51
The number of undergraduate degrees in engineering awarded by colleges and universities in the United States increased by more than twice from 1978 to 1985.
(A) increased by more than twice
(B) increased more than two times
(C) more than doubled
(D) was more than doubled
(E) had more than doubled
答案：C
解析：Choice A is faulty because an adverb such as twice cannot function as an object of the preposition by. B distorts the sentence's meaning, stating that the number of engineering degrees conferred increased on more than two distinct occasions. D's passive verb was ... doubled suggests without warrant that some unnamed agent increased the number of engineering degrees. The past perfect tense in E, had... doubled, is inappropriate unless the increase in engineering degrees is specifically being viewed as having occurred further back in the past than some subsequent event. Choice C is best.
52
The British Admiralty and the War Office met in March 1892 to consider a possible Russian attempt to seize Constantinople and how they would have to act militarily to deal with them.
(A) how they would have to act militarily to deal with them
(B) how to deal with them if military action would be necessary
(C) what would be necessary militarily for dealing with such an event
(D) what military action would be necessary in order to deal with such an event
(E) the necessity of what kind of military action in order to take for dealing with it
答案：D
解析：In choices A and B, the pronoun them has no antecedent; furthermore, the clause in B must take should rather than would. In C, necessary militarily is awkward and vague. E is wordy and garbles the meaning with incorrect word order. Choice D is best: its phrasing is clear, grammatical, and idiomatic. Moreover, D is the choice that most closely parallels the construction of the non-underlined portion of the sentence. The sentence states that the Admiralty and the War Office met to consider x and y, where x is the noun phrase a possible Russian attempt. D provides a noun phrase, military action that matches the structure of x more closely than do the corresponding noun elements in the other choices.
53
Growing competitive pressures may be encouraging auditors to bend the rules in favor of clients; auditors may, for instance, allow a questionable loan to remain on the books in order to maintain a bank's profits.
(A) clients; auditors may, for instance, allow
(B) clients, as an instance, to allow
(C) clients, like to allow
(D) clients, such as to be allowing
(E) clients; which might, as an instance, be the allowing of
答案：A
解析：The first independent clause of the sentence describes a general situation; in A, the best choice, a second independent clause clearly and grammatically presents an example of this circumstance. Choice B uses as an instance ungrammatically: as an instance requires to form such idiomatic constructions as "She cited x as an instance of y." Also, this construction cannot link infinitives such as to bend and to allow. The infinitive is again incorrect in C and D. C misuses like, a comparative preposition, to introduce an example. D requires by in place of to be. E, aside from being wordy and imprecise, uses the pronoun which to refer vaguely to the whole preceding clause rather than to a specific noun referent.
54
If the proposed expenditures for gathering information abroad are reduced even further, international news reports have been and will continue to diminish in number and quality.
(A) have been and will continue to diminish
(B) have and will continue to diminish
(C) will continue to diminish, as they already did,
(D) will continue to diminish, as they have already,
(E) will continue to diminish
答案：E
解析：Choices A and B fail because the logic of the sentence demands that the verb in the main clause be wholly in the future tense: if x happens, y will happen. To compound the problem, the auxiliary verbs have been in A and have in B cannot properly be completed by to diminish. C, D, and E supply the correct verb form, but C and D conclude with faulty as clauses that are awkward and unnecessary, because will continue describes an action begun in the past. E is the best choice.
55
Gall's hypothesis of there being different mental functions localized in different parts of the brain is widely accepted today.
(A) of there being different mental functions localized in different parts of the brain is widely accepted today
(B) of different mental functions that are localized in different parts of the brain is widely accepted today
(C) that different mental functions are localized in different parts of the brain is widely accepted today
(D) which is that there are different mental functions localized in different parts of the brain is widely accepted today
(E) which is widely accepted today is that there are different mental functions localized in different parts of the brain
答案：C
解析：Choices A and B are faulty because a relative clause beginning with that is needed to state Gall's hypothesis. The phrase of there being, as used in A, is wordy and unidiomatic; in B, of different mental functions does not convey Gall's point about those functions. Choices D and E are awkward and wordy, and both use which where that would be the preferred pronoun for introducing a clause that states Gall's point. Further, the phrasing of E misleadingly suggests that a distinction is being made between this hypothesis and others by Gall that are not widely accepted today. Choice C is best.
56
Though the term "graphic design" may suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging work, from package designs and company logotypes to signs, book jackets, computer graphics, and film titles.
(A) suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging
(B) suggest laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, it has come to signify a wide range of
(C) suggest corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified widely ranging
(D) have suggested corporate brochure and annual report layout, it has signified a wide range of
(E) have suggested laying out corporate brochures and annual reports, they have come to signify widely ranging
答案：B
解析：Choice A contains an agreement error: the term requires the singular it has in place of the plural they have. Furthermore, widely ranging is imprecise: graphic design work does not range about widely but rather comprises a wide range of activities. Choice C contains widely ranging and, like D, fails to use a verb form such as laying out to define the activities, instead presenting an awkward noun phrase: corporate brochure and annual report layout. The present perfect tense is used inappropriately in choices C (has signified), D (have suggested... has signified), and E (have suggested) to indicate recently completed rather than ongoing action. Additionally, E contains the incorrect they have and the imprecise widely ranging. Choice B is best.
57
The root systems of most flowering perennials either become too crowded, which results in loss in vigor, and spread too far outward, producing a bare center.
(A) which results in loss in vigor, and spread
(B) resulting in loss in vigor, or spreading
(C) with the result of loss of vigor, or spreading
(D) resulting in loss of vigor, or spread
(E) with a resulting loss of vigor, and spread
答案：D
解析：Choice A misuses which: as a relative pronoun, which should refer to a specific noun rather than to the action of an entire clause. A also produces the unidiomatic and illogical construction either... and. Choice B properly uses a verb phrase (resulting ...) instead of which to modify the action of the first clause and also correctly completes either with or, but the verbs following either and or are not parallel: spreading must be spread to match become. Choice C is flawed by the nonparallel verb spreading and the wordy phrase that begins with the result of. Choice E is similarly wordy and uses and where or is required. Choice D--concise, idiomatic, and parallel with the rest of the sentence--is best.
58
George Sand (Aurore Lucile Dupin) was one of the first European writers to consider the rural poor to be legitimate subjects for literature and portray these with sympathy and respect in her novels.
(A) to be legitimate subjects for literature and portray these
(B) should be legitimate subjects for literature: portray these
(C) as being legitimate subjects for literature an portraying them
(D) as if they were legitimate subjects for literal; and portray them
(E) legitimate subjects for literature and to portray them
答案：E
解析：When the verb consider is used to mean "regard" or "deem," it can be used more economically without the to be of choice A; should be in choice B, as being in choice C, and as if in choice D are used unidiomatically with this sense of consider, and D carries the unwarranted suggestion that Sand is somehow viewing the rural poor hypothetically. Choice E, therefore, is best: each of the other choices inserts an unnecessary, unidiomatic, or misleading phrase before legitimate subjects. Moreover, A and B incorrectly use these rather than them as the pronoun referring to the poor. In C, portraying is not parallel with to consider. Only E has to portray, although not essential, to underscores the parallelism of portray and consider.
59
Salt deposits and moisture threaten to destroy the Mohenjo-Daro excavation in Pakistan, the site of an ancient civilization that flourished at the same time as the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates.
(A) that flourished at the same time as the civilizations
(B) that had flourished at the same time as had the civilizations
(C) that flourished at the same time those had
(D) flourishing at the same time as those did
(E) flourishing at the same time as those
答案：A
解析：Choice A, the best answer, uses the simple past tense flourished to describe civilizations existing simultaneously in the past. Choice B wrongly uses the past perfect had flourished; past perfect tense indicates action that was completed prior to some other event described in the simple past tense: for example, "Mayan civilization had ceased to exist by the time Europeans first reached the Americas." Choice C lacks as after time. In choices C, D, and E, the plural pronoun those has no plural noun to which it can refer. In C, had signals the incorrect past perfect; did in D and were in E are awkward and unnecessary. D and E also incorrectly use the present participle flourishing where that flourished is needed.
60
The Gorton-Dodd bill requires that a bank disclose to their customers how long they will delay access to funds from deposited checks.
(A) that a bank disclose to their customers how long they will delay access to funds from deposited checks
(B) a bank to disclose to their customers how long they will delay access to funds from a deposited check
(C) that a bank disclose to its customers how long it will delay access to funds from deposited checks
(D) a bank that it should disclose to its customers how long it will delay access to funds from a deposited check
(E) that banks disclose to customers how long access to funds from their deposited check is to be delayed
答案：C
解析：Choice C is best. In A and B, the plural pronouns their and they do not agree with the singular noun bank. B, like D and E, illogically shifts from the plural customers and funds to the singular check, as if the customers were jointly depositing only one check. In D, requires a bank that it should is ungrammatical; requires that a bank is the appropriate idiom. In E, the use of the passive construction is to be delayed is less informative than the active voice because the passive does not explicitly identify the bank as the agent responsible for the delay.