The correct answer is B.

According to the passage, “the main purpose of using a hybrid system is to efficiently use resources,” and the author also mentions that “hybrid vehicles use less gasoline,” and since the fuel source, or resource, of conventional vehicles is gasoline, this is the correct answer.

Option (C)

a) Incorrect. While the last paragraph states that water is necessary for life, this information is not given in the first paragraph.

b) Incorrect. While line 3 states that most of the world’s water is salt water, this is not the main idea of the paragraph.

c) Correct. The first sentence of the paragraph states that water is the most common liquid in the world. Lines 2-4 expand that idea. Therefore, it is the main idea of the paragraph.

d) Incorrect. While it is true that people do not drink salt water, and it is true that 97% of the world’s water is saltwater, as stated in line 3, this information is not stated in paragraph

Option (C)

At the end of the letter, Maria writes,“the increase of—for all intents and purposes—a nearly inconsequential amount to the homeowner tax bill would suffice to keep the museum open. Isn’t the museum worth it?” The reader can  infer from this that Maria believes keeping the museum open on Saturdays is worth an increase in taxes. Therefore (C) is correct.

Option: (a)

The third and fourth paragraphs of the passage talk about the importance of dogmatic attitude or dogmatic behavior in the development of science. It is evident from the idea conveyed by these two paragraphs that dogmatic attitude is the raw material or the basis for starting scientific research. Options (c) and (d) are neglected because they do not support this statement made by the author. Even option (e) is incorrect because dogmatic attitude cannot be declared inferior to critical attitude as critical attitude is reached at through dogmatic beliefs. Amongst answer choices (a) and (b), option (a) seems to be more appropriate because it is not necessary that all conjectures arising out of our dogmatic attitude become science, whereas, it is true that through criticism of dogmatic attitudes, the initial hypothesis are made.

If we look at the idea conveyed by the
author in the third paragraph, he says that the critical attitude is not so
much opposed to the dogmatic attitude as super-imposed upon it. A critical
attitude needs for its raw material, as it were, theories or beliefs which
are held more or less dogmatically. Option (c) very well conveys this idea by
talking of feedstock in a fertilizer industry which serves as raw material
and gets transformed into fertilizers.

Para 1:

 ·        
Our propensities to look out for
regularities, and to impose laws upon nature, leads to the psychological
phenomenon of dogmatic thinking.

 ·        
Events which do not yield to these
attempts, we are inclined to treat as kind of 'background noise'.

 ·        
This dogmatism is to some extent
necessary.

 ·        
It allows us to approach a good theory in
stages, by way of approximations.

Para 2:

 ·        
Dogmatic behavior is indicative of strong
belief.

 ·        
Critical attitude is indicative of a weak
belief.

 ·        
Hume's theory: strength of a belief should
be a product of repetition; thus always grow with experience and always be
greater in less primitive persons.

 ·        
But dogmatic thinking sometimes creates an
attitude of caution and criticism rather than that of dogmatism.

Para 3:

 ·        
Distinction between dogmatic and critical
thinking brings us right back to the central problem.

 ·        
Dogmatic attitude: related to tendency to
verify our laws and schemata by seeking to apply them and confirm them, even
to the point of neglecting refutations.

 ·        
Critical attitude: readiness to change
them-to test them; to refute them; to falsify them if possible.

 ·        
Critical attitude: can be called the
scientific attitude

 ·        
Dogmatic attitude: can be called the
pseudo-scientific/pre-scientific attitude

 ·        
This primitivity also has its logical
aspect.

 ·        
Critical attitude can be super-imposed on
the dogmatic attitude because it needs for its raw material, as it were,
theories or beliefs which are held more or less dogmatically.

Para 4:

 ·        
Science must begin with myths, and with
the criticism of myths.

 ·        
Scientific tradition can be distinguished
from pre-scientific tradition in having two layers.

o   It passes
on its theories, but also passes on a critical attitude towards them.

o   Theories
passed on, not as dogmas but rather with the challenge to discuss them and
improve upon them.

Para 5:

 ·        
Critical attitude is the attitude of
reasonableness, of rationality.

 ·        
Before a theory has refuted, we can never
know in what way it may have to be modified.

In the last two lines of the fourth paragraph, the author
mentions that 'chess may be psychologically interesting but only to the
extent that it is played not quite rationally'. Answer choice (b) talks of
exactly one such incident wherein one of the players plays irrationally thus
making it the correct answer choice.

Para 1:

 ·        
Game of strategy: situation in which 2 or more players make
choices among available alternatives.

 ·        
Totality of choices determines the outcome of the game, and it
is assumed that the rank order of preferences for the outcomes is different
for different players.

 ·        
"Interests" of players are generally in conflict.

 ·        
Whether these interests are diametrically opposed or only
partially opposed depends on the type of the game.

Para 2:

 ·        
Most interesting situations arise when the interests of the
players are partly co-incident and partly opposed.

 ·        
Each is torn between a tendency to co-operate, so as to
promote the common interests, and a tendency to compete, so as to enhance his
own individual interests.

Para 3:

 ·        
Inner conflict is also held to be an important component of
serious literature as distinguished from less serious genres.

 ·        
Classical tragedy and serious novels: talk of inner conflict.

 ·        
Superficial adventure story: talks of external conflict.

 ·        
On the most primitive level, this sort of external conflict is
psychologically empty.

Para 4:

 ·        
A great deal of interest in the plots of these stories is
sustained by withholding the unraveling of a solution to a problem.

 ·        
The effort of solving the problem is in itself not a conflict
if the adversary remains passive.

 ·        
If the adversary actively puts obstacles in the path towards
the solution, there is conflict.

 ·        
Conflict is psychologically interesting only to the extent
that it contains irrational components.

 ·        
Conflicts conducted in a perfectly rational manner are
psychologically no more interesting.

Para 5:

 ·        
A pure conflict of interest
although it offers a wealth of interesting problems, is not interesting
psychologically, except to the extent that its conduct departs from rational
norms.

If we look at the third line of the fourth paragraph, the
author has clearly stated that 'the effort of solving a problem is in itself
not a conflict if the adversary remains passive, like Nature, whose secrets
the scientist supposedly unravels by deduction. However, if the adversary
actively puts obstacles in the detective's path towards the solution, there
is genuine conflict. From these statements made by the author, it is evident
that option (c) is the correct answer choice.

Option: (d)

If we look at the second paragraph of the passage, it clarifies that dogmatic attitude leads to a stronger belief as compared to critical attitude. Critical attitude 'admits doubt and demands tests' and therefore lacks the conviction one can find in dogmatic attitude and which is important for strong belief. Options (d) and (e) both appear as possible answers but (d) is a more appropriate explanation as it supports the statement in the question.

As stated by the author in the 3^rd paragraph of the
passage, internal conflicts involve psychological dilemma and thus, are more
interesting. Option (c) talks about this dilemma and hence is the most
appropriate answer choice.

The author has talked of primitives and
children and their comparison in the second paragraph of the passage. The
comparison between the primitives and children has been done in the context
of dogmatic behavior which, in turn, is related to critical attitude and not
education, innocence, evolution or civilization. Dogmatic attitude precedes
critical attitude i.e. in absence of critical attitude, we are certain to
find dogmatic attitude. Thus, the most appropriate reason for comparison
between a child and primitives is lack of critical attitude in both. Thus
option (c) is the correct answer choice.