1.

Most environmental groups work to protect our planet and its inhabitants by circulating petitions, organizing protest marches, and lobbying Congressional representatives for environmentally-friendly laws. However, since it was formed in 1971, the Greenpeace environmental organization prefers to use more extreme tactics, engaging in what it calls "non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems and force solutions." The group has often sent its ships—especially its flagship, the Rainbow Warrior—to areas where nuclear testing was taking place, sometimes even succeeding in stopping the tests. In 1992, France agreed to halt nuclear tests following the Rainbow Warrior's visit to the test zone. To protest commercial whaling, Greenpeace ships have confronted whaling vessels on the high seas, and in 1982, a Greenpeace activist chained himself to a harpoon gun aboard a whaling ship in order to stop a hunt. In 1976, two Greenpeace activists protested the seal hunt in Newfoundland by shielding a baby seal with their bodies. To expose and protest illegal logging in Brazil, activists painted in huge letters the word CRIME atop a barge filled with logs. Greenpeace members have also exposed numerous cases of the dumping of toxic or radioactive waste. The organization has staged dramatic publicity stunts and demonstrations, too, in an effort to call attention to environmental issues. In 2003, for example, dozens of activists laid 12 tons of sod on the road in front of the U.S. Department of Agriculture building to call for the protection of national forests. (Source of information: Greenpeace, www.greenpeace.org.)

From this passage, a reader might logically draw which conclusion?

2.

In 1998, figure skating champion Katarina Witt, a gold medalist in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games, caused a stir when she posed nude for Playboy magazine. Right before the 2000 Olympic Games, swimmer Jenny Thompson, too, generated controversy when she appeared in Sports Illustrated magazine with only her hands covering her breasts. Just a few years later, in 2004, however, hardly anyone even raised an eyebrow when several unapologetic Olympic athletes appeared nude for Playboy and other men's magazines while they were actually competing. Even the United States Olympic Committee did not object to the athletes' actions. But they should object. In fact, we should all be appalled that these women decided to become centerfolds. They claim that modern women have earned the right to decide how they want to be portrayed in the media. But the fact is that these nude photographs degrade the women who pose for them. Even worse, these women diminish the accomplishments of female athletes and encourage the public to view them as sex objects. When even a few athletes choose to pose nude, they severely undermine women's quest to be respected for their achievements rather than for the way they look. (Source of information: Joe Drape, "Olympians Strike Pinup Pose, and Avoid Setting Off a Fuss," The New York Times, August 12, 2004, www.nytimes.com)

From this passage, a reader might logically draw which conclusion?

3.

In Colonial America, the hands and feet of rule-breakers and criminals were locked into wooden devices called stocks, while members of the community were encouraged to taunt and pelt them with rotten food to shame them for their transgressions. Another kind of shaming punishment is illustrated in The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel, which concerns an adulteress who is forced by community officials to wear a scarlet A on her clothes as penance for her crime. Surprisingly, these kinds of Puritan "shaming" punishments have come back into vogue. In Maryland, Texas, Georgia, and California, for example, judges have ordered shoplifters to stand outside stores with signs that announce the crime they committed. In 2003, a San Francisco judge ordered a mail thief to stand for eight hours outside a post office wearing a two-sided "sandwich board" that bore the message: "I stole mail. This is my punishment." In parts of Florida and Ohio, people who have been convicted of driving while intoxicated are issued special license plates that identify them as drunk drivers. In parts of Texas, convicted sex offenders have been ordered to put signs in their yards warning children to stay away. The U.S. Justice Department defends these kinds of shaming sentences, claiming that they are effective for punishment as well as rehabilitation. But some defense attorneys disagree, arguing that this kind of public humiliation amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment," which is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. (Source of information: Richard Willing, "Thief Challenges Dose of Shame as Punishment," USA Today, August 18, 2004, p. 3A.)

From this passage, a reader might logically draw which conclusion?

4.

The notion that sunlight is bad and that people who tan are recklessly risking their lives has become conventional wisdom. However, in 2004, Michael Holick, M.D., a professor of medicine and physiology at Boston University School of Medicine, published a book entitled The UV Advantage. In his book, Holick challenges the idea that the sun is always bad, arguing that sunlight is actually necessary for good health. Not that Holick believes in being a sun worshipper; on the contrary, he began his book with the statement, "I do not advocate tanning." Yet, wrote Holick, because humans obtain 90 to 95 percent of their vitamin D from the sun and because this essential vitamin helps to strengthen bones and protect against illnesses like diabetes and multiple sclerosis, people should expose themselves to sunlight—without sun block—for 5 to 10 minutes every day. Holick also pointed out that sun awareness campaigns have always focused on the possibility of getting malignant melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer. Yet that form of skin cancer accounts for only 10 percent of all skin cancers, so 90 percent of them are still easily treated.

Not everyone, though, appreciated Holick's reasoned arguments in favor of short doses of sunlight. The month before the book came out, the sunscreen industry bought advertisements in newspapers to attack Holick's reputation. Plus, he was asked to resign his dermatology professorship at Boston University School of Medicine because his views did not match those of his colleagues in the dermatology department. Holick, who remains at Boston University as a professor of medicine and physiology, has pointed out that the dermatology community, especially the American Academy of Dermatology, received major funding from the sunscreen industry. (Source of information: Brendan O'Neill, "`They Have Vilified the Sun—and Me,'" Spiked, July 23, 2004, www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA616.htm)

From this passage, a reader might logically draw which conclusion?