Questions 1 and 2 are based on this passage.?

In the late 1970s, bird populations were found to be declining in India’s Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in?Rajasthan. Grazing cattle and buffalo were the suspected culprits: they were entering the preserve insufficient numbers to disrupt what was believed to be an otherwise balanced ecosystem. Accordingly, grazing was banned in Bharatpur. Yet by the mid-1980s, studies found that bird diversity within the preserve had declined further since the ban, and it continued to plummet. The absence of grazing animals, it turns out, had disturbed the park’s ecology. Weed species were taking over wetlands and choking canals, thereby reducing the fish populations that had once attracted so many birds, and avian species then went elsewhere in search of more suitable nesting places.

1. The passage suggests which of the following about the “fish populations”?

A. They were more diverse in the late 1970s than observers recognized at the time.

B. They were more adversely affected by the growth of vegetation after the ban on grazing than by avian?predation.

C. They required a habitat that could not be sustained without measures to limit animal grazing.

D. They proliferated following changes to Bharatpur’s ecosystem introduced by the ban on grazing.

E. They migrated to habitats that were inhospitable to grazing cattle and buffalo.

2. Which of the following statements, if true, would best explain the changes in "Weed species"?

A. The species were not native to Bharatpur but spread rapidly once they were introduced.

B. The species had been kept in check by the large avian populations that once nested in Bharatpur.

C. The species were among the preferred forage plants grazed on by cattle and buffalo.

D. The species were necessary for maintaining suitable habitats for fish populations in Bharatpur's?wetlands.

E. The species were unable to tolerate changing: water conditions in the canals of Bharatpur.

Questions 3 to 5 are based on this passage

Vienna's Ringstrasse district, erected between 1860 and 1890 amidst the sedate structures of the old?imperial capital, was conceived during an era of marked political federalism, in part as a monument to the working classes. In this carefully plotted redevelopment, planners concentrated a complex of boldly designed buildings?museums, theaters, government buildings?and expensive apartments for the newly affluent middle classes. Conspicuously missing from this model city-within-a-city, however, was any place designed specifically?for use by the industrial workers to whom it was nominally dedicated.

Not surprisingly, then, the Ringstrasse was from its beginning a subject of controversy. Historian Heinrich?Friedjung viewed the redevelopment as proof that power had finally passed from aristocracy to the bourgeoisie. His contemporary, architect Adolph Loos, saw the Ringstrasse not as a symbol of a fuller life for the ascendant middle classes, but as a false front, screening the hypocrisy of a society whose dedication to its working classes was only superficial.

3. According to the passage, which of the following inconsistencies formed the basis of Adolph?Loos's objections to the Ringstrasse district?

A. Though nominally intended for use by the working classes, the Ringstrasse was in fact available only?to the old imperial aristocracy.?

B. Though the Ringstrasse was nominally dedicated to the working classes, their interests were not?reflected in its design.

C. Though superficially attractive, the Ringstrasse had a distinct element of tawdriness.

D. Though constructed in the midst of the old imperial capital, the Ringstrasse served as an unfortunate?symbol of the ascendancy of the bourgeoisie.

E. Though well intentioned in its political aims, the Ringstrasse redevelopment was too small to effect?any real change in Viennese society.

4. Which of the following statements about the redevelopment of the Ringstrasse district can be?inferred from the passage?

A. It provoked controversy between architectural traditionalists and architectural innovators.

B. It provoked controversy between political liberals and political aristocracy.

C. Its artificiality alienated both the working classes and the aristocracy.

D. It did not include residences that were affordable for industrial workers of the time.

E. It did not represent a marked stylistic departure from the city's older buildings.

5. The author of the passage most probably cites Heinrich Friedjung in order to

A. present the view of the Ringstrasse held by the Viennese working classes

B. provide support for the interpretation of the Ringstrasse that prevails today

C. help illustrate the divergence of nineteenth-century opinions about the Ringstrasse

D. argue for the idea that architecture can be discussed in symbolic terms

E. demonstrate the fact that historians engage in debate as often as do architects

Question 6 is based on this passage

Partha’s five-year-old embargo on the importation of fruit from Vallone was intended to keep a fungus?from being accidentally brought into Partha. The fungus was nevertheless discovered to be present in Partha about a year ago. At about that time, it was also discovered in neighboring Morland. Clearly, what must have happened is that Vallonean fruit exporters circumvented the embargo by exporting fruit to Morland and then reexporting it from there to Partha.?

6. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. Morland’s annual crop fruit is just large enough to support its own domestic marker adequately.

B. The fungus colonies discovered in Partha and in Morland with a distinct strain that has never been?found to occur in Vallone.

C. The yields from Vallonean fruit crops have been well below normal in the last two years because of?unexpected late frosts.

D. The fungus had been only a minor nuisance in Vallone until Vallone’s Great Valley was converted,?about ten years ago, into a major fruit-growing area.

E. Partha’s embargo on Vallonean fruit was put in place after Parthan fruit growers had suffered losses?because of accidentally imported insect pests.

Questions 7 to 9 are based on this passage

The Isua rock formations in southwestern Greenland, which formed 3.8 to 3.7 billion years ago, include a?variety of sedimentary rocks, which are records of?erosion and deposition by surface water. Their testimony to abundant water at Earth's surface 3.8 billion years ago would seem to be at odds with models of stellar evolution, which predict that our Sun,?a yellow dwarf?star, would have been about 30% less luminous than it is today. With so much less incoming solar energy, any water on Earth should have been frozen. This is the?faintyoung Sun?paradox first recognized by astrophysicist Carl Sagan in 1972. Although there have been many creative proposals about how to?reconcile?this apparent contradiction between astrophysical theory and the rock record, the prevailing view?is that an atmosphere dominated by greenhouse gases could have compensated for the dimmer Sun and made the early Earth's climate clement enough to keep ancient rivers rolling down to an open sea. Based on the atmospheres of neighboring Venus and Mars--the lingering breath of volcanoes--carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor are likely to have been the primary heat-trapping gases, although methane, ethane, nitrogen, ammonia, and other compounds may also have acted as additional blankets that kept the Archean world warm.

7. The passage is primarily concerned with

A. chronicling a long-standing debate within the scientific community

B. discussing new evidence that challenges a widely accepted scientific theory

C. presenting a possible explanation for an apparent scientific inconsistency

D. evaluating two popular arguments aimed at settling an important scientific dispute

E. illustrating how a recent observation has sparked a new scientific debate

8. The reference to “erosion and deposition by surface water” serves to?

A. underscore the extent of time required for the Isua rock formations to take shape

B. justify a contested date for the formation of certain geological features in Greenland

C. explain the process by which sedimentary and other classes of rocks are formed

D. emphasize that the formation of the Isua rocks was influenced more by subtractive processes than by?additive ones

E. describe an empirical finding that supports a claim about surface temperatures on Earth 3.8 billion?years ago

9. The author's assertion in the final sentence about "carbon dioxide" (CO2) and water vapor" relies?on which of the following assumptions?

A. The rates at which?CO2?and water vapor were released into the atmosphere 3.8 billion years ago were?comparable.

B. Methane and other compounds trap as much heat as?CO2?and water vapor.

C. Volcanic activity is the exclusive source of?CO2?and water vapor in planetary atmospheres.

D. The composition of Earth's atmosphere 3.8 to 3.7 billion years ago was similar to that of its?neighboring planets.

E. There are significant continuities between the Earth's present atmosphere and its atmosphere 3.8 to?3.7 million years ago.