RC 1

Several genes have been acknowledged that appear to play a role in the advance of
obesity. These genes are often identified through mouse models for obesity, such as a
pure-breeding strain of obese mice called Rotund. The behavior of Rotund mice includes
increased food consumption and body weight, and decreased body temperature and
activity. hen in!ected with blood from normal animals, Rotund mice e"hibit a
momentary decrease in food intake. This information suggests that a secreted factor
that signals satiety e"ists, turning off the desire for food in normal animals when energy
reserves in stock tissue are sufficient.
hen the gene responsible for the Rotund behavior was identified, it was found to
encode a protein secreted from adipocytes in normal mice. This protein was termed the
rotund protein.
#n!ection of purified rotund protein from wild-type mice into Rotund mice induces a
decrease in food intake, an increase in body temperature, an increase in activity, and a
decrease over several weeks in the ratio of energy stock tissue to skeletal muscle.
Control in!ections lacking rotund protein did not produce these changes. $lso, in!ection
of rotund protein into normal mice does not alter weight or other parameters of mouse
physiology, indicating that the weight loss in Rotund mice is not caused by to"icity of the
protein to the animal.
$lthough the research on the rotund protein and on its effects on obesity is in its
development phase, scientists hope that what they learn from these e"periments with
mice will shed some light on the ongoing research on human obesity.
%uestions
1& hich of the following can be most strongly inferred from the passage'
a) Humans have similar proteins to those of Rotund mice.
b) Rotund mice have heart failure problems.
c) Rotund proteins from wild-type mice and pure-breeding mice do not have the same effect.
d) Rotund protein does not have any toxic effects on the Rotund mice.
e) Researchers need more fiscal leeway with their important research on obesity.
(&The author or the passage would most likely agree with which of the following
statements'
a) This study on rotund proteins, by itself, might not be enough to solve the human obesity
problem.
b)Scientists will mae much progress on human obesity due to their findings on rotund proteins.
c)The study is liely to result in a baclash from consumer groups and civil rights unions.
d)There are some flaws in the design of the experiment.
e) Rotund mice behavior is hard to change through external means.
)&$ll of the following regarding the pure-breeding Rotund mice behavior are true
*+C*,T-
a)These mice tend to have colder bodies than non-obese Rotund mice are.
b)!aily food intae is higher than that of other mice.
c)The obese Rotund mice move around in their environment less than do other mice.
d)These pure-breeding mice tend to weigh more than do their wild-type counterparts.
e)Rotund mice experience more problems with foot pain generally associated with obesity.
RC (
$lthough the recent debate over the efficacy of capital punishment as a deterrent to
violent crime has produced informed commentary from both camps, few of the .e"perts.
cited in public discussion of the issue are aware that the basic concept of deterrence
was developed during the eighteenth century by the #talian writer Cesare /eccaria in his
book Crimes and ,unishments 01123&. hile arguing vehemently in favor of strict
punishments for violent criminals, /eccaria nevertheless re!ected torture, secret trials,
and capital punishment as viable deterrents to violent crime.
/eccaria4s writings have had a profound influence on the treatment of criminals.
5owever, at present there is little evidence to support /eccaria4s fundamental contention
that strict punishment leads to a reduction in violent crime. #n a survey of the $merican
penal system recently carried out by the 6ustice 7epartment, a vast ma!ority of convicted
felons revealed that the threat of strict punishment, even capital punishment, in no way
deterred them from committing a particular crime or pursuing a career in crime. 8ne
wonders how /eccaria would alter his arguments if evidence like this had been available
to him. 5e might be pleased to note that the evidence does support his belief that capital
punishment is an ineffective deterrent, but he would be hard pressed to find compelling
support for his other 7raconian recommendations.
%uestions-
1& The passage is primarily concerned with
a) promoting the theories of a little-nown author
b) urging the reader to address a pressing social concern
c) presenting an alternative to a widely-held belief
d) discussing the strengths and weanesses of a theory
e) tracing the history of a particular social movement
(& hich of the following describes the author4s attitude toward the debate over capital
punishment'
a) "either side has produced any cogent argument in favor of its position.
b) #t is a passionate dispute that has produced more rhetoric than substance.
c) $ne side has a stronger position based on theories first expressed in the eighteenth century.
d) %ny resolution of the debate will re&uire drastic reconsideration of current penal codes.
e) 'oth sides have contributed thoughtful arguments to the debate.
)& #n describing /eccaria4s book, the author emphasi9es which of the following'
a) 'eccaria(s insistence on maintaining law and order in an increasingly violent society
b) The importance of placing 'eccaria(s ideas in their proper historical context
c) 'eccaria(s focus on the use of punishment as a deterrent to crime
d) The similarity between 'eccaria(s ideas and those of most modern proponents of capital
punishment
e) 'eccaria(s ignorance of statistics on crime and punishment in the eighteenth century
R) *
For the last decade, public policy makers and education specialists have been debating the
future of Americas public school system. Little headway has been made in solving our public
schools problems, partly because those seeking to fix the school system have started with a
grievously false assumption: that our public schools were in fact better at one time than they are
now.
hose who assert that schools did a better !ob of teaching in the past rely mostly on
anecdotal evidence. hese critics base their argument on rumored surveys of current students
who cant find the nations capital on a map and ha"y recollections of #how much harder they
worked in school than children do today.$ o be sure, these critics do produce some empirical
evidence, mostly in the form of lower standardi"ed test scores.
%owever, most empirical evidence indicates that our public schools are doing a better !ob
today than they ever have. &efore '()*, the mythical halcyon period of public schools, the
average American did not graduate from high school+ today, well over two,thirds do. -ne,fifth of
the school,age population left school after four years+ in the .outh, less than one,fifth were in
school at all.
oday, many more students graduate high school, and many more pass academically
demanding courses. his explains why standardi"ed test scores have declined / todays more
diverse student body cannot compete with the smaller elite that completed high school in the
past.
his is not to say that our public schools do not need fixing. hey do, and that need is
urgent, but not because the schools have fallen from some previous level of near,perfection. o
the contrary, it is because our schools have never provided the intellectually challenging
education that our children deserve and that our country needs to prosper. 0f the nation is to
employ Americans and keep its wealth from drifting across our borders, we must prepare
Americans to compete in the intellectual and technical markets. hose who would return our
public school system to its #glory days$ in fact wish a return to a time that never was.
'1 According to the passage, before '()* the typical school,aged American would most
likely be
living in the 2ortheastern region of the country
scoring sufficiently well on standardi"ed tests to gain entry to the nation3s most
competitive universities
pursuing a curriculum of vocation,related courses
leaving school before earning a high school diploma
preparing for a career in the intellectual and
technical !ob markets
41 5hich of the following can be inferred
about the author3s opinion of the surveys
mentioned in the second paragraph6
he surveys were taken, but the results of those surveys have been misrepresented by
the survey administrators.
he surveys may or may not have been taken+ regardless, their results are not
conclusive.
he surveys were administered by organi"ations hostile to the current public school
program.
he surveys were never taken.
71 he author implies that if the
percentage of all Americans
graduating from high school now were
the same as that for students who
graduated before '()*
the current group3s average scores on standardi"ed tests would be at least as high as
those of their predecessors
the current students would be enrolled primarily in pre,vocational curricula
only one,fifth of all school,aged students in the .outh would currently be attending
school
the 8nited .tates would not need to train students to compete in the global economy
the current group would be more demographically and intellectually diverse as a
result
)1 5hich of the following facts is 2- cited by the author as evidence countering public
schools3 critics3 arguments6
9ublic school students today are more active in extracurricular activities than were their
counterparts prior to '()*.
%igh,level academic courses are more readily available to students today than they were
prior to '()*.
A larger percentage of students now remain in high school than did their counterparts prior
to '()*.
:ore than half of American school,aged students today graduate from high school.
9rior to '()*, less than half of the nation3s children graduated from high school.
R) +
he six,year period between '(') and '('( was an era of rapid growth and change in the
American economy. ;emand for labor grew rapidly, while the supply of labor did not. his was
partly due to a loss of male workers during 5orld 5ar 0 <4,***,*** men served in the military on
behalf of the 8... war effort1, as well as to a vast curtailment of immigration during the last half
of the decade. 5hile more than one million immigrants arrived annually in the 8... between
'(** and '('), !ust over one million arrived between '('= and '('(. Although a substantial
increase in salaried employment among women kept the work force from shrinking, the labor
pool did not grow between '(') and '('(, the exact period during which manufacturing
industries were undergoing great expansion. he tight labor market caused unemployment to
reach an all,time low of '.) percent in '('>.
.imultaneously, the federal government dramatically increased its intervention in labor,
related issues, re?uiring a maximum )>,hour work week for railroad workers with the passage of
the Adamson Act in '('@, and actively mediating labor disputes, especially through the 2ational
5ar Labor &oard, whose arbitrators often awarded the labor side an eight,hour workday. .tate
governments strengthened the maximum,hours laws for women at the same time that many
women were entering the labor market. here is little doubt that the increase in power that labor
unions en!oyed during this period forced some of these political changes.
'1 According to the passage, all of the following contributed to the shortening of the workday
ABCA9
legislation passed by the government on behalf of workers
restrictive laws protecting women3s labor activities
actions taken by the government to initiate the rapid expansion of the
economy
labor unions3 influence on politicians
rulings by the 2ational 5ar Labor
&oard in favor of the labor force
41 0t can most reasonably be inferred
from the passage that before '(')
workers earned relatively high wages and were content with their
salaries
unemployment reached an all,time low
recent immigrants worked slightly longer hours than did other workers
the supply of available workers satisfied the demand for labor
71 he primary purpose of the passage is to
delineate the history of the political empowerment of labor unions
establish the government3s role in providing the American worker with an eight,hour
workday
trace the effects of the availability of American labor on the length of the work week
provide data that explain the causes of a low unemployment rate
determine why workers prefer a shorter work week to higher wages