Task №70

Investigations into the origins of species suggest that humans and the great apes have the same ancestors. This is suggested by the high degree of genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees (estimated at 99%). At the same time, there is an 84% homology between the human genome and that of pigs. This raises the good question of whether it would be possible to use pig or chimpanzee organs for the treatment of human disease.

Which conclusion can be reasonably drawn from the above article?

1. Pigs and chimpanzees have a common ancestor.
2. Pigs and humans have a common ancestor.
3. There seems to be great genetic homology across a variety of species.
4. Organs from pigs or chimpanzees present a good alternative for human organ donation.

Answer: 3. Both 1st and 2nd choices weren’t mentioned in the passage. The latter answer is made in the last sentence of the text, but this sentence was constructed as an additional rhetoric question, not as an important part.

Task №76

Each year, thousands of people acquire infections during prolonged stays at hospital. Concurrently, bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics at an ever-increasing rate. In spite of this, progressively fewer pharmaceutical companies are investing in research into new antibiotics, and the number of antibiotics coming onto the market is decreasing. As a result, the number of antibiotics that can be used to treat infections is falling. If pharmaceutical companies were pressured into investing in new antibiotic research, many lives could be saved.

Which of the following best illustrates a flaw in this argument?

1. It assumes the infections acquired during stays at the hospital are resulting in deaths.
2. It ignores the fact that many people never have to stay in hospital.
3. It does not take into account the fact that antibiotics do not produce much profit for pharmaceutical companies.
4. It ignores the fact that some hospital-acquired infections are caused by organisms that cannot be treated by antibiotics, such as viruses.
5. It assumes that bacterial resistance to antibiotics has not been happening for some time.

Answer: A. Except for 1st, all choices are out of topic. However, I can’t prove the correctness of the 1st.

Task №85