Comprehension Solutions-05

1. The best answer is B. In the first sentence of the passage, the author characterizes the preoccupation of many United States companies with the search for legal protection from import competition as unfortunate. Then, the author explains that the “quest for import relief has hurt more companies than it has helped.” The third paragraph discusses one situation in which United States companies might experience such injury-when import relief laws are used against foreign subsidiaries of United States company-and the last paragraph provides a specific example of this situation. Thus, it can be inferred that the author’s primary concern is to warn about possible unintended negative consequences of applying trade laws.

2. The best answer is D. Bases for complaints to the International Trade Commission are discussed in the first paragraph. The author mentions the two specific kinds of complaints referred to in choices A and C (about imports benefiting from subsidies provided by foreign government sand about “dumping”), but goes on to conclude the paragraph with the comment that “the simple clam that an industry has been injured by imports is sufficient grounds to seek relief.” That a “simple claim” is “sufficient grounds to seek relief” suggests that the minimal basis for a complaint to the ITC is injury from the sale of imports in the United States, as stated in choice D. The situations in choices B and E are not discussed in the passage.

3.The best answer is E. The last paragraph discusses a specific case in which a United States subsidiary of a Dutch conglomerate accused a Canadian branch of a United States company of “dumping” rock salt in the United States market. This incident is cited as “the most brazen case”of the problem stated in the previous paragraph: the use of import relief laws by foreign companies against of U.S. companies. No recommendations, discussion of unexpected results, or additional areas of research or concern are mentioned in the paragraph. Thus, choices A, B, C and D are not correct.

4.The best answer is D. The “danger” of import relief laws is stated : “that foreign companies will use import relief laws against the very companies the laws were designed to protect.” Import relief laws are the legal protection referred to in choice D. The passage does not mention the situations described in choice A, B, C, and E.

5.The best answer is D. In the passage, the author warns that it is “unlikely that a system of import relief laws will meet the strategic needs of all the units under the same parent company.” Thus, it can be inferred that the United States trade laws dealing with import relief will not necessarily help all units of a company, as stated in choice D. There is no indication in the passage that United States trade laws are expected to eliminate dumping, as is stated in choice A. Choice E is not discussed in the passage of the situations mentioned in choice B and C.

6.The best answer is B. The author states that “The bizarre aspect of the complaint was that a foreign conglomerate…was crying for help against a United States company…” It can be inferred that import relief laws were designed to protect United States companies from foreign competition. Thus, the lodging of a complaint by a foreign conglomerate against a United States company violated the intent of the laws.

7. The best answer is D. The first paragraph of the passage identifies a research method (recording life stories) and explains the method’s uses. The second and third paragraphs explain limitations of the method’s results. The final paragraph explains why the research method is useful despite its limitations. Choice A, B, and C are incorrect because only one research method is discussed, not two. Choice E can be eliminated because the passage does not discuss changing the method or adapting it to any other subject area.

8.The best answer is C. The Passage suggests that ethnologists “rarely spent enough time with the tribes they were observing.” Ethnologists who did not spend enough time with tribes they were observing were unlikely to be sufficiently familiar with the culture and customs of those tribes. Such ethnologists nevertheless attempted to describe the lives of tribal members. This attempt can be seen as analogous to the announcer’s attempt to describe the actions in a team sport with which he is unfamiliar. Choice A, B, and D can be eliminated because the passage does not suggest ethnologists deliberately withheld information. Choice E is incorrect because the passage does not mention any common ideas or positions held by both the ethnologists and the Native Americans.

9.The best answer is A, which paraphrases the passage’s assertion that life stores “are likely to throw more light on the working of the mind and emotions than any amount of speculation from an ethnologist or ethnological theorist from another culture” .Choice B is incorrect because the passage does not assess the difficulty of collecting life stories, and because the second paragraph discusses ways in which life stories became distorted. Choice C is incorrect because the passage does not specify how many research methods are available to ethnologists. Choice D can be eliminated because the third paragraph mentions distortion arising from ethnologists’ failure to recognize significant events in life stories. Choice E is incorrect because the second paragraph suggests that life stories would be more useful if collected by culturally knowledgeable investigators.

10.The best answer is E. In the third paragraph, the passage asserts that editors made their own decisions about which elements of the Native Americans’ life stories were important. It can therefore be inferred from the passage that reporting all of an informant’s information would help eliminate bias, because editing had involved subjective judgments about the intrinsic value of the information. Choice A, C, and D can be eliminated because the passage does not attribute bias to failures in adhering to ethnological theory, to translations into the researchers’ language, or problems in the numbers and content of question posed. Choice B is not supported because the second paragraph criticizes the emotion of the report, not that of the informant, for introducing bias.

11.The best answer is C. The passage describes a methodology, explain the methodology’s intended uses, criticizes the methodology’s accurateness and comprehensiveness, and reaffirms the methodology’s usefulness despite its limitations. Thus, the primary purpose of the passage is to evaluate or critique a methodology.

12. The best answer is B. The passage states that “Native Americans recognized that the essence of their lives could not be communicated in English,” that is, in the language of the ethnologists recording the life stories. Since this statement supports the idea that “much was inevitably lost,” it can be inferred that the informants used a language other than that used to record their life stories. Choice A is incorrect because, in the second paragraph, the investigators are criticized for lacking familiarity with the cultures they studies. Choice C is incorrect because ethnologists recorded life stories to “supplement their own field observations”. Choice D is incorrect because the passage indicates that life stories were edited; choice E is incorrect because the passage provides no information about guidelines used by the researchers.

13) Option (c) The lines “And indeed… I presume?” spell out the circle of concern which is limited to the immediate and the temporal world, nowhere do the lines depict any issues with the larger picture in life. The author is in a ‘status quo’ and deciding what to do.

14) Option (d) The passage stresses on the fact that “there will be time” for everything.

15) Option (d) The phrase “muttering retreats” makes option (d) correct.

16) Option (b) In the olden days, ether was used to anesthetize patients.