In many upper-class Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the family, just as it had once been among the Russian aristocracy.

Somber in tone and menacing in content, the leader of the terrorists who were holding the hostages sent a message leaving little hope that they would be released by the end of the week.

In Morigia the average age of cars that are still in use has historically been seven years, but now it is nearly nine years. Car manufacturers claim that the current poor economy has forced people to put off buying new cars, and thus when the economy improves, the average age of cars will return to former levels.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the car manufacturers’ prediction?

In constant dollars, New York City taxpayers spend three times more than ten years ago to receive the same level of municipal services.

Rheumatic fever is the most serious complication of streptococcal infection, but rheumatic fever is not itself an infection. Rheumatic fever occurs only when, in defending against streptococcal infection, the body’s immunological system produces antibodies that also attack the cells of the heart and kidneys.

Which of the following, if true, would contribute most to an explanation of why only streptococcal bacteria give rise to rheumatic fever?

If the check valves in nuclear power plants do not function properly, other parts of the plants’ piping systems can be critically damaged. Check valves cannot be tested in actual operation, but they are disassembled as part of routine annual maintenance and any flawed parts are replaced. Therefore, power plant accidents attributable to malfunctioning check valves are unlikely to occur.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument above?

The failing of the book lies not in a lack of attention to scientific detail but in the depiction of scenes of life and death in the marine world with emotional overtones that reduce the credibility of the work.

The government’s projections on business growth and unemployment, along with its specific reports on prices and wages in individual companies, indicates inflationary pressures subsiding.

The hypothesis has been advanced that the ancestors of such plants and animals as the giant sequoia, the alligator, and the horse appeared on the fringes of the Arctic Ocean millions of years before lower latitudes.

A requirement of traditional pension plans is that an employee work for a company a number of years before gaining full rights to benefits from the company’s plan on retirement. Companies used this requirement to help them retain employees, but recent regulations have substantially reduced the number of years of work a company can require. Nevertheless, companies have not experienced any significant loss of employees.

Which of the following, if true, helps to explain why companies are not experiencing problems in retaining employees?

When a female fruit fly is placed in a cage with several potential mates, her offspring tend to be stronger than when she is caged with only a single male of average strength. Therefore, the female fruit fly must be able to determine which mate will give her the strongest offspring.

Which of the following, if true, is the best basis for a counterargument against the conclusion drawn above?

Released the first Friday of every month and covering the preceding month, the Labor Department’s employment report discloses the amount of new jobs to be created during the reporting period and the amount of hours to be worked.

By enhancing college programs to attract the over-fifty population, the decline in college enrollment caused by the decrease in the population of eighteen to twenty-four year olds could be offset.

The recycling of municipal solid waste is widely seen as an environmentally preferable alternative to the prevailing practices of incineration and of dumping in landfills. Recycling is profitable, as the recycling programs already in operation demonstrate. A state legislator proposes that communities should therefore be required to adopt recycling and to reach the target of recycling 50 percent of all solid waste within 5 years.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the advisability of implementing the proposal?

According to some experts, carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere so rapidly, largely because of the burning of fossil fuels, that should the present rate of buildup continue, the global concentration of this poison will double by the end of the next century.

A recent survey found that more computers than copies of computer programs were purchased by Germans last year. The best interpretation of this finding is that the practice of illegally duplicating commercial computer programs is widespread among Germans.

Each of the following, if true, would counter some reasonable objection to the interpretation advanced above EXCEPT:

In an effort improve the quality of patient care, Dr. Lydia Temoscho is directing one of several clinical research projects that seek to determine the extent that psychological counseling helps to supplement the medical treatment of serious disease.

Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of reading the daily newspapers due to the comic strips being appealing.

A new technique for extracting residues of oil from existing oil wells by using lignins, a by-product of papermaking, is profitable provided that oil prices are over 20 dollars a barrel. Since oil prices are rising, investors looking for companies with prospects for rapid growth in profits would be wise to invest in paper manufacturers, whose currently almost worthless by-product will soon be a profit-boosting commodity.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

Kuru, one of the strangest and most insidious of the diseases known, is no longer a major problem in New Guinea.