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following would most probably be observed during the Earth's passage through a meteor stream if the conventional theories mentioned in line 18 were correct?
  1.    Meteor activity would gradually increase to a single, intense peak, and then gradually decline.
  2.    Meteor activity would be steady throughout the period of the meteor shower.
  3.    Meteor activity would rise to a peak at the beginning and at the end of the meteor shower.
  4.    Random bursts of very high meteor activity would be interspersed with periods of very little activity.
 Discuss Question
Answer: Option A. -> Meteor activity would gradually increase to a single, intense peak, and then gradually decline.
:
A
The best answer is option A.
(A) This is stated in the passage"Conventional theories, however, predicted that the distribution of particles would beincreasingly dense toward the center of a meteor stream.
Choice B is exactly opposite of A. Choice C is not true from the context of the passage. Choice D is not mentioned in the passage.

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