GRE GRE-TEST Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

GRE GRE-TEST Online Questions & Answers

• Question 171:

  The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a Batavia newspaper

  "The department of agriculture in Batavia reports that the number of dairy farms throughout the country is now 25 percent greater than it was 10 years ago. Dunne this same time period, however, the price of milk at the local Excello Food Market has increased from SI.50 to over S3.00 per gallon. To prevent farmers from continuing to receive excessive profits on an apparently increased supply of milk, the Batavia government should begin to regulate retail milk prices Such regulation is necessary to ensure fair prices for consumers."

  Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation A. See the detailed answer in explanation.

  Correct Answer. A
  A

  ---

  Explanation/Reference:

  The letter slates a proposal to act as a solution for a given problem. It states that milk producers have increased the price of milk inspite of an increase in the supply, which enables them to receive excessive profits. The given suggestion is that government intervention might be a possible solution for addressing this issue. The proposal has given only a subjective view but has failed to prove how the government intervention might help them reach the required outcome through valid evidences. Firstly. The letter has failed to address the population growth in the region of Batavia. in the event of considering the supply and demand in a place. It is crucial to take into consideration the population of the place the equal proportion of the growth in the number of dairy farms This might lead to many reasons and it could also dissolve the issue if the population outburst might have happened. Another major issue that the letter has failed to address is the impact of the general rise in inflation. It is to be understood that in any economy it is imperative that there would be an increase in the price of products and services over a period of time There could even be an increase in the raw materials fodder, and medical expenses incurred by the dairy farm owners and milk manufacturers. The third arbitrary assumption made by the letter would be that the profit are being solely taken by the manufacturers., the labor wages, cost of production and even the cost incurred during the delivery might have substantially increased. If various such factors are to be considered then the appropriate solution cannot be just the government intervention and there might be a need for a more comprehensive solution. To conclude, the letter might appear to have addressed the issue but in reality it has failed to new it from the different dimension and ultimately fails to give a clear responsive view with valued evidences and supportive data.

• Question 172:

  In 1755 British writer Samuel Johnson published an acerbic letter to Lord Chesterfield rebuking his patron for neglect and declining further support. Johnson's rejection of his patron's belated assistance has often been identified as a key moment in the history of publishing, marking the end of the culture of patronage. However, patronage had been in decline for 50 years, yet would survive, in attenuated form, for another 50. Indeed. Johnson was in 1762 awarded a pension by the Crown--a subtle form of sponsorship, tantamount to state patronage. The importance of Johnson's letter is not so much historical as emotional: it would become a touchstone for all who repudiated patrons and for all who embraced the laws of the marketplace.

  The author of the passage mentions Johnson's 1762 pension award in order to

  A. provide a specific example of patronage's surviving into the second half of (he eighteenth century
  B. emphasize that patronage still helped support Johnson's writing after his letter to Chesterfield
  C. provide evidence for a general trend in the later half of the
  D. eighteenth century of private patronage's being replaced by state sponsorship
  B. emphasize that patronage still helped support Johnson's writing after his letter to Chesterfield

• Question 173:

  When Flemish painter Anthony Van Dyck moved to England in 1632 to become court painter to Charles The introduced an entirely new way of representing dress in portraiture. In women's portraits. he left off fashionable accessories, depicted subjects in unbuttoned sleeves and collars, and added lavish drapery and jewels. For the first time an artist actively participated in dressing his subjects, creating an amalgam of fantasy and reality. While Van Dyck was most innovative when representing women, he used similar elements in portraits of men.

  Van Dyck's Portrait of Thomas Killigrew and Willian. Lord Crofts (1638) demonstrates how the artist relaxed and unbuttoned men's dress to accord with an underlying theme. The double portrait may be seen as an essay in grief: Killigrew. a poet and playwright, had lost his wife Cecelia to the plague shortly before the sitting, and Crofts was her nephew. The painting contains clear references to the situation at hand. The background features a broken column, a traditional emblem of earthly transience. A drawing in Killigrew's right hand depicts two Itinerary monuments. Crofts holds a blank sheet of paper, seen by some scholars as an analog to the drawing Killigrew holds: a symbol of what is gone. At historians have interpreted the clothing depicted in this portrait, particularly Crofts' doublet which is worn unbuttoned in back, as an allusion to the subjects' grief-stricken distraction. It is true that Killigrew's dress includes references to his loss--he wears a cross inscribed with his wife's initials. There is an intimate nature to this painting, which seems underscored by the loose clothing worn by both subjects. However, diis reading of the costumes as signs of grief does not take account of seventeenth-century fashion conventions. Only Killigrew appears in noticeably disheveled attire;

  Crofts" dress would be quite appropriate for a formal portrait. Though black clothing, such as that won by Crofil, was common for mourning, it was also ordinary on other occasions. Furthermore, during the first stage of mounting no shiny surfaces, such as Crofts' satin doublet, would be permitted. The unbuttoned slit on Crofts" doublet was probably a matter of style: a French courtier in a 1635 fashion print by Bosse. who is gallivanting rather than grieving, wears a similarly undone doublet. Evidence suggests that by the late 1630s a certain calculated looseness was conventional in men's formal dress. Ribeiro. for example, cites the writings of moralists objecting to this style.

  Killigrew's attire, though even looser than Crofts", should not necessarily be associated with grief. Other seventeenth-century subjects depicted in melancholic states do not dress this way. Although Killigrew's "undress" lends this portrait a distinctive intimacy, it might also refer to Killigrew's literary career. Many of Van Dyck's other subjects who engaged in literary pursuits are depicted in loose clothing. The blank sheet held by Crofts may be a reminder not only of Killigrew's loss but also of his solace: he had but to express his grief in writing.

  Which of the following best describes (he function of the last sentence of the passage?

  A. It suggests that a certain detail of the painting should not be understood ;is emblematic.
  B. It calls attention to a detail of the painting that art historians have generally overlooked.
  C. It offers support for the author's interpretation of the significance of Killigrew's clothing.
  D. It introduces evidence to support the author's view of the appropriateness of Crofts" manner of dress.
  E. It casts doubt on the way that art historians have interpreted the? relationslup between the two subjects in the painting.
  A. It suggests that a certain detail of the painting should not be understood ;is emblematic.

• Question 174:

  

  A. Quantity A is greater.
  B. Quantity B is greater.
  C. The two quantities are equal.
  D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.
  C. The two quantities are equal.

• Question 175:

  As originally formulated, the selfish-herd theory of prey species aggregation assumed that predatory attacks were equally likely to be launched from any position within the environment. In some circumstances (e.g.. avian predators attacking prey from above), such an approach is appropriate. However, as James et al. argue, in many predator-prey associations, attacks are unlikely to occur from positions within the group. For example, it is likely that an ambushing predator waiting in the path of a group would be detected before the group moves over its position. Hence, in many ecological situations, predatory attacks on grouped prey will occur exclusively from outside the group. In such circumstances, there is a strong premium to a group member in being in the interior of the group. James would most likely describe the original formulation of the selfish-herd theory as

  A. completely untenable in its explanation of predator-prey associations
  B. ill-equipped to explain exceptions to standard predator-prey associations
  C. insufficiently attentive to the diversity of predator-prey associations
  D. excessively concerned with the outcomes of predator-prey associations
  E. problematically neglectful of the cooperative elements of predator-prey associations
  C. insufficiently attentive to the diversity of predator-prey associations

• Question 176:

  

  A. Quantity A is greater.
  B. Quantity B is greater.
  C. The two quantities are equal.
  D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.
  D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

• Question 177:

  A certain list consists of 249 consecutive integers, each of which is less than 300.

  

  A. Quantity A is greater.
  B. Quantity B is greater.
  C. The two quantities are equal.
  D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.
  D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

• Question 178:

  Like paleontologists who interpret timescales from fossil evidence, we infer the history of star formation in the Milks' Way galaxy from the heavy-element composition of its stars. According to the big bang theory of the origin of the universe, the first gas clouds--and the first generation of stars formed from them--were composed of pure hydrogen and helium; most heavier elements-- iron and calcium, for example--came later, created by explosions of supernovas, massive stars in their death thaws. Loaded with heavy elements, material ejected from supernovas enriched the interstellar gas clouds from which the next generation of stars formed, the level of heavy elements increasing with succeeding generations. Because most stars live for many billions of years and because the Milky Way is thus composed of multiple stellar generations, comparing the number of stars of low heavy-element abundance with those of high heavy-element abundance enables astronomers to untangle the history of star formation in the Milky Way.

  Replacement of the word "enriched" with which of the following words results in the least change in meaning for the passage?

  A. refined
  B. altered
  C. heightened
  D. briehtened
  E. improved
  B. altered

• Question 179:

  The inventory of confirmed planets outside our solar system is growing rapidly, although it is_________by the fact that it is easier to detect big planets than small ones and planets close to their parent stars than those farther away.

  A. encumbered
  B. reinforced
  C. belied
  D. biased
  E. distorted
  F. corroborated
  A. encumbered
  E. distorted

• Question 180:

  A candy retailer packs pieces of fudge either in boxes of 12 pieces each or in boxes of 15 pieces each. If the retailer uses only 12-piece boxes to pack a certain batch of fudge, then 1 piece will be left over. If the retailer uses only 15-piece boxes to pack the batch, then 10 pieces will be left over and the retailer will use 7 fewer boxes than when using the 12-piece boxes. How many pieces of fudge are in the batch'1

  A. 325
  B. 360
  C. 385
  D. 445
  E. 455
  C. 385