Advanced Critical Reasoning - 4
Passage 1
Inspired by earlier artists but developed as a genre in its own
right in the last few decades of the twentieth century, installation
art is now recognized by academic institutions. It has long been
seen as an example of ‘anti-establishment’ artwork, since it is
typically created in public spaces and involves the use of
‘everyday’ materials, unlike conventional artwork that, even
though usually meant for public consumption, is created in a
private space. Installation art in contemporary times also uses
emerging forms of artistic representation such as videos, social
networks and aspects of virtual reality. This form of art, like
traditional art, can be either realistic or abstract in its
representation of reality.
Straddling the boundaries between sculpture and painting,
installation art gives more priority to the intention of the artist
rather than the physical form or structure of the art: its purpose
is often to relay a specific message through the medium chosen
by the artist. Artists such as ‘Banksy’, known only by his
pseudonym and famous for his street art that is meant as a
caricature of political institutions, often use their art as a
medium of socio-political activism.
From the audience’s perspective, installation art also gives an
unprecedented amount of importance to the viewer’s subjective
perception of the artwork. The intention of the artist is therefore
supplemented by the way in which viewers perceive the
artwork. This vision of art overturns the traditional Platonic view
of image theory, which gives the form and intention of the
artwork far more predominance than external perspectives on
the work. There are no ‘ideal’ forms in the creation and
exhibition of installation art. This attribute is as it should be: art,
after all, requires both an artist and an audience in order to
flourish, and nowhere is this creator-viewer relationship more
prominent than in the study and appreciation of installation art,
which embraces the flawed and fragmented nature of reality.
1. Which of the following CANNOT be inferred from the
passage?
A. Installation art as a separate genre of art is not more than a
century old.
B. Most artists from the genre of installation art use their art
form as a medium of socio-political activism.
C. Installation art contains elements of both sculpture and
painting.
D. It is unlikely that in the past, installation art was studied in
school by students of art.
2. The author’s reference to Banksy serves primarily to
A. give an example of contemporary artists who often use
pseudonyms.
B. establish that contemporary art often criticizes political
organizations.
C. prove that caricatures can also be categorized as
legitimate art.
D. to exemplify the use of installation art to convey
messages.
3. According to the author, which of the following
is a feature of installation art but not of traditional
art?
A. sticks to ideal forms in the creation of art
B. not created in a private space
C. follows the Platonic model of image theory
D. can be either realistic or abstract
4. Which of the following is the primary purpose of
the passage?
A. To argue that a certain art genre, though different
from traditional art, should get the same status as
most other art forms
B. To analyse an art genre while differentiating it from
conventional art
C. To discuss the features of an art form that is by far
the most unconventional of all art genres
D. To trace the history of an art form that is a
departure from traditional art
Passage 2
A paper plane should be made by folding a single
sheet of A4 (812812 in × 11 in) paper and not involve
any cuts or the addition of anything such as sticky
tape, glue, or weights. The indoor flight record for
such a plane is over 60 m. The aerodynamics
involved are as complex as the principles behind any
plane, but the secret to one built from paper is the
ease of construction, folds that impart strength, the
correct location of the centre of balance, minimum
drag and maximum lift. The key to a successful
design is the nose and wing shape. The best designs
seem to involve a blunt nose made from multiple
folds. This makes the craft strongest at the point of
impact in the (hopefully) many crash landings. It also
sets the centre of gravity further back than on a
pointed nose design and so affords more stable flight.
The wing shape that affords the longest flights is
delta, which is cambered upwards to increase lift by
forcing the air as it passes over the wing through a
greater angle. A plane with such wings is capable of
flight in excess of 20 seconds when launched from a
height of 2 m in still air. Outside, where wind
conditions and thermal lifts may be harnessed, flights
may last considerably longer and go much further
than 60 m.
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5. The secret to the ultimate paper plane is best summed
up as:
A. a plane with delta-shaped wings
B. getting the balance and shape right
C. the design of the nose and wing
D. complex aerodynamic principles captured by simplicity of
design
6. Which of the following points is made in the passage?
A. The nose should be heavy so as to realize stable flight.
B. The centre of gravity should be towards the back to prevent
stalling.
C. Viewed from the front the wings should give the plane a ‘v’
shape.
D. Wings should be slightly convex so that they increase lift.
7. Which of the following statements, if true, would most
weaken the case made in the passage?
A. A paper plane should be made using cuts, glue and
weights.
B. A flight of over 30 seconds has been achieved by a plane
without delta wings made from a single sheet of paper only, in
an indoor test where the air was still.
C. A paper plane made using cuts, glue and sticky tape would
fly further than 60 m if launched indoors in still air.
D. A flight of over 60 m has been achieved by a plane made
only from a single sheet of paper but with a pointed nose.
Passage 3
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which gravity
prevents anything, including light, from escaping. The theory of
general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will
deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole
there is a mathematically defined surface called an event
horizon that marks the point of no return. The hole is called
"black" because it absorbs all the light that hits the horizon,
reflecting nothing, just like a perfect black body in
thermodynamics. Quantum field theory in curved spacetime
predicts that event horizons emit radiation like a black body with
a finite temperature. This temperature is inversely proportional
to the mass of the black hole, making it difficult to observe this
radiation for black holes of a stellar mass (the mass of our sun)
or greater.
Black holes of stellar mass are expected to form when very
massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. After a black
hole has formed it can continue to grow by absorbing mass from
its surroundings. By absorbing other stars and merging with
other black holes, supermassive black holes of millions of solar
masses may form. There is a general consensus that
supermassive black holes exist in the centres of most galaxies.
Despite its invisible interior, the presence of a black hole can
be inferred through its interaction with other matter and with
electromagnetic radiation such as light. Matter falling onto a
black hole can form an accretion disk heated by friction, forming
some of the brightest objects in the universe. If there are other
stars orbiting a large black hole, their orbit can be used to
determine its mass and location. These data can be used to
exclude possible alternatives (such as neutron stars).
In this way, astronomers have identified numerous
stellar black hole candidates in binary systems, and
established that the core of our Milky Way galaxy
contains a supermassive black hole of about 4.3
million solar masses.
8. Which of the following can be inferred from
the passage about larger black holes?
A. They are more likely to be found in the centre of
galaxies than elsewhere in the universe
B. They are typically formed when neutron stars
collapse
C. They emit radiation at a higher temperature than
do smaller black holes
D. They affect the orbit of nearby stars
9. According to the passage, all of the following
would be helpful in discovering new
supermassive black holes in the universe except
A. Observing interactions with matter
B. Observing interactions with electromagnetic
radiation
C. Observing levels of emitted radiation
D. Analysing the orbits of stars
10. The primary purpose of the passage above is to
A. Analyse a surprising scientific discovery
B. Argue that black holes are important to the
scientific community
C. Explain how supermassive black holes are
formed
D. Describe a scientific phenomenon
11. The passage suggests that neutron stars
A. are more common than black holes
B. are found throughout the Milky Way galaxies
C. can be confused for black holes
D. are not as bright as the accretion disk in a black
hole
Passage 4
There are plenty of careers that do not need a
university degree. In law enforcement, administration,
catering, retail, construction and transport, there are
many highly paid careers to be had without the
requirement of going to university. Take airline pilots,
for example. No degree is necessary for this job and
most are on salaries of over $100K. Anyone can
achieve qualifications equally valued by employers
through night school or college for a fraction of the
cost of a degree. Many employers are complaining
that they cannot find enough candidates of sufficient
quality when they run graduate recruitment
campaigns. So many graduates these days are
simply not leaving university with the basic skills
needed by employers. Poor spelling and grammar
and weak mathematical ability means many graduate
candidates cannot be left unsupervised without the
risk of basic mistakes being made or e-mails or
memos being sent out with crass errors.
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Employers complain that graduates lack experience of the
world of work. Above all else, employers are looking for
committed and conscientious staff with common sense and the
hunger to succeed, and unfortunately universities do not teach
these either. So why go to university?
12. Which of the following statements best sums up the
general theme made in the passage?
A. You do not need a degree in order to get a good job.
B. A degree is no longer the route to a good job.
C. What is taught at university is not particularly relevant to
employers.
D. There are many ways to get a top job without a degree.
13. Which of the following statements, if true, would most
weaken the case made in the passage?
A. Twenty percent of employers are dissatisfied with the
communication skills of graduates.
B. Apart from the few more intellectually demanding jobs, a
degree has little significance to your chances of getting a job.
C. Eighty percent of jobs by 2010 will need a degree.
D. One-third of employers complain that they cannot fill all
their graduate positions.
14. Which of the following would be the most suitable
sentence to follow on from the passage?
A. I am not sure of the significance of a degree to the world of
work.
B. Many young people drift into university because they do not
know what else to do.
C. The number of graduates is increasing at a faster rate than
the number of graduate jobs.
D. It might well turn out to be the best three or four years of
your life but it will probably not be the sure-fire route to a great
job that it used to be.
Passage 5
Globally, about a third of the food produced for human
consumption goes to waste, implying that a third of the water,
land use, energy and financial resources that go into producing
it are also squandered. Yet people often think of food as
environmentally benign because it is biodegradable, while label
food packaging as a wasteful use of resources leading to
nothing but more pollution, despite the reality that the energy
that goes into packaging makes up a mere 10% of the total
energy that goes into producing, transporting, storing and
preparing food. Needless to say, their view ignores the negative
impact of food production, supply, and consumption, and the
benefits possible from the right kind of food packaging.
Indeed the dislike for food packaging is not all baseless. There
is a lot of bad and wasteful packaging out there. But any
assessment of its impact on the environment must take into
account the benefits one can derive from packaging in the
shape of reduced food waste that can be realized by protecting
and dispensing food properly. For instance, two percent of the
milk produced in the US goes bad on supermarket shelves
before it can be purchased. This dairy waste can be avoided
with packaging technology such as Tetra Pak that saves milk
from spoiling, even without refrigeration.
However, environmentally aware consumers tend to
dislike Tetra Pak material because they think it cannot
be recycled. The truth, however, is that it can be
recycled, but the process is rather complicated.
Irrespective of the recycling aspect, Tetra Pak is a
good environmental bet because it can extend the
shelf life of milk up to nine months, reducing the need
for refrigeration — and reducing the amount of milk
that goes bad on retail shelves. Clearly, the
environmental benefit of the food-protection
technology outweighs the negative impact of the
packaging itself.
15. The author is primarily concerned with
A. presenting a more complete picture of a situation
and suggesting a radical solution to the problem
B. citing an example of a belief that is not entirely
baseless
C. summarizing the negative impacts of an industry,
effects of which people are not fully aware
D. arguing against a popular belief
16. Which of the following statement can be
derived from the passage?
A. The popularity of Tetra Pak in the packaging
industry would increase manifold if the
environmentally aware customers change their
opinion about it.
B. In some cases, the recyclability of a material is not
the overriding factor in determining its impact on the
environment.
C. It is likely that developed countries, which use a lot
more food packaging material than developing
countries, have lower rates of food wastage than
developing countries.
D. No biodegradable substance can be labelled as
completely benign for the environment.
17. Which of the following is the function of the
first paragraph in the passage?
A. To introduce a view that is responsible for a
significant proportion of wastage in an industry
B. To raise a few considerations against a popular
belief
C. To contrast two views on a highly debated topic
D. To state a situation that has severe damaging
effects on the environment