8.1 Inference-Medium

In  her  2021   article   "Throwaway  History:Towards  a  Historiography   of  Ephemera,"scholar  Anne  Garner  discusses  John  Johnson(1882-1956),a  devoted  collector  of  items  intended  to  be  discarded, including   bus   tickets   and   campaign   pamphlets.Johnson   recognized   that   scholarly   institutions  considered  his  expansive  collection  of  ephemera  to  be  worthless—indeed,it  wasn't  until   1968,  after  Johnson's  death,that  Oxford  University's  Bodleian  Library  acquired  the  collection,having  grasped   the   items'potential   value   to   historians    and   other   researchers.Hence,the    example   of

Johnson  serves to

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.represent  the  challenge  of incorporating  examples  of  ephemera  into  the  collections  of  libraries and  other  scholarly  institutions.

• B.illustrate  both  the  relatively  low  scholarly  regard  in  which  ephemera  was  once  held  and  the later recognition  of ephemera's possible utility.

• C.lend  support  to  arguments  by  historians  and  other  researchers  who  continue  to  assert  that ephemera holds no value for scholars.

• D.demonstrate  the  difficulties  faced  by  contemporary  historians  in  conducting  research  at  the

  Bodleian Library without access to ephemera.

Archaeologists  have  been  debating  the  origin  of  a  rare  form  of  lead  found  in   Shang  dynasty (1766-1046  BCE)bronze   artifacts   since   its   presence  was   discovered   in   China   in   the   1990s. Different researchers have proposed theories  on  which  regions  of the  world  would  have  had  the raw  materials  containing  the  specific  lead  in  these  artifacts,but  no  conclusive  evidence  has  been presented.What is intriguing is that bronze  artifacts  from  China  dated  after the  Shang  dynasty  do not contain this form of lead,suggesting that              

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.bronze was used  for  a  short  time  during  the  Shang  dynasty  before  different  metals  were  used to  make  artifacts.

• B.Shang  dynasty  bronze  pieces  are  rare  and  therefore  more  valuable  than  those  from  other  time periods.

• C.methods used to analyze bronze artifacts are not useful on pieces that are dated after the Shang dynasty.

• D.the source of some of the raw materials used to make bronze was exploited only until the end of the Shang dynasty.

To investigate the history of plate subduction—when one of Earth's tectonic plates slides beneath another —Sarah M.Aarons and colleagues compared ancient rocks from the Acasta Gneiss Complex in Canada to modern rocks.Using isotope analysis,the researchers found that Acasta rocks dating to about 4.02 billion years ago(bya)most strongly resemble modern rocks formed in a plume setting(an area in which hot rocks from Earth's mantle flow upward into the crust).By contrast,they found that Acasta rocks dating to about 3.75 bya and 3.6 bya have an isotope composition that is similar to that of modern rocks formed in a subduction setting.Aarons's team therefore concluded that             

 Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.the majority of the rocks in the Acasta Gneiss Complex formed through subduction.

• B.subduction-like processes began occurring in some locations no later than 3.75 bya.

• C.the rocks in the Acasta Gneiss Complex are of a more recent origin than scientists previously thought.

• D.subduction replaced mantle plume formation as the most common geological process by about 4.02 bya.

In their book Smart Pricing,Jagmohan Raju and Z.John Zhang consider musicians'use of the nontraditional “pay as you wish”pricing model.This model generally offers listeners the choice to pay more or less than a suggested price for a song or album—or even to pay nothing at all.As the authors note,that's the option most listeners chose for an album by the band Harvey Danger.Only about 1%opted to pay for the album,resulting in earnings below the band's expectations.But the authors also discuss musician Jane Siberry,who saw significant earnings from her“pay as you wish”online music store as a result of many listeners choosing to pay more than the store's suggested prices.Hence,the “pay as you wish”model may            

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.hold greater financial appeal for bands than for individual musicians.

• B.cause most musicians who use the model to lower the suggested prices of their songs and albums over time.

• C.prove financially successful for some musicians but disappointing for others.

• D.more  strongly reflect differences in certain musicians'popularity than traditional pricing models do.

One explanation for why humans tend to procrastinate is that our brains evolved to prioritize immediate rewards over long-term rewards. In other words,according to evolutionary biologists, we're hard-wired to choose the short-term satisfaction of putting off a task instead of the long-term  benefit  of  completing   it   on  time.But   some  psychologists  have  found  that procrastination may also be related to anxiety.For instance,if someone is worried about not doing a task perfectly,they may put it off altogether in order to avoid the possibility of failure.These observations may suggest that    

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.people who regularly  experience  anxiety  tend  to  prioritize  short-term  satisfaction  over long-term rewards.

• B.procrastination may have multiple causes,including a range of evolutionary and psychological factors.

• C.people who do not experience anxiety are unlikely to procrastinate.

• D.anxiety is the result of our brains'hard-wired preference to procrastinate instead of completing tasks on time.

Biologist Natacha Bodenhausen  and  colleagues  analyzed the naturally  occurring bacterial  communities associated with leaves and roots of wild Arabidopsis thaliana,a small flowering plant. The researchers found many of the same bacterial genera in both the plants'leaves and roots. To explain this,the researchers pointed to the general proximity of A.thaliana leaves to the ground  and noted that rain splashing off soil could bring soil-based bacteria into contact with the leaves.  Alternatively,the  researchers  noted  that  wind,which  may  be  a  source  of  bacteria  in  the  aboveground portion of plants,could also bring bacteria to the soil and roots.Either explanation  suggests that             

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.A.thaliana leaves and roots are especially vulnerable to harmful bacteria.

• B.bacteria carried by wind are typically less beneficial to A.thaliana than soil-based bacteria are.

• C.many bacteria in A.thaliana leaves may have been deposited by means other than rain.

• D.some bacteria in A.thaliana leaves and roots may share a common source.

Dutch painters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries often showed tables filled with large wheels of cheese or carved shards of butter.Some art historians,noting that dairy products were a major component of the Dutch diet,interpret these depictions as reflections of everyday Dutch eating  habits.However,a  group  of researchers  recently  reviewed  hundreds  of  food-related paintings and found that lemons—which could only be acquired in the Netherlands at great cost, since they had to be imported from warmer climates—feature in Dutch paintings of the period more than three times as frequently as dairy products do,thereby casting doubt on the idea that

 

 Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.Dutch painters of the period may have depicted foods for symbolic reasons rather than to show what Dutch people typically ate.

• B.dairy products were a more significant component of the Dutch diet of the period than lemons were.

• C.depictions of food in Dutch paintings of the period should be taken as realistic representations of Dutch eating habits.

• D. food was a more popular subject among Dutch painters than it was among painters from other countries at the time.

The Haitian Declaration of Independence was issued in 1804,bringing to an end the revolution  against colonial France that began in 1791.Written in French,which was not the first language of most Haitians but which was used throughout Europe as the language of international diplomacy, the declaration notes that Haiti will not bring rebellion to other Caribbean nations,promises to  respect the sovereignty of its neighbors—widely understood as a reassurance to the United States—and sets up Haiti as an example for future struggles against colonizers(an implicit reference to the many colonies then found in the Americas).So even though the declaration is explicitly addressed to the Haitian people,it's reasonable to conclude that             

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.the declaration actually had several intended audiences.

• B.many Haitian people opposed the revolution and the declaration.

• C.aspects of the declaration were modeled on similar documents from other countries.

• D.the French government may have been surprised by the declaration.

Songbirds learn to respond to and imitate their species'songs from an early age.With each generation,small   differences   are    introduced   that   result    in   distinct   variations—called dialects—among geographically isolated populations of the same species.A research study examined whether twelve-day-old Ficedula hypoleuca(pied flycatcher)nestlings prefer local dialects over the unfamiliar dialects of nonlocal F.hypoleuca populations:the more begging calls the nestlings made in response to a song,the stronger their preference.The researchers found that nestlings produced more begging calls in response to their own dialect than to nonlocal dialects. Since song preference plays a role in songbird mate selection,the finding suggests that              

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.F.hypoleuca nestlings show a preference for both local F.hypoleuca dialects and the songs of other local songbirds over the songs of nonlocal birds of any species.

• B.F.hypoleuca nestlings'preference for their own dialect likely drives them when they mature to reproduce with other F.hypoleuca from local rather than nonlocal populations.

• C.F.hypoleuca nestlings who show an early preference for their own dialect are likely to receive more food from their caretakers than nestlings who show no preferences among any F.hypoleuca dialects.

• D.F.hypoleuca  nestlings'preference  for  their  own  dialect  likely  disappears  as  they  mature  to promote socialization between different F.hypoleuca populations.

Booker T.Whatley,an  agricultural professor  and researcher  at  Tuskeegee  University,developed the concept of the “U-Pick”farm,where customers harvest their own produce directly from the farm.Whatley's concept revolutionized the way small farms could do business,as it allowed them to limit labor expenses,cut out the middleman,and sell their produce directly to the public.Some critics argue that the U-Pick farm does not benefit small farms as much as Whatley claimed it would,as  it  requires  the  farms  to  invest  in  marketing  and  infrastructure  to  attract  customers. However,supporters of the U-Pick farm argue that these downsides are outweighed by the benefit

of

 

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.reducing the reliance of small farms on hired labor.

• B.allowing the farms to focus on growing only one type of produce.

• C.allowing the farms to sell their produce in bulk.

• D.requiring the farms to transport their produce to market.