11. It is often said that people should be rewarded for doing a given job in proportion to the effort it costs them to do it. However, a little reflection will show that this is, in fact, a very bad idea, since it would mean that those people with the least skill or natural aptitude for a particular task would be the ones given the most incentive to do it.
Which one of the following argumentative strategies is used above?
(A) stating a general principle and then presenting reasons in favor of adopting it
(B) providing evidence that where the principle under discussion has been adopted, the results usually have been undesirable
(C) demonstrating that a consequence that had been assumed to follow from the principle under consideration need not follow from it
(D) attempting to undermine a general principle by arguing that undesirable consequences would follow from it
(E) showing that, in practice, the principle under consideration could not be uniformly applied
12. Photovoltaic power plants produce electricity from sunlight. As a result of astonishing recent technological advances, the cost of producing electric power at photovoltaic power plants, allowing for both construction and operating costs, is one-tenth of what it was 20 years ago, whereas the corresponding cost for traditional plants, which burn fossil fuels, has increased. Thus, photovoltaic power plants offer a less expensive approach to meeting demand for electricity than do traditional power plants.
The conclusion of the argument is properly drawn if which one of the following is assumed?
(A) The cost of producing electric power at traditional plants has increased over the past 20 years.
(B) Twenty years ago, traditional power plants were producing 10 times more electric power than were photovoltaic plants.
(C) None of the recent technological advances in producing electric power at photovoltaic plants can be applied to producing power at traditional plants.
(D) Twenty years ago, the cost of producing electric power at photovoltaic plants was less than 20 times the cost of producing power at traditional plants.
(E) The cost of producing electric power at photovoltaic plants is expected to decrease further, while the cost of producing power at traditional plants is not expected to decrease.
13. If that insect is a bee, it can only sting once. It only did sting once. So it is a bee.
Which one of the following exhibits a pattern of reasoning most similar to that in the argument above?
(A) Spring is here. It has to be, because when it is spring, I cannot stop sneezing; and I just sneezed.
(B) When the sky is clear, the atmospheric pressure is high. At the moment, it is clearing up, so the atmospheric pressure is bound to be high soon.
(C) Old and brittle paintings are always moved with extreme care. That particular painting is never moved with extreme care. So it must not be old and brittle.
(D) Only one more thunderstorm was needed to ruin that roof. But the roof was still fine a month later. There must not have been any thunderstorm over that month.
(E) To survive in the wild requires physical stamina like Mark’s. All the same, Mark’s fear of spiders would prevent his survival.
14. Pamela: Physicians training for a medical specialty serve as resident staff physicians in hospitals. They work such long hours—up to 36 consecutive hours—that fatigue impairs their ability to make the best medical decisions during the final portion of their shifts.
Quincy: Thousands of physicians now practicing have been trained according to the same regimen, and records show they generally made good medical decisions during their training periods. Why should what has worked in the past be changed now?
Which one of the following, if true, is the most effective counter Pamela might make to Quincy’s argument?
(A) The basic responsibilities of resident staff physicians in hospitals have not changed substantially over the past few decades.
(B) Because medical reimbursement policies now pay for less recuperation time in hospitals, patients in hospitals are, on the average, more seriously ill during their stay than in the past.
(C) It is important that emergency-room patients receive continuity of physician care, insofar as possible, over the critical period after admission, generally 24 hours.
(D) The load of work on resident physicians-in-training varies according to the medical specialty for which each is being trained.
(E) The training of physicians should include observation and recognition of the signs indicating a hospitalized patient’s progress or decline over a period of at least 36 hours.
15. When a group of children who have been watching television programs that include acts of violence is sent to play with a group of children who have been watching programs that do not include acts of violence, the children who have been watching violent programs commit a much greater number of violent acts in their play than do the children who have been watching nonviolent programs. Therefore, children at play can be prevented from committing violent acts by not being allowed to watch violence on television.
The argument in the passage assumes which one of the following?
(A) Television has a harmful effect on society.
(B) Parents are responsible for the acts of their children.
(C) Violent actions and passive observation of violent actions are not related.
(D) There are no other differences between the two groups of children that might account for the difference in violent behavior.
(E) Children who are treated violently will respond with violence.