TODAYS CR

The cotton farms of Country Q became so productive that the market could not absorb all that they produced. Consequently, cotton prices fell. The government tried to boost cotton prices by offering farmers who took 25 percent of their cotton acreage out of production direct support payments up to a specified maximum per farm.

The government’s program, if successful, will not be a net burden on the budget. Which of the following, if true, is the best basis for an explanation of how this could be so?

(A) Depressed cotton prices meant operating losses for cotton farms, and the government lost revenue from taxes on farm profits.

(B) Cotton production in several counties other than Q declined slightly the year that the support-payment program went into effect in Q.

(C) The first year that the support-payment program was in effect, cotton acreage in Q was 5% below its level in the base year for the program.

(D) The specified maximum per farm meant that for very large cotton farms the support payments were less per acre for those acres that were withdrawn from production than they were for smaller farms.（A）

(E) Farmers who wished to qualify for support payments could not use the cotton acreage that was withdrawn from production to grow any other crop.

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The reasoning of the argument in the advertisement is flawed because it overlooks the possibility that

(A) the equipment used by Kreemo to blend and package its coffee is no different from that used by most other coffee producers

(B) not all of Kreemo’s competitors use Colombian coffee beans in the blends of coffee they sell

(C) Kreemo sells more coffee than does any other company

(D) Kreemo’s coffee is the most expensive blended coffee available today（C）

(E) the best unblended coffee is better than the best blended coffee

cr 1

Demographers doing research for an international economics newsletter claim that the average per capita income in the country of Kuptala is substantially lower than that in the country of Bahlton. They also claim, however, that whereas poverty is relatively rare in Kuptala, over half the population of Bahlton lives in extreme poverty. At least one of the demographers’ claims must, therefore, be wrong.

The argument above is most vulnerable to which of the following criticisms?

(A) It rejects an empirical claim about the average per capita incomes in the two countries without making any attempt to discredit that claim by offering additional economic evidence.

(B) It treats the vague term “poverty” as though it had a precise and universally accepted meaning.

(C) It overlooks the possibility that the number of people in the two countries who live in poverty could be the same even though the percentages of the two populations that live in poverty differ markedly.

(D) It fails to show that wealth and poverty have the same social significance in Kuptala as in Bahlton.（E）

(E) It does not consider the possibility that incomes in Kuptala, unlike those in Bahlton, might all be very close to the country’s average per capita income.

explaination for criminals SC

http://www.scoretop.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1931&PN=43

expln for 1980's SC

http://www.scoretop.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6008&PN=18

TODAYS SC2

1. In the 1980’s the rate of increase of the minority population of the United States was nearly twice as fast as the 1970’s.

(A) twice as fast as

(B) twice as fast as it was in

(C) twice what it was in

(D) two times faster than that of（C）

(E) two times greater than

TODAYS SC1

1. In the last few years, the number of convicted criminals given community service sentences, which allow the criminals to remain unconfined while they perform specific jobs benefiting the public, have risen dramatically.

(A) sentences, which allow the criminals to remain unconfined while they perform specific jobs benefiting the public, have

(B) sentences, performing specific jobs that benefit the public while being allowed to remain unconfined, have

(C) sentences, performing specific jobs beneficial to the public while they are allowed to remain unconfined, have

(D) sentences which allow them to remain unconfined in their performing of specific jobs beneficial to the public has（E）

(E) sentences allowing them to remain unconfined while performing specific jobs that benefit the public has