The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

In a low-carbon world, renewable energy technologies are hot business. For investors looking to redirect funds, wind turbines and solar panels, among other technologies, seem a straightforward choice. But renewables need to be further scrutinized before being championed as forging a path toward a low-carbon future. Both the direct and indirect impacts of renewable energy must be examined to ensure that a climate-smart future does not intensify social and environmental harm. As renewable energy production requires land, water, and labor, among other inputs, it imposes costs on people and the environment. Hydropower projects, for instance, have led to community dispossession and exclusion . . . Renewable energy supply chains are also intertwined with mining, and their technologies contribute to growing levels of electronic waste . . . Furthermore, although renewable energy can be produced and distributed through small-scale, local systems, such an approach might not generate the high returns on investment needed to attract capital.

Although an emerging sector, renewables are enmeshed in long-standing resource extraction through their dependence on minerals and metals . . . Scholars document the negative consequences of mining . . . even for mining operations that commit to socially responsible practices[:] “many of the world’s largest reservoirs of minerals like cobalt, copper, lithium, [and] rare earth minerals”—the ones needed for renewable technologies—“are found in fragile states and under communities of marginalized peoples in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.” Since the demand for metals and minerals will increase substantially in a renewable-powered future . . . this intensification could exacerbate the existing consequences of extractive activities.

Among the connections between climate change and waste, O’Neill . . . highlights that “devices developed to reduce our carbon footprint, such as lithium batteries for hybrid and electric cars or solar panels[,] become potentially dangerous electronic waste at the end of their productive life.” The disposal of toxic waste has long perpetuated social injustice through the flows of waste to the Global South and to marginalized communities in the Global North . . .

While renewable energy is a more recent addition to financial portfolios, investments in the sector must be considered in light of our understanding of capital accumulation. As agricultural finance reveals, the concentration of control of corporate activity facilitates profit generation. For some climate activists, the promise of renewables rests on their ability not only to reduce emissions but also to provide distributed, democratized access to energy . . . But Burke and Stephens . . . caution that “renewable energy systems offer a possibility but not a certainty for more democratic energy futures.” Small-scale, distributed forms of energy are only highly profitable to institutional investors if control is consolidated somewhere in the financial chain. Renewable energy can be produced at the household or neighborhood level. However, such small-scale, localized production is unlikely to generate high returns for investors. For financial growth to be sustained and expanded by the renewable sector, production and trade in renewable energy technologies will need to be highly concentrated, and large asset management firms will likely drive those developments.

1051.

All of the following statements, if true, could be seen as supporting the arguments in the passage, EXCEPT:

 

• A. 

  Marginalised people in Africa, Asia and Latin America have often been the main sufferers of corporate mineral extraction projects.

• B. 

  The example of agricultural finance helps us to see how to concentrate corporate activity in the renewable energy sector.

• C. 

  One reason for the perpetuation of social injustice lies in the problem of the disposal of toxic waste.

• D. 

  The possible negative impacts of renewable energy need to be studied before it can be offered as a financial investment opportunity.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Statements A and C, if true, support the argument in the passage that the "disposal of toxic waste has long perpetuated social injustice through the flows of waste to the Global South and to marginalized communities in the Global North".

According to the passage, "agricultural finance reveals the concentration of control of corporate activity facilitates profit generation". Statement B is based on the same idea.

Statement D, however, is different from the arguments in the passage. According to the passage, though investment in renewable energy is a "straightforward choice", further scrutiny is needed before declaring that it will lead to a low-carbon future.

1052.

Which one of the following statements, if false, could be seen as best supporting the arguments in the passage?

 

• A. 

  Renewable energy systems are not as profitable as non-renewable energy systems.

• B. 

  Renewable energy systems are as expensive as non-renewable energy systems.

• C. 

  The production and distribution of renewable energy through small-scale, local systems is not economically sustainable.

• D. 

  Renewable energy systems have little or no environmental impact.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Trickily worded question. The statement that, if false, supports the arguments in the passage is the one that, if true, does not support the arguments in the passage.

Clearly, statement D goes against one of the key ideas in the passage.

All other statements are based on ideas in the passage.

1053.

Which one of the following statements, if true, could be an accurate inference from the first paragraph of the passage?

 

• A. 

  The author’s only reservation is about the profitability of renewable energy systems.

• B. 

  The author does not think renewable energy systems can be as efficient as non-renewable energy systems.

• C. 

  The author has reservations about the consequences of non-renewable energy systems.

• D. 

  The author has reservations about the consequences of renewable energy systems.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

"For investors looking to redirect funds, wind turbines and solar panels, among other technologies, seem a straightforward choice. But renewables need to be further scrutinized before being championed as forging a path toward a low-carbon future." Clearly, the author has reservations about the consequences of renewable energy systems.

1054.

Which one of the following statements best captures the main argument of the last paragraph of the passage?

 

• A. 

  Renewable energy systems are not democratic unless they are corporate-controlled.

• B. 

  Renewable energy produced at the household or neighbourhood level is more efficient than mass-produced forms of energy.

• C. 

  The development of the renewable energy sector is a double-edged sword.

• D. 

  Most forms of renewable energy are not profitable investments for institutional investors.

   

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Option C is the main idea of the passage. All other options can be easily eliminated.

Option A is clearly incorrect, as it implies corporate control ensures democratic access. The last paragraph states the exact opposite of options B and D.

1055.

Based on the passage, we can infer that the author would be most supportive of which one of the following practices?

 

• A. 

  The study of the coexistence of marginalised people with their environments.

• B. 

  Encouragement for the development of more environment-friendly carbon-based fuels.

• C. 

  More stringent global policies and regulations to ensure a more just system of toxic waste disposal.

• D. 

  The localised, small-scale development of renewable energy systems.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The author discusses the social injustice perpetuated through the disposal of toxic waste in the passage. He is hence likely to be supportive of more stringent global policies and regulations to ensure a more just system of toxic waste disposal.

The study of the coexistence of marginalized people with their environments is not related to the main idea of the passage. The author clearly states that small-scale renewable energy systems do not produce high returns. The author does not broach upon the idea of more environment-friendly carbon-based fuels in the passage

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

174 incidents of piracy were reported to the International Maritime Bureau last year, with Somali pirates responsible for only three. The rest ranged from the discreet theft of coils of rope in the Yellow Sea to the notoriously ferocious Nigerian gunmen attacking and hijacking oil tankers in the Gulf of Guinea, as well as armed robbery off Singapore and the Venezuelan coast and kidnapping in the Sundarbans in the Bay of Bengal. For [Dr. Peter] Lehr, an expert on modern-day piracy, the phenomenon’s history should be a source of instruction rather than entertainment, piracy past offering lessons for piracy present. . . . 

But . . . where does piracy begin or end? According to St Augustine, a corsair captain once told Alexander the Great that in the forceful acquisition of power and wealth at sea, the difference between an emperor and a pirate was simply one of scale. By this logic, European empire-builders were the most successful pirates of all time. A more eclectic history might have included the conquistadors, Vasco da Gama and the East India Company. But Lehr sticks to the disorganised small fry, making comparisons with the renegades of today possible. 

The main motive for piracy has always been a combination of need and greed. Why toil away as a starving peasant in the 16th century when a successful pirate made up to £4,000 on each raid? Anyone could turn to freebooting if the rewards were worth the risk . . . .

Increased globalisation has done more to encourage piracy than suppress it. European colonialism weakened delicate balances of power, leading to an influx of opportunists on the high seas. A rise in global shipping has meant rich pickings for freebooters. Lehr writes: “It quickly becomes clear that in those parts of the world that have not profited from globalisation and modernisation, and where abject poverty and the daily struggle for survival are still a reality, the root causes of piracy are still the same as they were a couple of hundred years ago.” . . . 

Modern pirate prevention has failed. After the French yacht Le Gonant was ransomed for $2 million in 2008, opportunists from all over Somalia flocked to the coast for a piece of the action. . . . A consistent rule, even today, is there are never enough warships to patrol pirate-infested waters. Such ships are costly and only solve the problem temporarily; Somali piracy is bound to return as soon as the warships are withdrawn. Robot shipping, eliminating hostages, has been proposed as a possible solution; but as Lehr points out, this will only make pirates switch their targets to smaller carriers unable to afford the technology.

His advice isn’t new. Proposals to end illegal fishing are often advanced but they are difficult to enforce. Investment in local welfare put a halt to Malaysian piracy in the 1970s, but was dependent on money somehow filtering through a corrupt bureaucracy to the poor on the periphery. Diplomatic initiatives against piracy are plagued by mutual distrust: the Russians execute pirates, while the EU and US are reluctant to capture them for fear they’ll claim asylum. 

1051.

“A more eclectic history might have included the conquistadors, Vasco da Gama and the East India Company. But Lehr sticks to the disorganised small fry . . .” From this statement we can infer that the author believes that:

 

• A. 

  colonialism should be considered an organised form of piracy.

• B. 

  the disorganised piracy of today is no match for the organised piracy of the past.

• C. 

  Lehr does not assign adequate blame to empire builders for their past deeds.

• D. 

  Vasco da Gama and the East India Company laid the ground for modern piracy.   

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Note the context in which the given statement is made. In paragraph 2, the author asks where piracy begins or ends and says "European empire-builders were the most successful pirates of all time". So, the author believes

1052.

We can deduce that the author believes that piracy can best be controlled in the long run:

 

• A. 

  through international cooperation in enforcing stringent deterrents.

• B. 

  if we eliminate poverty and income disparities in affected regions.

• C. 

  through the extensive deployment of technology to track ships and cargo. 

• D. 

  through lucrative welfare schemes to improve the lives of people in affected regions.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

According to the passage, the "root causes" of piracy are abject poverty and the daily struggle for survival (paragraph 4). The author also explains in the last two paragraphs that international cooperation in enforcing strict deterrents, investments in local welfare and using technology solutions like robot shipping have failed.

1053.

“Why toil away as a starving peasant in the 16th century when a successful pirate made up to £4,000 on each raid?” In this sentence, the author’s tone can best be described as being:

 

• A. 

  facetious, about the hardships of peasant life in medieval England.

• B. 

  ironic, about the reasons why so many took to piracy in medieval times.

• C. 

  analytical, to explain the contrasts between peasant and pirate life in medieval England.

• D. 

  indignant, at the scale of wealth successful pirates could amass in medieval times. 

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Clearly, the author's tone here is sardonic/ironic, highlighting how much more rewarding it was to engage in piracy than toiling away as a peasant in medieval times.

1054.

The author ascribes the rise in piracy today to all of the following factors EXCEPT:

 

• A. 

  the growth in international shipping with globalisation.

• B. 

  colonialism’s disruption of historic ties among countries. 

• C. 

  the high rewards via ransoms for successful piracy attempts. 

• D. 

  decreased surveillance of the high seas.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The passage states that there are never enough warships to patrol pirate-infested waters, but this does not imply that the surveillance at the high seas is declining, just that the scale of the problem is large. All other reasons for rise in piracy today are mentioned in the lines "Increased globalisation has done more to encourage piracy than suppress it. European colonialism weakened delicate balances of power, leading to an influx of opportunists on the high seas."

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

The claims advanced here may be condensed into two assertions: [first, that visual] culture is what images, acts of seeing, and attendant intellectual, emotional, and perceptual sensibilities do to build, maintain, or transform the worlds in which people live. [And second, that the] study of visual culture is the analysis and interpretation of images and the ways of seeing (or gazes) that configure the agents, practices, conceptualities, and institutions that put images to work. . . .

Accordingly, the study of visual culture should be characterized by several concerns. First, scholars of visual culture need to examine any and all imagery – high and low, art and nonart. . . . They must not restrict themselves to objects of a particular beauty or aesthetic value. Indeed, any kind of imagery may be found to offer up evidence of the visual construction of reality. . . . 

Second, the study of visual culture must scrutinize visual practice as much as images themselves, asking what images do when they are put to use. If scholars engaged in this enterprise inquire what makes an image beautiful or why this image or that constitutes a masterpiece or a work of genius, they should do so with the purpose of investigating an artist’s or a work’s contribution to the experience of beauty, taste, value, or genius. No amount of social analysis can account fully for the existence of Michelangelo or Leonardo. They were unique creators of images that changed the way their contemporaries thought and felt and have continued to shape the history of art, artists, museums, feeling, and aesthetic value. But study of the critical, artistic, and popular reception of works by such artists as Michelangelo and Leonardo can shed important light on the meaning of these artists and their works for many different people. And the history of meaning-making has a great deal to do with how scholars as well as lay audiences today understand these artists and their achievements. 

Third, scholars studying visual culture might properly focus their interpretative work on lifeworlds by examining images, practices, visual technologies, taste, and artistic style as constitutive of social relations. The task is to understand how artifacts contribute to the construction of a world. . . . Important methodological implications follow: ethnography and reception studies become productive forms of gathering information, since these move beyond the image as a closed and fixed meaning-event. . . .

Fourth, scholars may learn a great deal when they scrutinize the constituents of vision, that is, the structures of perception as a physiological process as well as the epistemological frameworks informing a system of visual representation. Vision is a socially and a biologically constructed operation, depending on the design of the human body and how it engages the interpretive devices developed by a culture in order to see intelligibly. . . . Seeing . . . operates on the foundation of covenants with images that establish the conditions for meaningful visual experience. 

Finally, the scholar of visual culture seeks to regard images as evidence for explanation, not as epiphenomena.  

1051.

Which one of the following best describes the word “epiphenomena” in the last sentence of the passage?

 

• A. 

  Phenomena amenable to analysis.

• B. 

  Phenomena supplemental to the evidence.

• C. 

  Overarching collections of images.

• D. 

  Visual phenomena of epic proportions.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Note the context in which the word is used: "the scholar of visual culture seeks to regard images as evidence for explanation, not as epiphenomena". Substituting each of the answer options instead of 'epiphenomena' in this sentence, we see that only option B makes sense. Epiphenomena are phenomena supplemental to the evidence.

1052.

All of the following statements may be considered valid inferences from the passage, EXCEPT:

 

• A. 

  artifacts are meaningful precisely because they help to construct the meanings of the world for us.

• B. 

  studying visual culture requires institutional structures without which the structures of perception cannot be analysed.

• C. 

  understanding the structures of perception is an important part of understanding how visual cultures work.

• D. 

  visual culture is not just about how we see, but also about how our visual practices can impact and change the world.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The passage does not mention 'institutional structures' or talk about these being essential to the study of visual culture.

From the line, "...task is to understand how artifacts contribute to the construction of a world", we understand A is true. C is true, based on the line "..scholars may learn a great deal when they scrutinize the constituents of vision, that is, the structures of perception as a physiological process as well as the epistemological frameworks informing a system of visual representation". D is also true, based on the first paragraph.

1053.

“No amount of social analysis can account fully for the existence of Michelangelo or Leonardo.” In light of the passage, which one of the following interpretations of this sentence is the most accurate?

 

• A. 

  Social analytical accounts of people like Michelangelo or Leonardo cannot explain their genius.

• B. 

  Michelangelo or Leonardo cannot be subjected to social analysis because of their genius.

• C. 

  No analyses exist of Michelangelo’s or Leonardo’s social accounts.

• D. 

  Socially existing beings cannot be analysed, unlike the art of Michelangelo or Leonardo which can.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Note the line that follows the given line in the passage: "They were unique creators of images that changed the way their contemporaries thought and felt and have continued to shape the history of art, artists, museums, feeling, and aesthetic value."In other words, social analysis cannot fully account for the existence of Michelangelo or Leonardo as it cannot explain their genius.

1054.

“Seeing . . . operates on the foundation of covenants with images that establish the conditions for meaningful visual experience.” In light of the passage, which one of the following statements best conveys the meaning of this sentence?

 

• A. 

  Sight becomes a meaningful visual experience because of covenants of meaningfulness that we establish with the images we see.

• B. 

  The way we experience sight is through images operated on by meaningful covenants.

• C. 

  Images are meaningful visual experiences when they have a foundation of covenants seeing them.

• D. 

  Sight as a meaningful visual experience is possible when there is a foundational condition established in images of covenants.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The given sentence implies sight works on the basis of covenants with images we see. These help establish a meaningful visual experience. Option A captures the meaning of the line best.

1055.

Which set of keywords below most closely captures the arguments of the passage?

 

• A. 

  Visual Culture, Aesthetic Value, Lay Audience, Visual Experience.

• B. 

  Scholars, Social Analysis, Michelangelo and Leonardo, Interpretive Devices.

• C. 

  Imagery, Visual Practices, Lifeworlds, Structures of Perception.

• D. 

  Visual Construction of Reality, Work of Genius, Ethnography, Epiphenomena.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

All words in option C relate to key ideas in the passage.

Option A mentions 'lay audience' which is not a key idea. In the same way, options B and D mention 'Michelangelo and Leonardo' and 'work of genius' respectively. The passage mentions Michelangelo and Leonardo but that is to make a point about meaning-making.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

As software improves, the people using it become less likely to sharpen their own know-how. Applications that offer lots of prompts and tips are often to blame; simpler, less solicitous programs push people harder to think, act and learn.

Ten years ago, information scientists at Utrecht University in the Netherlands had a group of people carry out complicated analytical and planning tasks using either rudimentary software that provided no assistance or sophisticated software that offered a great deal of aid. The researchers found that the people using the simple software developed better strategies, made fewer mistakes and developed a deeper aptitude for the work. The people using the more advanced software, meanwhile, would often "aimlessly click around" when confronted with a tricky problem. The supposedly helpful software actually short-circuited their thinking and learning.

[According to] philosopher Hubert Dreyfus . . . . our skills get sharper only through practice, when we use them regularly to overcome different sorts of difficult challenges. The goal of modern software, by contrast, is to ease our way through such challenges. Arduous, painstaking work is exactly what programmers are most eager to automate-after all, that is where the immediate efficiency gains tend to lie. In other words, a fundamental tension ripples between the interests of the people doing the automation and the interests of the people doing the work.

Nevertheless, automation's scope continues to widen. With the rise of electronic health records, physicians increasingly rely on software templates to guide them through patient exams. The programs incorporate valuable checklists and alerts, but they also make medicine more routinized and formulaic-and distance doctors from their patients. . . . Harvard Medical School professor Beth Lown, in a 2012 journal article . . . warned that when doctors become "screen-driven," following a computer's prompts rather than "the patient's narrative thread," their thinking can become constricted. In the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals. . . .

In a recent paper published in the journal Diagnosis, three medical researchers . . . examined the misdiagnosis of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola in the U.S., at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. They argue that the digital templates used by the hospital's clinicians to record patient information probably helped to induce a kind of tunnel vision. "These highly constrained tools," the researchers write, "are optimized for data capture but at the expense of sacrificing their utility for appropriate triage and diagnosis, leading users to miss the forest for the trees." Medical software, they write, is no "replacement for basic history-taking, examination skills, and critical thinking." . . .

There is an alternative. In "human-centered automation," the talents of people take precedence. . . . In this model, software plays an essential but secondary role. It takes over routine functions that a human operator has already mastered, issues alerts when unexpected situations arise, provides fresh information that expands the operator's perspective and counters the biases that often distort human thinking. The technology becomes the expert's partner, not the expert's replacement.

1051.

From the passage, we can infer that the author is apprehensive about the use of sophisticated automation for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that:

 

• A. 

  it stops users from exercising their minds.

• B. 

  it could mislead people.

• C. 

  computers could replace humans.

• D. 

  it stunts the development of its users.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Nowhere in the passage does the author express the fear that computers could replace humans.
The author says that with the use of sophisticated automation, "the people using it become less likely to sharpen their own know-how”, "their thinking can become constricted" and that "in the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals". So, all other options are inferred.

1052.

In the Ebola misdiagnosis case, we can infer that doctors probably missed the forest for the trees because:

 

• A. 

  they were led by the data processed by digital templates.

• B. 

  the digital templates forced them to acquire tunnel vision.

• C. 

  they used the wrong type of digital templates for the case.

• D. 

  the data collected were not sufficient for appropriate triage.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

According to the passage, researchers in the Ebola misdiagnosis case believe that the digital templates used by the hospital's clinicians to record patient information “probably helped to induce a kind of tunnel vision". So, the doctors were led by the data processed by digital templates.
Note that option B is incorrect as it says the templates "forced" doctors to acquire tunnel vision. This is too extreme.

1053.

In the context of the passage, all of the following can be considered examples of human-centered automation EXCEPT:

 

• A. 

  software that offers interpretations when requested by the human operator.

• B. 

  software that auto-completes text when the user writes an email.

• C. 

  medical software that provides optional feedback on the doctor's analysis of the medical situation.

• D. 

  a smart-home system that changes the temperature as instructed by the resident.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

In the fourth paragraph, the passage warns that software prompts that guide patient exams can constrict doctors' thinking. Auto-completion of text is also prompt by software. This is the kind of automation the passage speaks out against.
In the last paragraph, the passage explains how human-centered automation works: "It takes over routine functions that a human operator has already mastered, issues alerts when unexpected situations arise, provides fresh information that expands the operator's perspective and counters the biases that often distort human thinking." Options A, C and D relate to such functions.

 

1054.

It can be inferred that in the Utrecht University experiment, one group of people was "aimlessly clicking around" because

• A. 

  they were hoping that the software would help carry out the tasks.

• B. 

  they did not have the skill-set to address complicated tasks.

• C. 

  the other group was carrying out the tasks more efficiently.

• D. 

  they wanted to avoid making mistakes.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Easy question. According to the passage, the people using the more advanced software would often aimlessly click around when confronted with a tricky problem as "the supposedly helpful software actually short-circuited their thinking and learning". They were, in effect, hoping that the software would help carry out the tasks.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

Humans today make music. Think beyond all the qualifications that might trail after this bald statement: that only certain humans make music, that extensive training is involved, that many societies distinguish musical specialists from nonmusicians, that in today's societies most listen to music rather than making it, and so forth. These qualifications, whatever their local merit, are moot in the face of the overarching truth that making music, considered from a cognitive and psychological vantage, is the province of all those who perceive and experience what is made. We are, almost all of us, musicians - everyone who can entrain (not necessarily dance) to a beat, who can recognize a repeated tune (not necessarily sing it), who can distinguish one instrument or one singing voice from another. I will often use an antique word, recently revived, to name this broader musical experience. Humans are musicking creatures. . . .

The set of capacities that enables musicking is a principal marker of modern humanity. There is nothing polemical in this assertion except a certain insistence, which will figure often in what follows, that musicking be included in our thinking about fundamental human commonalities. Capacities involved in musicking are many and take shape in complicated ways, arising from innate dispositions . . . Most of these capacities overlap with nonmusical ones, though a few may be distinct and dedicated to musical perception and production. In the area of overlap, linguistic capacities seem to be particularly important, and humans are (in principle) language-makers in addition to music-makers - speaking creatures as well as musicking ones.

Humans are symbol-makers too, a feature tightly bound up with language, not so tightly with music. The species Cassirer dubbed Homo symbolicus cannot help but tangle musicking in webs of symbolic thought and expression, habitually making it a component of behavioral complexes that form such expression. But in fundamental features musicking is neither language-like nor symbol-like, and from these differences come many clues to its ancient emergence.

If musicking is a primary, shared trait of modern humans, then to describe its emergence must be to detail the coalescing of that modernity. This took place, archaeologists are clear, over a very long durée: at least 50,000 years or so, more likely something closer to 200,000, depending in part on what that coalescence is taken to comprise. If we look back 20,000 years, a small portion of this long period, we reach the lives of humans whose musical capacities were probably little different from our own. As we look farther back we reach horizons where this similarity can no longer hold - perhaps 40,000 years ago, perhaps 70,000, perhaps 100,000. But we never cross a line before which all the cognitive capacities recruited in modern musicking abruptly disappear. Unless we embrace the incredible notion that music sprang forth in full-blown glory, its emergence will have to be tracked in gradualist terms across a long period.

This is one general feature of a history of music's emergence . . . The history was at once sociocultural and biological . . . The capacities recruited in musicking are many, so describing its emergence involves following several or many separate strands.

1051.

Which one of the following sets of terms best serves as keywords to the passage?

 

• A. 

   

  Musicking; Cognitive psychology; Antique; Symbol-makers; Modernity.

• B. 

   

  Humans; Psychological vantage; Musicking; Cassirer; Emergence of music.

• C. 

  Humans; Capacities; Language; Symbols; Modernity.

• D. 

  Humans; Musicking; Linguistic capacities; Symbol-making; Modern humanity.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Musicking is the main keyword. This is absent from option C, so we rule out C right away. 'Antique' and 'Cassirer' are not key ideas. So, options A and B are out. Option D is the best choice.

1052.

Based on the passage, which one of the following statements is a valid argument about the emergence of music/musicking?

 

• A. 

  Anyone who can perceive and experience music must be considered capable of musicking.

• B. 

   

  Although musicking is not language-like, it shares the quality of being a form of expression.

• C. 

  20,000 years ago, human musical capacities were not very different from what they are today.

• D. 

  All musical work is located in the overlap between linguistic capacity and music production.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The passage says that "If we look back 20,000 years, a small portion of this long period, we reach the lives of humans whose musical capacities were probably little different from our own". So, 20,000 years ago, human musical capacities were not very different from what they are today. (Note that ‘little’ means ‘not much’ and is a quantifier with a negative connotation whereas ‘a little’ means ‘a small amount’ and is a quantifier with a positive connotation).

Option A is not an argument about the emergence of music/musicking.
According to the passage, "...in fundamental features musicking is neither language-like nor symbol-like, and from these differences come many clues to its ancient emergence." So,option B is not a valid argument about the emergence of music/musicking.
Option D is incorrect. Refer to the line, "Most of these capacities overlap with nonmusical ones, though a few may be distinct and dedicated to musical perception and production."

1053.

"Think beyond all the qualifications that might trail after this bald statement . . ." In the context of the passage, what is the author trying to communicate in this quoted extract?

 

• A. 

  A bald statement is one that is trailed by a series of qualifying clarifications and caveats.

• B. 

  Although there may be many caveats and other considerations, the statement is essentially true.

• C. 

  Thinking beyond qualifications allows us to give free reign to musical expressions.

• D. 

  A bald statement is one that requires no qualifications to infer its meaning.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

A bald statement is a simple statement in plain language with no extra information or qualifications. In the given sentence, the author is urging readers to look beyond the extra information, caveats and other considerations that may follow the bald statement to see the overarching truth.

1054.

Which one of the following statements, if true, would weaken the author's claim that humans are musicking creatures?

 

• A. 

  Musical capacities are primarily socio-cultural, which explains the wide diversity of musical forms.

• B. 

  Nonmusical capacities are of far greater consequence to human survival than the capacity for music.

• C. 

  As musicking is neither language-like nor symbol-like, it is a much older form of expression.

• D. 

  From a cognitive and psychological vantage, musicking arises from unconscious dispositions, not conscious ones.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

According to the passage, the history of music’s emergence was “at once sociocultural and biological” and because musicking arises from innate dispositions, it is a primary, shared trait of modern humans. Option A states that musical capabilities are “primarily” socio-cultural, which is why there are diverse forms of music. If option A were true it would weaken the author's claim about the emergence of music.
The passage does not make any claims that musicking is key to human survival. So, option B, even if true, does not affect the author's claim. Same is the case with option C. The author does not talk about the order in which music, language or symbol-making capabilities emerged. The passage says that "capacities involved in musicking are many and take shape in complicated ways, arising from innate dispositions...". So, option D, if true, supports the author's arguments.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

When we teach engineering problems now, we ask students to come to a single "best" solution defined by technical ideals like low cost, speed to build, and ability to scale. This way of teaching primes students to believe that their decision-making is purely objective, as it is grounded in math and science. This is known as technical-social dualism, the idea that the technical and social dimensions of engineering problems are readily separable and remain distinct throughout the problem-definition and solution process.

Nontechnical parameters such as access to a technology, cultural relevancy or potential harms are deemed political and invalid in this way of learning. But those technical ideals are at their core social and political choices determined by a dominant culture focused on economic growth for the most privileged segments of society. By choosing to downplay public welfare as a critical parameter for engineering design, we risk creating a culture of disengagement from societal concerns amongst engineers that is antithetical to the ethical code of engineering.

In my field of medical devices, ignoring social dimensions has real consequences. . . . Most FDA-approved drugs are incorrectly dosed for people assigned female at birth, leading to unexpected adverse reactions. This is because they have been inadequately represented in clinical trials.

Beyond physical failings, subjective beliefs treated as facts by those in decision-making roles can encode social inequities. For example, spirometers, routinely used devices that measure lung capacity, still have correction factors that automatically assume smaller lung capacity in Black and Asian individuals. These racially based adjustments are derived from research done by eugenicists who thought these racial differences were biologically determined and who considered nonwhite people as inferior. These machines ignore the influence of social and environmental factors on lung capacity.

Many technologies for systemically marginalized people have not been built because they were not deemed important such as better early diagnostics and treatment for diseases like endometriosis, a disease that afflicts 10 percent of people with uteruses. And we hardly question whether devices are built sustainably, which has led to a crisis of medical waste and health care accounting for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Social justice must be made core to the way engineers are trained. Some universities are working on this. . . . Engineers taught this way will be prepared to think critically about what problems we choose to solve, how we do so responsibly and how we build teams that challenge our ways of thinking.

Individual engineering professors are also working to embed societal needs in their pedagogy. Darshan Karwat at the University of Arizona developed activist engineering to challenge engineers to acknowledge their full moral and social responsibility through practical self-reflection. Khalid Kadir at the University of California, Berkeley, created the popular course Engineering, Environment, and Society that teaches engineers how to engage in place-based knowledge, an understanding of the people, context and history, to design better technical approaches in collaboration with communities. When we design and build with equity and justice in mind, we craft better solutions that respond to the complexities of entrenched systemic problems.

1051.

In this passage, the author is making the claim that:

 

• A. 

  technical-social dualism has emerged as a technique for engineering students to incorporate social considerations into their technical problem-solving processes.

• B. 

  the objective of best solutions in engineering has shifted the focus of pedagogy from humanism and social obligations to technological perfection.

• C. 

  engineering students today are trained to be non-subjective in their reasoning as this best enables them to develop much-needed universal solutions.

• D. 

  engineering students today are taught to focus on objective technical outcomes, independent of the social dimensions of their work.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The main idea of the passage is that engineering is taught today ignoring important social and political nontechnical parameters and this, in turn, has adverse consequences for society. Option D is the correct choice.
Option A states the exact opposite of what the passage says. The passage says technical-social dualism separates technical problem solving from social considerations.

According to option B, the objective of best solutions in engineering has shifted the focus of pedagogy from humanism and social obligations to technological perfection. The passage does not talk about any such shift in objective from earlier times to now. It only says that today engineering is taught independent of social dimensions.
Option C is again the opposite of what the passage says. The author's point is that non-subjective reasoning hinders the development of solutions that respond to the complexities of entrenched systemic problems.

1052.

The author gives all of the following reasons for why marginalised people are systematically discriminated against in technology-related interventions EXCEPT:

 

• A. 

  "And we hardly question whether devices are built sustainably, which has led to a crisis of medical waste and health care accounting for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions."

• B. 

  "These racially based adjustments are derived from research done by eugenicists who thought these racial differences were biologically determined and who considered nonwhite people as inferior."

• C. 

  "Beyond physical failings, subjective beliefs treated as facts by those in decision-making roles can encode social inequities."

• D. 

  "But those technical ideals are at their core social and political choices determined by a dominant culture focused on economic growth for the most privileged segments of society."

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

All options except A relate to why marginalised people are systematically discriminated against in technology-related interventions: racially-based adjustments are derived from research done by eugenicists, subjective beliefs treated as facts encodes social inequities and the supposed technical 'ideals' are determined by a culture focused on the privileged.
Option A, on the other hand, is about devices not being built sustainably. This is not relevant to discrimination of the marginalised.

1053.

All of the following are examples of the negative outcomes of focusing on technical ideals in the medical sphere EXCEPT the:

 

• A. 

  incorrect assignment of people as female at birth which has resulted in faulty drug interventions.

• B. 

  exclusion of non-privileged groups in clinical trials which leads to incorrect drug dosages.

• C. 

  neglect of research and development of medical technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases that typically afflict marginalised communities.

• D. 

  continuing calibration of medical devices based on past racial biases that have remained unadjusted for changes.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The incorrect assignment of people as female at birth, that is, making an error in determining the gender at birth, is a human error and not a negative outcome of focusing on technical ideas in medicine.
All other examples relate to negative outcomes of focusing on technical ideals in the medical sphere.

1054.

We can infer that the author would approve of a more evolved engineering pedagogy that includes all of the following EXCEPT:

 

• A. 

  moving towards technical-social dualism where social community needs are incorporated in problem-definition and solutions.

• B. 

  making considerations of environmental sustainability intrinsic to the development of technological solutions.

• C. 

  design that is based on the needs of communities using local knowledge and responding to local priorities.

• D. 

  a more responsible approach to technical design and problem-solving than a focus on speed in developing and bringing to scale.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The author calls for moving away from technical-social dualism. Option A states the opposite.
Other options relate to parameters such as environmental sustainability, local community needs and priorities and a responsible approach to technical design, all of which the author believes must be included in engineering pedagogy.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

We begin with the emergence of the philosophy of the social sciences as an arena of thought and as a set of social institutions. The two characterisations overlap but are not congruent. Academic disciplines are social institutions. . . . My view is that institutions are all those social entities that organise action: they link acting individuals into social structures. There are various kinds of institutions. Hegelians and Marxists emphasise universal institutions such as the family, rituals, governance, economy and the military. These are mostly institutions that just grew. Perhaps in some imaginary beginning of time they spontaneously appeared. In their present incarnations, however, they are very much the product of conscious attempts to mould and plan them. We have family law, established and disestablished churches, constitutions and laws, including those governing the economy and the military. Institutions deriving from statute, like joint-stock companies are formal by contrast with informal ones such as friendships. There are some institutions that come in both informal and formal variants, as well as in mixed ones. Consider the fact that the stock exchange and the black market are both market institutions, one formal one not. Consider further that there are many features of the work of the stock exchange that rely on informal, noncodifiable agreements, not least the language used for communication. To be precise, mixtures are the norm . . . From constitutions at the top to by-laws near the bottom we are always adding to, or tinkering with, earlier institutions, the grown and the designed are intertwined.

It is usual in social thought to treat culture and tradition as different from, although alongside, institutions. The view taken here is different. Culture and tradition are sub-sets of institutions analytically isolated for explanatory or expository purposes. Some social scientists have taken all institutions, even purely local ones, to be entities that satisfy basic human needs - under local conditions . . . Others differed and declared any structure of reciprocal roles and norms an institution. Most of these differences are differences of emphasis rather than disagreements. Let us straddle all these versions and present institutions very generally . . . as structures that serve to coordinate the actions of individuals. . . . Institutions themselves then have no aims or purpose other than those given to them by actors or used by actors to explain them . . .

Language is the formative institution for social life and for science . . . Both formal and informal language is involved, naturally grown or designed. (Language is all of these to varying degrees.) Languages are paradigms of institutions or, from another perspective, nested sets of institutions. Syntax, semantics, lexicon and alphabet/character-set are all institutions within the larger institutional framework of a written language. Natural languages are typical examples of what Ferguson called 'the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design'[;] reformed natural languages and artificial languages introduce design into their modifications or refinements of natural language. Above all, languages are paradigms of institutional tools that function to coordinate.

1051.

"Consider the fact that the stock exchange and the black market are both market institutions, one formal one not." Which one of the following statements best explains this quote, in the context of the passage?

 

• A. 

  The stock exchange and the black market are both organised to function by rules.

• B. 

  Market instruments can be formally traded in the stock exchange and informally traded in the black market.

• C. 

  The stock exchange and the black market are both dependent on the market to survive.

• D. 

  The stock exchange and the black market are examples of how, even within the same domain, different kinds of institutions can co-exist.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Consider the line before the given line in the passage:"There are some institutions that come in both informal and formal variants, as well as in mixed ones". The stock market and black market are examples given to substantiate the point in the previous line. The idea is that both the stock exchange and the black market are examples of how, even within the same domain (market institutions), different kinds of institutions can co-exist.

1052.

All of the following inferences from the passage are false, EXCEPT:

 

• A. 

  "natural language" refers to that stage of language development where no conscious human intent is evident in the formation of language.

• B. 

  the institution of friendship cannot be found in the institution of joint-stock companies because the first is an informal institution, while the second is a formal one.

• C. 

  as concepts, "culture" and "tradition" have no analytical, explanatory or expository power, especially when they are treated in isolation.

• D. 

  institutions like the family, rituals, governance, economy, and the military are natural and cannot be consciously modified.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The given question can be rephrased as, "Which one of the following inferences from the passage is true?"
Consider what the passage says about natural languages:"Natural languages are typical examples of what Ferguson called 'the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design". In other words, there is no conscious human intent in this stage of language development. So, option A can be inferred to be true based on the passage.

All other options given are false.

Based on the lines, "Consider further that there are many features of the work of the stock exchange that rely on informal, noncodifiable agreements, not least the language used for communication. To be precise, mixtures are the norm..", we can infer that option B is false.
From the line, "Culture and tradition are sub-sets of institutions analytically isolated for explanatory or expository purposes”, we know that option C is false.
In the first paragraph, the passage says that universal institutions such as the family, rituals, governance, economy and the military, "in their present incarnations" are "very much the product of conscious attempts to mould and plan them". So, option D is also false.

1053.

Which of the following statements best represents the essence of the passage?

 

• A. 

  Institutions are structures that serve to coordinate the actions of individuals.

• B. 

  It is usual in social thought to treat culture and tradition as different from institutions.

• C. 

  Language is the fundamental formal institution for social life and for science.

• D. 

  The stock exchange and the black market are both market institutions.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

In the first paragraph, the author presents his view that "institutions are all those social entities that organise action: they link acting individuals into social structures". The author then goes on to explain this idea in detail, touching upon kinds of institutions, culture and tradition as sub-sets of institutions and language as an institution. Option A is hence the correct answer choice.
Options B, C and D touch upon specific aspects of the passage. None of these represents the essence of the passage.

1054.

In the first paragraph of the passage, what are the two "characterisations" that are seen as overlapping but not congruent?

 

• A. 

  "the philosophy of the social sciences" and "a set of social institutions".

• B. 

  "academic disciplines" and "institutions".

• C. 

  "an arena of thought" and "academic disciplines".

• D. 

  "individuals" and "social structures".

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The passage says, "We begin with the emergence of the philosophy of the social sciences as an arena of thought and as a set of social institutions. The two characterisations overlap but are not congruent." The two characterisations seen here as overlapping but not congruent are social sciences as an arena of thought (or academic discipline) and social sciences as a set of social institutions. So, option B is the correct answer.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

[Octopuses are] misfits in their own extended families . . . They belong to the Mollusca class Cephalopoda. But they don't look like their cousins at all. Other molluscs include sea snails, sea slugs, bivalves - most are shelled invertebrates with a dorsal foot. Cephalopods are all arms, and can be as tiny as 1 centimetre and as large at 30 feet. Some of them have brains the size of a walnut, which is large for an invertebrate. . . .

It makes sense for these molluscs to have added protection in the form of a higher cognition; they don't have a shell covering them, and pretty much everything feeds on cephalopods, including humans. But how did cephalopods manage to secure their own invisibility cloak? Cephalopods fire from multiple cylinders to achieve this in varying degrees from species to species. There are four main catalysts - chromatophores, iridophores, papillae and leucophores. . . .

[Chromatophores] are organs on their bodies that contain pigment sacs, which have red, yellow and brown pigment granules. These sacs have a network of radial muscles, meaning muscles arranged in a circle radiating outwards. These are connected to the brain by a nerve. When the cephalopod wants to change colour, the brain carries an electrical impulse through the nerve to the muscles that expand outwards, pulling open the sacs to display the colours on the skin. Why these three colours? Because these are the colours the light reflects at the depths they live in (the rest is absorbed before it reaches those depths). . . .

Well, what about other colours? Cue the iridophores. Think of a second level of skin that has thin stacks of cells. These can reflect light back at different wavelengths. . . . It's using the same properties that we've seen in hologram stickers, or rainbows on puddles of oil. You move your head and you see a different colour. The sticker isn't doing anything but reflecting light - it's your movement that's changing the appearance of the colour. This property of holograms, oil and other such surfaces is called "iridescence". . . .

Papillae are sections of the skin that can be deformed to make a texture bumpy. Even humans possess them (goosebumps) but cannot use them in the manner that cephalopods can. For instance, the use of these cells is how an octopus can wrap itself over a rock and appear jagged or how a squid or cuttlefish can imitate the look of a coral reef by growing miniature towers on its skin. It actually matches the texture of the substrate it chooses.

Finally, the leucophores: According to a paper, published in Nature, cuttlefish and octopuses possess an additional type of reflector cell called a leucophore. They are cells that scatter full spectrum light so that they appear white in a similar way that a polar bear's fur appears white. Leucophores will also reflect any filtered light shown on them . . . If the water appears blue at a certain depth, the octopuses and cuttlefish can appear blue; if the water appears green, they appear green, and so on and so forth.

1051.

All of the following are reasons for octopuses being "misfits" EXCEPT that they:

 

• A. 

  have several arms.

• B. 

  are consumed by humans and other animals.

• C. 

  do not possess an outer protective shell.

• D. 

  exhibit higher intelligence than other molluscs.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The first paragraph says why octopuses are misfits amongst other molluscs- they are not shelled, are "all arms" and have large brains for an invertebrate. So, option B is the correct choice.

1052.

Based on the passage, we can infer that all of the following statements, if true, would weaken the camouflaging adeptness of Cephalopods EXCEPT:

 

• A. 

  the hydrostatic pressure at the depths at which Cephalopods reside renders radial muscle movements difficult.

• B. 

  the temperature of water at the depths at which Cephalopods reside renders the transmission of neural signals difficult.

• C. 

  light reflects the colours red, green, and yellow at the depths at which Cephalopods reside.

• D. 

  the number of chromatophores in Cephalopods is half the number of iridophores and leucophores.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

According to the passage, when the cephalopod wants to change colour, the brain carries an electrical impulse through the nerve to the radial muscles on their pigment sacs, thereby pulling open the sacs to display red, yellow and brown colours on their skin. So, if the radial muscle movement is hindered (option A), or if the transmission of neural signals is affected (option B) the camouflaging adeptness of cephalopods will be weakened. So too, if light reflects a different set of colours - red, green, and yellow, instead of red, yellow and brown- at the depths in which cephalopods reside, then they will not be able to camouflage effectively. So, option C also weakens the camouflaging adeptness of cephalopods.

The passage does not talk about the number of chromatophores, iridophores and leucophores cephalopods have. So, it is not possible to say, based on the contents of the passage, whether option D, if true, weakens the camouflaging adeptness of cephalopods. So, this is the answer choice we are looking for.

1053.

Based on the passage, it can be inferred that camouflaging techniques in an octopus are most dissimilar to those in:

 

• A. 

  polar bears

• B. 

  sea snails

• C. 

  squids

• D. 

  cuttlefish

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The passage does not say cephalopods can take on the colour of their predator.
Based on the last paragraph, we know that cephalopods can blend into the colour of their surroundings. The paragraph about chromatophores explains how octopuses can change their skin colour while the paragraph about papillae explains how they can change their skin texture.

1054.

Which one of the following statements is not true about the camouflaging ability of Cephalopods?

 

• A. 

  Cephalopods can take on the colour of their predator.

• B. 

  Cephalopods can blend into the colour of their surroundings.

• C. 

  Cephalopods can change their colour.

• D. 

  Cephalopods can change their texture.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The passage does not say cephalopods can take on the colour of their predator.
Based on the last paragraph, we know that cephalopods can blend into the colour of their surroundings. The paragraph about chromatophores explains how octopuses can change their skin colour while the paragraph about papillae explains how they can change their skin texture.