CHAPTER

DETAIL
REASONABLE
INFERENCE

14
 TYPES OF QUESTIONS

SUGGEST OR IMPLY

According to the text, what is true about ____________?

According to the text, the author suggests that _______?

According to the text, what can be most reasonably inferred?

“UNDERLYING ASSUMPTION”

According to the text, what is an important assumption about ________?

YES
According to the text, what is an unstated assumption made by the author?

According to the text, the “abc” is true EXCEPT

EXAMPLE 1

The following text is adapted from Edith Nesbit’s

1906 novel The Railway Children.
YES NO NG
Mother did not spend all her time in paying dull

King
[visits] to dull ladies, and sitting dully at home waiting
for dull ladies to pay [visits] to her. She was almost SYO ,
always there, ready to play with the children, and read
to them, and help them to do their home-lessons.
Besides this she used to write stories for them while SVO
they were at school, and read them aloud after tea,
and she always made up funny pieces of poetry for
S, Ye
=
their birthdays and for other great occasions.

According to the text, what is true about Mother? I 0

B
A) She wishes that more ladies would visit her. no
B) Birthdays are her favorite special occasion.
Sa V
C) She creates stories and poems for her
children.
D) Reading to her children is her favorite activity. NG :
irrelevantidea
· extreme word
.

Call only adj , adv

, ,
EXAMPLE 2

To drivers, the color red means stop, but on the map

it tells traffic engineers to leap into action. Traffic
control centers like this one— a room cluttered with
computer terminals and live video feeds of urban
intersections — represent the brain of a traffic system.
The city’s network of sensors, cables and signals are

S
the nerves connected to the rest of the body. “Most
people don't think there are eyes and ears keeping

Ling
track of all this stuff,” says John DeBenedictis, the
center's engineering director. But in reality, engineers SYO I

suo
literally watch our every move, making subtle changes
that relieve and redirect traffic.

According to the text, what is true about the

improvements in traffic flow?

A) They are more difficult to achieve at certain

hours of the day.
B) They occur near traffic control centers.
C) They can be attributed to pre-set systems.
D) They are the result of intervention by traffic
engineers.
EXAMPLE 3

This is the question which must be answered in 1976:

Are we to be one people bound together by common
spirit, sharing in a common endeavor; or will we
become a divided nation? For all of its uncertainty,
we cannot flee the future. We must address and
master the future together. It can be done if we
restore the belief that we share a sense of national
community, that we share a common national
endeavor.

According to the text, what is true about “common

endeavor?”
A) It represents an impossible ideal. NO
B) It has the potential to be destroyed by
uncertainty.
C) It cannot be realized through legislation.
D) It represents a merger of individual and
corporate interests .
EXAMPLE 4

The cruel truth is that the produce department is less

garden and kitchen than stage set. Lighting is chosen
to make fruits and veggies appear at their brightest
and best; and – according to Martin Lindstrom,
author of Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to
Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy –
the periodic sprays of fresh water that douse the
produce bins are all for show. Though used to give
fresh foods a deceptive dewy and fresh-picked look,
the water actually has no practical purpose. In fact, it
makes vegetables spoil faster than they otherwise
would.

An unstated assumption made by the author about

vegetables is that their
A) appearance is not a reliable indicator of their
freshness.
B) nutritive qualities are frequently overstated.
C) fragrance is off-putting to some customers.
D) location within a supermarket depends on
their popularity.
 1.

It is likely that some researchers are consciously

cherry-picking data to get their work published. And
some of the problems surely lie with journal
publication policies. But the problems of false
findings often begin with researchers unwittingly
fooling themselves: they fall prey to cognitive biases,
common modes of thinking that lure us toward wrong
but convenient or attractive conclusions. Psychologist
Brian Nosek says that the most common and
problematic bias in science is “motivated reasoning”:
We interpret observations to fit a particular idea.

According to the text, what can be inferred why

researchers are primarily likely to exaggerate their
findings?
A) Because they are driven by intense
competition for funding.
B) Because they do not take the time to check
their data.
C) Because they want to gain approval from their
superior.
D) Because they unconsciously persuade
themselves that their results are accurate.
 2.

It is likely that some researchers are consciously

cherry-picking data to get their work published. And
some of the problems surely lie with journal
publication policies. But the problems of false
findings often begin with researchers unwittingly
fooling themselves: they fall prey to cognitive biases,
common modes of thinking that lure us toward wrong
but convenient or attractive conclusions. Psychologist
Brian Nosek says that the most common and
problematic bias in science is “motivated reasoning”:
We interpret observations to fit a particular idea.

According to the text, what is an unstated

assumption?
A) Most data falsification occurs unintentionally.
B) Scientific findings today are less trustworthy
than those made in the past.
C) Science is a fundamentally irrational pursuit.
D) In comparison to other people, scientists are
more likely to have cognitive biases.
 3.

No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her

infancy would have supposed her born to be an
heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her
father and mother, her own person and disposition,
were all equally against her. Her mother was a woman
of useful plain sense, with a good temper, and, what is
more remarkable, with a good situation. A family of
ten children will be always called a fine family, where
there are heads and arms and legs enough for the
number; but the Morlands and Catherine, for many
years of her life, as plain as any. Also, she never could
learn or understand anything before she was taught;
and sometimes not even then, for she was often
inattentive, and occasionally stupid.

An unstated assumption in the narrator’s description

of Catherine is that a heroine is typically
A) bold and daring.
B) brilliant and beautiful.
C) ugly and unintelligent.
D) independent and carefree.
 4.

Her mother wished her to learn music; and Catherine

was sure she should like it, for she was very fond of
tinkling the keys of the old forlorn spinner; so at eight
years old she began. She leaned a year, and could not
bear it; and Mrs. Morland, who did not insist on her
daughters being accomplished in spite of incapacity
or distaste, allowed her leave off.

According to the text, the narrator suggests that

Catherine’s mother responded to her daughter’s
imperfection with
A) frequent irritation.
B) general indifference.
C) easy indulgence
D) utter perplexity.
 5.

She was fond of all boy’s play, and greatly preferred

cricket not merely to dolls, but to more heroic
enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a
canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush. Indeed she had
no taste for a garden; and if she gathered flowers at
all, it was chiefly for the pleasure of mischief – at least
so it was conjectured from her always preferring those
which she was forbidden to take.

The narrator implies that “she” was strongly

motivated to do things that
A) were unusually difficult.
B) were taught by her parents.
C) were not permitted.
D) her siblings could not do.
 6.

She was fond of all boy’s play, and greatly preferred

cricket not merely to dolls, but to more heroic
enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a
canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush. Indeed she had
no taste for a garden; and if she gathered flowers at
all, it was chiefly for the pleasure of mischief – at least
so it was conjectured from her always preferring those
which she was forbidden to take.

The narrator’s references to the underlined portion

most strongly suggest that a girl
A) could behave in a cruel manner
B) preferred to play alone than with other
children.
C) rejected a range of conventionally feminine
activities.
D) recognized her exceptional behavior.
 7.

At the same time, the threat of looming idiocy is not

the most pressing reason for a future traffic
management rethink. Recent city planning, for
example, has evolved along the same lines around the
world. Clear-cut boundaries between driving, work,
life, and shopping are emphasized by a thicket of
signs. The result: ultimate, well-ordered bleakness. At
night, you might find yourself in an empty, soulless
pedestrian zone. A lot of the time, urbanization
simply translates as uniformity.

According to the text, what is true about the most

pressing reason for overhauling the way traffic is
manage?
A) It is because the removal of traffic signal
results in more varied and vibrant urban
spaces.
B) It is because drivers are unlikely to take
responsibility for their actions when they are
left alone.
C) It is because overreliance on traffic signals
makes drivers weak and passive.
D) It is because accidents are more likely to
occur when traffic signals are present.
 8.

Imagine a world where you share the available space

with others: without signs, sidewalks, or bicycle lanes.
A vision otherwise known as hared space – and one
that becomes more and more relevant with the
crowding of our cities. While this might sound like
urban science fiction or, possibly, impending chaos
mixed with survival of the fittest, this particular
concept is the declared dream of many traffic
planners.

According to the text, it is reasonable to infer that

those in charge of planning traffic
A) Are horrified by other planner’s proposal.
B) Believe that drivers’ behavior does not vary
across cultures.
C) Believe that abolishing traffic signals would
create chaos.
D) Are frequently opposed to the use of traffic
signals.
 9.

This text is written in 1865. At that time, an eight-hour labor

movement was fashionable in America, which was considered as
one of the most developed country.

It has been charged time and again that were we to

have more hours of leisure we would merely devote it
to the cultivation of vicious habits. It means greater
prosperity it means a greater degree of progress for
the whole people. if a reduction in the hours of labor
causes industrial and commercial ruination, it would
naturally follow increased hours of labor would
increase the prosperity, commercial and industrial. If
that were true, England and American ought to be at
the tail end, and China at the head of civilization.

According to the text, the author implies that in

comparison to workers in the United States, workers
in China
A) enjoy greater prosperity.
B) are more industrious.
C) spend more hours at work.
D) are less fairly compensated.
 10.

Suppose men who work ten hours a day had the time
lessened to nine, or men who work nine hours a day
have it reduced to eight; what does it mean? It means
millions of golden hours and opportunities for
thought. Some men might say you will go to sleep.
Well, the ordinary man might try to sleep sixteen
hours a day, but he would soon find he could not do
it long. He would probably become interested in
some study and the hours that have been taken from
manual labor of one hour produce for him more
wealth than physical labor of a dozen hours.

According to the text, the author suggests that one of

the main consequences of long working hours in the
United States is that
A) civic participant is reduced.
B) important discoveries go unmade.
C) workers are too exhausted to perform their
jobs.
D) the quality of work declines.
 11.

In recent years, the city of Detroit has emerged as a

hotbed for hackerspaces and other DIY (Do It
Yourself) experiments. Several hackerspaces can
already be found throughout the city and several
more are currently in formation. Of course, Detroit’s
attractiveness for such projects can be partially
attributed to cheap real estate, which allows aspiring
hackers to acquire ample space for experimentation.
Some observers have also described this kind of
making and tinkering as embedded in the DNA of
Detroit’s residents, who are able to harness
substantial intergenerational knowledge and attract
like-minded individuals.

According to the text, what is the one potential

challenge for new hackerspace?
A) Zoning restrictions.
B) Lack of publicity.
C) Local protests.
D) Property costs.
 12.

One theory holds that the rocks are blown along by

powerful winds. Another posits that the wind pushes
thin sheets of ice, created when the desert’s
temperatures dip low enough to freeze water from a
rare rainstorm, and the rocks go along for the ride.
But neither theory is rock solid. Winds at the playa
aren’t strong enough – some scientists believe that
they’d have to be 100 miles per hour or more – to
blow the rocks across the valley. And rocks subjects
to the “ice sailing theory” wouldn’t create trails as they
moved.

According to the text, what is the reason that scientists

rejected the theory of rocks were carried on sheets of
ice pushed by the wind?
A) Because the winds were too weak to move the
rocks.
B) Because the rocks left a trace of their
movement.
C) Because the rock is too dense to be moved by
wind.
D) Because the rocks had too much friction with
the ground.
 13.

New research from the University of Adelaide has

added to the debate about whether dinosaurs were
cold-blooded and sluggish or warm-blooded and
active. They have applied the latest theories of human
and animal anatomy and physiology to provide insight
into the lives of dinosaurs. Comparisons were made
with the sizes of the holes in living mammals and
reptiles, and their metabolic rates. Measuring
mammals ranging from mice to elephants, and
reptiles from lizards to crocodiles, Sarah Smith
combed the collections of Australian museums,
photographing and measuring hundreds of tiny holes
in thigh bones.

According to the text, what is an unstated assumption

made by the author?

A) Warm or cold bloodedness cannot be

determined by an animal’s activity level.
B) Some prehistoric creatures were
physiologically similar to modern ones.
C) Foramen size can be an unreliable indicator
of activity level.
D) Mammal bones are significantly larger than
reptile bones.