"QUESTION ON DEMAND"

26. How many ounces of water must be added to
a 30-ounce solution that is 40 percent
alcohol to dilute the solution to 25 percent
alcohol?
(A) 9
(B) 10
(C) 15
(D) 16
(E) 18

contributed by DEEPTI CHABBRA

"QUESTION ON DEMAND"

1. A certain brand of computer can be bought with or without a hard drive. The computer with the hard
drive costs 2,900 dollars. The computer without the hard drive costs 1,950 dollars more than the hard
drive alone. What is the cost of the hard drive?
(A) 400
(B) 450
(C) 475
(D) 500
(E) 525

contributed by SPOORTI

"WORD OF THE DAY"

CHIMERA

'READING PASSAGE OF THE WEEK"

From Romania to Germany, from Tallinn to

Belgrade, a major historical process—the death of

communism—is taking place. The German

Democratic Republic no longer exists as a separate

5 state. And the former German Democratic Republic

will serve as the first measure of the price a post-

Communist society has to pay for entering the normal

European orbit. In Yugoslavia we will see whether

the federation can survive without communism.

10 One thing seems common to all these countries:

dictatorship has been defeated and freedom has won,

yet the victory of freedom has not yet meant the

triumph of democracy. Democracy is something

more than freedom. Democracy is freedom

15 institutionalized, freedom submitted to the limits of

the law, freedom functioning as an object of

compromise between the major political forces on the

scene.

We have freedom, but we still have not achieved

20 the democratic order. That is why this freedom is so

fragile. In the years of democratic opposition to

communism, we supposed that the easiest thing

would be to introduce changes in the economy. In

fact, we thought that the march from a planned economy

25 to a market economy would take place within

the framework of the bureaucratic system, and that

the market within the Communist state would

explode the totalitarian structures. Only then would

the time come to build the institutions of a civil society

30 ; and only at the end, with the completion of the

market economy and the civil society, would the time

of great political transformations finally arrive.

The opposite happened. First came the big political

change, the great shock, which either broke the

35 monopoly and the principle of Communist Party rule

or simply pushed the Communists out of power.

then came the creation of civil society, whose institutions

were created in great pain, and which had

trouble negotiating the empty space of freedom.

40 Only then, as the third moment of change, the final

task was undertaken: that of transforming the totalitarian

economy into a normal economy where different

forms of ownership and different economic actors

will live one next to the other.

45 Today we are in a typical moment of transition.

No one can say where we are headed. The people of

the democratic opposition have the feeling that we

won. We taste the sweetness of our victory the same

way the Communists, only yesterday our prison

50 guards, taste the bitterness of their defeat. Yet, even

as we are conscious of our victory, we feel that we

are, in a strange way, losing. In Bulgaria the

Communists have won the parliamentary elections

and will govern the country, without losing their

55 social legitimacy. In Romania the National Salvation

Front, largely dominated by people from the old

Communist bureaucracy, has won. In other countries

democratic institutions seem shaky, and the political

horizon is cloudy. The masquerade goes on: dozens

60 of groups and parties are created, each announces

similar slogans, each accuses its adversaries of all

possible sins, and each declares itself representative

of the national interest. Personal disputes are more

important than disputes over values. Arguments over

65 values are fiercer than arguments over ideas.

1. The author originally thought that the order of
events in the transformation of communist
society would be represented by which one of the
following?
(A) A great political shock would break the
totalitarian monopoly, leaving in its wake
a civil society whose task would be to
change the state-controlled market into a
free economy.
(B) The transformation of the economy would
destroy totalitarianism, after which a new
and different social and political structure
would be born.
(C) First the people would freely elect
political representatives who would
transform the economy, which would then
undermine the totalitarian structure.
(D) The change to a democratic state would
necessarily undermine totalitarianism,
after which a new economic order would
be created.
(E) The people’s frustration would build until
it spontaneously generated violent revolution,
which would sentence society to
years of anarchy and regression.

2. Beginning in the second paragraph, the author
describes the complicated relationship between
“freedom” and “democracy.” In the author’s
view, which one of the following statements best
reflects that relationship?
(A) A country can have freedom without
having democracy.
(B) If a country has freedom, it necessarily
has democracy.
(C) A country can have democracy without
having freedom.
(D) A country can never have democracy if it
has freedom.
(E) If a country has democracy, it cannot have
freedom.

3. From the passage, a reader could conclude that
which one of the following best describes the
author’s attitude toward the events that have
taken place in communist society?
(A) Relieved that at last the democratic order
has surfaced.
(B) Clearly wants to return to the old order.
(C) Disappointed with the nature of the
democracy that has emerged.
(D) Confident that a free economy will ultimately
provide the basis for a true
democracy.
(E) Surprised that communism was toppled
through political rather than economic
means.

4. A cynic who has observed political systems in
various countries would likely interpret the
author’s description of the situation at the end of
the passage as
(A) evidence that society is still in the throws
of the old totalitarian structure.
(B) a distorted description of the new political
system.
(C) a necessary political reality that is a prelude
to “democracy.”
(D) a fair description of many democratic
political systems.
(E) evidence of the baseness of people.

5. Which one of the following does the author
imply may have contributed to the difficulties
involved in creating a new democratic order in
eastern Europe?
I. The people who existed under the totalitarian
structure have not had the experience
of “negotiating the empty space of
freedom.”
II. Mistaking the order in which political,
economic, and social restructuring would
occur.
III. Excessive self-interest among the new
political activists.
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and III only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III

6. By stating “even as we are conscious of our
victory, we feel that we are, in a strange way,
losing” (lines 50–52) the author means that
(A) some of the old governments are still
unwilling to grant freedom at the individual
level.
(B) some of the new governments are not
strong enough to exist as a single
federation.
(C) some of the new democratic governments
are electing to retain the old political
parties.
(D) no new parties have been created to fill the
vacuum created by the victory of freedom.
(E) some of the new governments are reverting
to communism.

"SENTENCE COMPLETION OF THE DAY"

The aspiring candidate’s performance in the
debate all but any hope he may
have had of winning the election.
(A) nullifies
(B) encourages
(C) guarantees
(D) accentuates
(E) contains

"ANALOGY OF THE DAY"

SOLICITUDE : TACTFUL ::
(A) breadth : deficient
(B) sequestration : ungainly
(C) enterprise : militant
(D) caricature : extravagant
(E) enigma : mysterious

"ANTONYM OF THE DAY"

FALLOW:
(A) fatuous
(B) productive
(C) bountiful
(D) pertinacious
(E) opprobrious

"MATH PROBLEM OF THE DAY"

A dress was initially listed at a price that would have given the store a profit of 20 percent of the
wholesale cost. After reducing the asking price by 10 percent, the dress sold for a net profit of 10
dollars. What was the wholesale cost of the dress?
(A) 200
(B) 125
(C) 100
(D) 20
(E) 10

"ALGEBRA QUESTION OF THE DAY"

If n is an integer, which of the following CANNOT be an even integer?
(A) 2n + 2
(B) n – 5
(C) 2n
(D) 2n + 3
(E) 5n + 2