In the industrialized nations, the last century has witnessed a shortening of the average workday from twelve hours or longer to less than eight hours. Mindful of this enormous increase in leisure time over the past century, many people assume that the same trend has obtained throughout history, and that, therefore, prehistoric humans must have labored incessantly for their very survival.
We cannot, of course, directly test this assumption. However, a study of primitive peoples of today suggests a different conclusion. The Mbuti of central Africa, for instance, spend only a few hours each day in hunting, gathering, and tending to other economic necessities. The rest of their time is spent as they choose. The implication is that the short workday is not peculiar to industrialized societies. Rather, both the extended workday of 1880 and the shorter workday of today are products of different stages of the continuing process of industrialization.
Which of the following inferences about industrialization is best supported by the passage above?
(A) People in advanced industrialized societies have more leisure time than those in nonindustrialized societies.
(B) An average workday of twelve hours or more is peculiar to economies in the early stages of industrialization.
(C) Industrialization involves a trade-off between tedious, monotonous jobs and the benefits of increased leisure.
(D) It is likely that the extended workday of an industrializing country will eventually be shortened.(D)
(E) As industrialization progresses, people tend to look for self-fulfillment in leisure rather than work.
Which of the following, if true, would most greatly strengthen the argument made in the passage above?
(A) In recent decades, the economy of the Mbuti has been markedly affected by the encroachment of modern civilization.
(B) The life-style of the Mbuti is similar to that of prehistoric humans.
(C) The Mbuti have no words in their language to express the distinction between work activities and leisure activities.
(D) The workday of a European peasant in medieval times averaged between eleven and fifteen hours.(B)
(E) The members of the Shaklik tribe in central Asia have an average workday of ten to twelve hours.
Gloria: Those who advocate tuition tax credits for parents whose children attend private schools maintain that people making no use of a government service should not be forced to pay for it. Yet those who choose to buy bottled water rather than drink water from the local supply are not therefore exempt from paying taxes to maintain the local water supply.
Roger: Your argument is illogical. Children are required by law to attend school. Since school attendance is a matter not of choice, but of legal requirement, it is unfair for the government to force some parents to pay for it twice.
Which of the following responses by Gloria would best refute Roger’s charge that her argument is illogical?
(A) Although drinking water is not required by law, it is necessary for all people, and therefore my analogy is appropriate.
(B) Those who can afford the tuition at a high-priced private school can well bear the same tax burden as those whose children attend public schools.
(C) If tuition tax credits are granted, the tax burden on parents who choose public schools will rise to an intolerable level.
(D) The law does not say that parents must send their children to private schools, only that the children must attend some kind of school, whether public or private.(A)
(E) Both bottled water and private schools are luxury items, and it is unfair that some citizens should be able to afford them while others cannot.
Since the passage of the state’s Clean Air Act ten years ago, the level of industrial pollutants in the air has fallen by an average of 18 percent. This suggests that the restrictions on industry embodied in the act have worked effectively. However, during the same period the state has also suffered through a period of economic decline. The number of businesses in the state has fallen by 10 percent, and the number of workers employed has fallen by 12 percent. It is probable that the business decline, rather than the regulations in the act, is responsible for at least half of the decline in the pollution.
Which of following is an assumption made in the passage above?
(A) Most businesses in the state have obeyed the regulations embodied in the Clean Air Act.
(B) The economic decline of the state can be attributed, in part, to the effects of the Clean Air Act.
(C) The amount of air pollution in a given area is likely to be proportional to the number of businesses and workers active in that area.
(D) The restrictions on business activity in other states are less stringent than are those embodied in the Clean Air Act.(C)
(E) The Clean Air Act has been only very slightly successful in achieving the goal of reduced air pollution.
