Читать книгу GRE 2022 For Dummies with Online Practice - Ron Woldoff - Страница 77

The GRE usually includes a social sciences passage about history, psychology, business, or a variety of other topics. If the social sciences passage offers a perspective on a subject that you may already be familiar with, you can use your understanding of the subject as a backdrop to make the passage easier to read and understand.

Within each section, you can work the passages in any order. If you find that you prefer a social sciences passage over a biological or physical science passage, you can skip the other passages and work the passage you prefer first.

Here’s a social sciences passage for you to practice on. Though you need to read the passage more carefully, the underlying strategy is the same: Look for the gist of the passage, usually in the first paragraph, and identify the purpose of each paragraph thereafter. You’ll still need to revisit these paragraphs to find details, so knowing where the details are located is easier and more useful than memorizing them.

 Multinational corporations frequently encounter impediments in their attempts to explain to politicians, human rights groups, and (perhaps most importantly) their consumer base why they do business working conditions in other countries and to, in effect, develop a code of business with, and even seek closer business ties to, countries whose human rights records are considered heinous by United States standards. The CEOs propound that in the business trenches, the issue of human rights must effectively be detached from the wider spectrum of free trade. Discussion of the uneasy alliance between trade and human rights has trickled down from the boardrooms of large multinational corporations to the consumer on the street who, given the wide variety of products available to him, is eager to show support for human rights by boycotting the products of a company he feels does not do enough to help its overseas workers. International human rights organizations also are pressuring the multinationals to push for more humane conduct that must be adhered to if the American company is to continue working with the overseas partner.

 The president, in drawing up a plan for what he calls the “economic architecture of our times,” wants economists, business leaders, and human rights groups to work together to develop a set of principles that the foreign partners of United States corporations will voluntarily embrace. Human rights activists, incensed at the nebulous plans for implementing such rules, charge that their agenda is being given low priority by the State Department. The president vociferously denies their charges, arguing that each situation is approached on its merits without prejudice, and hopes that all the groups can work together to develop principles based on empirical research rather than political fiat, emphasizing that the businesses with experience in the field must initiate the process of developing such guidelines. Business leaders, while paying lip service to the concept of these principles, fight stealthily against their formal endorsement because they fear such “voluntary” concepts may someday be given the force of law. Few business leaders have forgotten the Sullivan Principles, in which a set of voluntary rules regarding business conduct with South Africa (giving benefits to workers and banning apartheid in the companies that worked with U.S. partners) became legislation.

7. Which of the following best states the central idea of the passage?

Politicians are quixotic in their assessment of the priorities of the State Department.

Multinational corporations have little if any influence on the domestic policies of their overseas partners.

Voluntary principles that are turned into law are unconstitutional.

Disagreement exists between the desires of human rights activists to improve the working conditions of overseas workers and the pragmatic approach taken by the corporations.

It is inappropriate to expect foreign corporations to adhere to American standards.

In Choice (A), the word quixotic means idealistic or impractical. The word comes from the fictional character Don Quixote, who tilted at windmills. (Tilting refers to a knight on horseback tilting his joust toward a target for the purpose of attack.) Although the president in this passage may not be realistic in his assessment of State Department policies, his belief isn’t the main idea of the passage.

Choice (E) is a value judgment. An answer that passes judgment, saying something is right or wrong, better or worse, or more or less appropriate (as in this case), is almost never the correct answer.

The main idea of any passage is usually stated in the first sentence or two. The first sentence of this passage touches on the difficulties that corporations have in explaining their business ties with certain countries to politicians, human rights groups, and consumers. From this statement, you may infer that those groups disagree with the policies of the corporations. Correct answer: Choice (D).

Just because a statement is true doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the correct answer to the question, especially a main idea question. All the answer choices are typically true statements, though only one is the main idea.

8. According to the passage, the president wants the voluntary principles to be initiated by businesses rather than by politicians or human rights activists because

Businesses have empirical experience in the field and thus know what the conditions are and how they may/should be remedied.

Businesses make profits from the labor of the workers and thus have a moral obligation to improve their employees’ working conditions.

Workers will not accept principles drawn up by politicians whom they distrust but may agree to principles created by the corporations that pay them.

Foreign nations are distrustful of U.S. political intervention and are more likely to accept suggestions from multinational corporations.

Political activist groups have concerns that are too dramatically different from those of the corporations for the groups to be able to work together.

When a question begins with the words according to the passage, you need to go back to the passage and find the answer. Empirical is the key word here, buried in the middle of the second paragraph.

Find the word and read the sentence, and you’ve found the answer: “The president vociferously denies their charges, arguing that each situation is approached on its merits without prejudice, and hopes that all the groups can work together to develop principles based on empirical research rather than political fiat, emphasizing that the businesses with experience in the field must initiate the process of developing such guidelines.” You don’t even need to know what empirical (derived from observation or experiment) means. The reasoning of Choices (B), (C), (D), and (E) isn’t stated in the passage. Correct answer: Choice (A).

9. Select the sentence from the second paragraph that describes the human rights activists’ response to the president’s plan.

The passage contains only one mention of human rights activists, and it appears in the second sentence of the second paragraph. So the correct answer is “Human rights activists, incensed at the nebulous plans for implementing such rules, charge that their agenda is being given low priority by the State Department.”

10. Which of the following is a reason the author mentions the boycott of a corporation’s products by its customers? Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that apply.

To show the difficulties that arise when corporations attempt to become involved in politics

To suggest the possibility of failure of any plan that does not account for the customer’s perspective

To indicate the pressures that are on the multinational corporations

Choice (A) makes a valid point. Difficulties may arise when corporations attempt to become involved in politics. However, the passage doesn’t give that as a reason for a boycott, so Choice (A) is wrong. Choice (B) seems logical because a company that ignores its customers will probably fail. The passage mentions corporate communications with customers in the first sentence but not the customer’s perspective, so Choice (B) is wrong. Choice (C) is also true, because according to the passage, multinational corporations run the risk of alienating any group and thus inciting a boycott, which is a reason given by the passage. Correct answer: Choice (C).

Just because you can choose more than one answer doesn’t mean you have to. (Except on Sentence Equivalence, where the instructions specifically say to select two answers.) These questions can have one, two, or three correct answers. Never zero though.

11. Which of the following statements about the Sullivan Principles can best be inferred from the passage?

They had a detrimental effect on the profits of those corporations doing business with South Africa.

They represented an improper alliance between political and business groups.

They placed the needs of the foreign workers over those of the domestic workers whose jobs would therefore be in jeopardy.

They will be used as a model to create future voluntary business guidelines.

They will have a chilling effect on future adoption of voluntary guidelines.

Choice (A) is the trap here. Perhaps you assumed that because the companies seem to dislike the Sullivan Principles, they hurt company profits. However, the passage says nothing about profits. Maybe the companies still made good profits but objected to the Sullivan Principles, well, on principle. The companies just may not have wanted governmental intervention, even if profits weren’t decreased.

The key words to search for are Sullivan Principles; then read around them. The Principles appear in the last sentence, and just before that, the passage states that business leaders “fear such ‘voluntary’ concepts may someday be given the force of law.” Because business leaders fear that the adoption of voluntary guidelines will lead to forced legislation, the Sullivan Principles will have a chilling effect on the future adoption of voluntary guidelines. The correct answer is Choice (E).