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1
A culture's worldview, as presented in "Understanding American Worldview," is important in that it shapes how:
A)the government will interact with other nations.
B)children are raised.
C)economically successful the culture is likely to be.
D)individuals make basic decisions.
2
A future orientation, as explained in "Understanding American Worldview," takes the stance that:
A)only future generations are of any importance.
B)the present must be given an equal footing with the future.
C)it is inappropriate to focus on the past.
D)all actions can be forgiven or overcome.
3
Pervasive cultural worldviews, as noted in "Understanding American Worldview," are carefully spoken of and taught to children from a very early age.
A)True
B)False
4
According to "The Atrophy of Social Life," the basic building block of relationships, communities, and societies is:
A)the family.
B)individualism.
C)social interaction.
D)technological developments.
5
As claimed in "The Atrophy of Social Life," current trends in employment demonstrate that:
A)there are plenty of jobs for people who want them.
B)employer/employee loyalty is waning.
C)those who are isolated at home are able to find social fulfillment at work.
D)dual-career marriages tend to strengthen households and family relationships.
6
As presented in "The Atrophy of Social Life," the Internet is the one modern convenience that has actually increased the level of intimacy among people.
A)True
B)False
7
As suggested in "The Myth of the 'Culture of Poverty'," perhaps the greatest myth of all is the one that dubs education the:
A)great equalizer.
B)last best hope.
C)path of the privileged.
D)key to success.
8
As noted in "The Myth of the 'Culture of Poverty'," deficit theory establishes the idea of a segment of society that simply has not earned a fair shake, or what H. J. Gans calls the:
A)lazers and grazers.
B)undeserving poor.
C)forgotten families.
D)neglected neighbors.
9
According to "The Myth of the 'Culture of Poverty'," the Economic Policy Institute reported in 2002 that poor working adults spend more hours working each week than their wealthier counterparts.
A)True
B)False
10
As presented in "Islam in America," the Park51 project is a plan to build:
A)a memorial to the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center.
B)a mosque in the small Wisconsin village of Oostburg.
C)an Islamic cultural center in New York City.
D)a jihadi training camp in rural America.
11
As explained in "Islam in America," the controversy that has erupted over the Park51 project has to do with its:
A)cost.
B)location.
C)purpose.
D)size.
12
As noted in "Islam in America," most of the Muslims residing in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, are refugees from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
A)True
B)False
13
As noted in "The Denial of Virtue," lacking a better name for the virtue deniers he disputes, the author calls them:
A)egoists.
B)individualists.
C)separatists.
D)negativists.
14
As quoted in "The Denial of Virtue," the dismissal of virtue in ironical terms was expressed as, "We are not ready to suspect any person of being defective in selfishness" by:
A)Anthony Downs.
B)Adam Smith.
C)Robert L. Crouch.
D)Jeremy Bentham.
15
As reported in "The Denial of Virtue," studies of charitable giving show the poor to be the most generous.
A)True
B)False
16
As postulated in "Diversity Within Unity," variations and exemptions to universal laws within a society may be based on the individual needs of such groups as:
A)women and gays.
B)minors and those suffering from mental illness.
C)members of minority religions.
D)criminals and illegal aliens.
17
One example given in "Diversity Within Unity" as a compromise between a subculture and basic laws would be allowing Sikhs to wear their daggers, but only if:
A)they are worn in private homes but not public places.
B)the Sikh is wearing other traditional garb.
C)the blades are converted to rubber or plastic facsimiles of the metal blades.
D)the daggers are modified so they cannot be unsheathed.
18
As noted in "Diversity Within Unity," the discussion embodied in the agreement applies only to well-established, democratic nations.
A)True
B)False
19
As stated in "The Dubious Value of Value-Neutrality," just about everywhere in academe, value-neutrality is a concept:
A)more strictly adhered to than at the University of Pittsburgh.
B)virtually unheard of by university administrators.
C)most often honored in the breach.
D)that has been replaced by religious standards.
20
According to "The Dubious Value of Value-Neutrality," strict value-neutrality has a proper academic place in:
A)liberal-arts courses.
B)scientific research.
C)studies of comparative religion.
D)privately funded institutions.
21
As postulated in "The Dubious Value of Value-Neutrality," contemporary academic life gives a privileged place to a narrow, leftward segment of the intellectual spectrum.
A)True
B)False
22
As mentioned in "Worth Every Penny: Can Cash Incentives Create Model Citizens?," the successful incentive schemes launched by Mexico and other Latin American nations have been dubbed:
A)human capital systems.
B)poverty-reversal investments.
C)banking bonanzas.
D)conditional cash-transfer programs.
23
As disclosed in "Worth Every Penny: Can Cash Incentives Create Model Citizens?," Kevin Volpp from the University of Pennsylvania is exploring the possibilities of using cash incentives to help encourage prescription-drug compliance among "a notoriously problematic group," namely:
A)arthritis sufferers.
B)stroke patients.
C)obese men.
D)pregnant smokers.
24
As reported in "Worth Every Penny: Can Cash Incentives Create Model Citizens?," New York became the first city in a developed nation to try to alleviate poverty by offering incentives to improve people's engagement in areas such as education, health, and employment.
A)True
B)False
25
As explained in "The New Sex Scorecard," the physiological entities responsible for reward and motivation are:
A)gray matter.
B)vasopressin fibers.
C)the X chromosome.
D)dopamine.
26
As asserted in "The New Sex Scorecard," a higher percentage of white matter in the brain gives men an advantage in:
A)thought-linking ability.
B)spatial reasoning.
C)difficult verbal tasks.
D)empathizing.
27
As suggested in "The New Sex Scorecard," men may get a backup of certain genes because genes on their second X chromosome escape inactivation.
A)True
B)False
28
As presented in "Fighting Crime," street crime in the United States could be significantly reduced by establishing public policy based on:
A)political ideology.
B)costs and benefits.
C)special interests.
D)incarceration and punishment.
29
As claimed in "Fighting Crime," the most effective strategy for utilizing law-enforcement personnel in the reduction of street crime is to:
A)adopt "community policing" programs.
B)identify and focus on crime "hot spots."
C)strengthen punishments for petty crimes.
D)increase the number of police officers.
30
As asserted in "Fighting Crime," the existence of the death penalty in a given state not only does not deter murder, but might even increase the number of murders committed.
A)True
B)False
31
According to "Too Many Laws, Too Many Prisoners," as a proportion of its total population, the wealthy country that has the highest incarceration rates in the world is:
A)Britain.
B)the United States.
C)Japan.
D)Germany.
32
As claimed in "Too Many Laws, Too Many Prisoners," mandating minimum sentences for various crimes has resulted in:
A)a significant reduction in violent crime.
B)a decrease in petty drug crimes.
C)reduced incarceration costs.
D)less individual sentencing power for judges.
33
As noted in "Too Many Laws, Too Many Prisoners," federal laws are often so difficult to understand that many criminals do not know what they have done wrong.
A)True
B)False
34
As presented in "The Aggregate Burden of Crime," the majority of studies undertaken to estimate the costs of crime in the United States are problematic because:
A)most crimes go unreported and are therefore not available for study.
B)police department records are highly inaccurate.
C)those carrying out the studies are not trained in law enforcement.
D)the studies do not measure the indirect costs of crime.
35
As claimed in "The Aggregate Burden of Crime," from a societal standpoint, the most important thing about crime is:
A)the extent of damage inflicted by crime.
B)the violence associated with various crimes.
C)whether or not crime can be measured.
D)how citizens can be protected from crime.
36
As noted in "The Aggregate Burden of Crime," incarcerated criminals are potentially valuable members of society's workforce.
A)True
B)False
37
As shown in "The Frayed Knot," how the best- and least-educated Americans approach marriage and child-rearing is:
A)about the same.
B)little changed from the 1950s.
C)so different it has become a widening gulf.
D)determined more by geography than anything else.
38
As brought out in "The Frayed Knot," compared to children who live with two biological parents, children in single-parent homes are more likely to be all of the following except:
A)academic high achievers.
B)poor.
C)high-school drop-outs.
D)behavioral problems in school.
39
As cited in "The Frayed Knot," the divorce rate among college-educated women has climbed steadily since the 1970s.
A)True
B)False
40
According to "Good Parents, Bad Results," the best discipline programs for children are grounded in:
A)positive reinforcement.
B)the carrot-and-stick approach.
C)corporal punishment.
D)tough love.
41
As brought out in "Good Parents, Bad Results," research has shown that not having behavior limits for children:
A)encourages child creativity.
B)works better with girls than with boys.
C)has been proven to make children more defiant and rebellious.
D)is effective only with school-age children.
42
As asserted in "Good Parents, Bad Results," setting and enforcing rules are an essential part of the job description of being a parent.
A)True
B)False
43
As revealed in "Peer Marriage," the secret to the success of peer unions appears to be:
A)parity of salaries and equal responsibility for finances.
B)a sense of friendship that transcends romantic love.
C)a satisfying and intimate sexual relationship.
D)joint child-rearing.
44
The author of "Peer Marriage" describes her parents' traditional marriage, in which her mother escaped a childhood of poverty by marrying her father, who provided for the family as a:
A)lawyer.
B)doctor.
C)automotive executive.
D)university professor.
45
As mentioned in "Peer Marriage," more men than women leave marriages.
A)True
B)False
46
As suggested in "Feminists and Fundamentalists," most of the world's nations have accepted women's rights as a:
A)necessary evil.
B)commonplace tradition.
C)global good.
D)vague philosophy.
47
As identified in "Feminists and Fundamentalists," Lawrence Summers is the Harvard University president who infamously:
A)admitted that he had never met any Third-World women.
B)expressed doubt that women have the same innate abilities in math and science as men.
C)tried to hide the fact that he is a fundamentalist Muslim.
D)was discovered to be associated with several men's rights movements.
48
As revealed in "Feminists and Fundamentalists," the United States remains one of the few countries that have not signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
A)True
B)False
49
As explained in "The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage," Proposition 8 is a California ballot initiative that:
A)allows same-sex couples to marry.
B)prohibits the government from regulating the sexual practices of consenting adults.
C)prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
D)outlaws same-sex marriage.
50
As argued in "The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage," conservatives should favor same-sex marriage because:
A)marriage-license fees increase government revenue.
B)marriage is a basic building block of American society.
C)same-sex couples are unable to commit to each other without a legal bond.
D)same-sex couples deserve special rights.
51
As noted in "The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage," Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal challenge to Proposition 8, was far too slow and incremental for most gay activists.
A)True
B)False
52
As stated in "An Age of Transformation," more and more Americans wake up in their suburb and go to work:
A)in another suburb.
B)right around the corner.
C)in their own home office.
D)100 (or more) miles away.
53
As asserted in "An Age of Transformation," having conquered suburbia, ethnic minority groups are now swiftly infiltrating the:
A)uptown city neighborhoods.
B)more distant exurbs.
C)revitalized ghetto districts.
D)most exclusive waterfront communities.
54
As described in "An Age of Transformation," Valencia proved to be as economically self-contained as its architect, Victor Gruen, had originally intended.
A)True
B)False
55
The only riot in which a U.S. city was burning during the 1990s, as noted in "Why Aren't U.S. Cities Burning?", occurred in:
A)Chicago.
B)Newark.
C)Los Angeles.
D)Detroit.
56
The civil violence of the 1960s, as described in "Why Aren't U.S. Cities Burning?", erupted at the height of:
A)urban-renewal planning.
B)urban-boundary challenges.
C)illegal immigration.
D)the war on drugs.
57
In U.S. cities, as put forth in "Why Aren't U.S. Cities Burning?", anger and frustration in urban areas has largely turned inward, with gang warfare and random homicides.
A)True
B)False
58
In assessing the role of the United Nations in the fight against slavery, the author of "A World Enslaved" suggests that it:
A)has no mandate to work against bondage.
B)consistently holds its member states accountable for slavery.
C)will continue to be an effective tool for defeating slavery.
D)has done almost nothing to combat modern-day slavery.
59
As reported in "A World Enslaved," the highest concentration of slaves on the planet is in:
A)South Asia.
B)South America.
C)Europe.
D)Africa.
60
As observed in "A World Enslaved," the majority of slaves in the world are prostitutes.
A)True
B)False
61
According to "Antipoverty Policy for the Excluded Poor," the "excluded poor" are those who are:
A)employed for at least 27 weeks per year.
B)receiving some type of government assistance, such as unemployment.
C)left out of the formal economy and economic policy.
D)the primary focus of antipoverty programs.
62
As explained in "Antipoverty Policy for the Excluded Poor," the excluded poor are often called the "blamed poor," because they are blamed for:
A)high crime rates.
B)their own poverty.
C)drug problems in mainstream society.
D)racism.
63
As noted in "Antipoverty Policy for the Excluded Poor," the excluded poor in most countries are dangerous races that differ significantly from the countries' dominant races.
A)True
B)False
64
Some relationship between intergenerational incomes, as suggested in "Goodbye, Horatio Alger," is expected to result from all of the following except:
A)biological inheritance.
B)practical inheritance.
C)cultural privilege.
D)social norms.
65
Today, as argued in "Goodbye, Horatio Alger," the United States is effectively two nations separated by:
A)religious practice and atheism
B)rich and poor.
C)immigrant and native born.
D)education and its lack.
66
The loss of middle-class jobs for high school graduates, as maintained in "Goodbye, Horatio Alger," only became an issue with the rise of off-shoring and global trade.
A)True
B)False
67
As identified in "Connecting the Dots," the chief internal obstacle to those in poverty is:
A)an irrational dependency on easy solutions.
B)a comfortable immersion into laziness.
C)a corrosive sense of incapacity.
D)a looming dread of losing their children.
68
As cited in "Connecting the Dots," the author borrows the wording of Edgar Allan Poe when he says that, for most of us, the poor are:
A)a dream within a dream.
B)those little slices of death.
C)hidden in plain sight.
D)nevermore.
69
As established in "Connecting the Dots," we know more than we think we do about poverty's causes and solutions.
A)True
B)False
70
As explained in "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families," the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act:
A)ended government assistance for most needy families.
B)provided long-term federal cash payments to needy families.
C)created a program of time-limited assistance to needy families.
D)allowed Congress to control any benefits provided to needy families.
71
According to "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families," the primary focus of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is on:
A)helping clients move into the workforce and off the assistance rolls.
B)maintaining ongoing benefits for children until they reach the age of maturity.
C)increasing the number of families that are able to receive government assistance.
D)providing more foster homes for children who cannot remain with their parents.
72
As noted in "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families," TANF was originally intended to allow states to craft their own assistance programs.
A)True
B)False
73
In the white focus group described in "Inequities That Endure?", the biggest problem facing the community was said to be:
A)deteriorating schools.
B)lack of basic services, including grocery stores.
C)government-supported housing.
D)police corruption.
74
According to "Inequities That Endure?", black focus group participants stated that the biggest problem facing their community was:
A)drugs and crime.
B)police brutality.
C)excessive noise and other quality-of-life issues.
D)absentee landlords.
75
Two focus groups, one with African American participants and the other with white participants, presented in "Inequities That Endure?" suggest that the United States continues to have a race problem that has become more elusive and sophisticated than previously.
A)True
B)False
76
As postulated in "Whites Swim in Racial Preference," many whites apparently are convinced that the notion of "racial preference" originated with the:
A)Emancipation Proclamation.
B)policies of affirmative action.
C)abolition of European indentured servitude.
D)aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
77
As reported in "Whites Swim in Racial Preference," the Harvard Civil Rights Project says its research shows that the most segregated schools in America for blacks are in:
A)Michigan.
B)New York.
C)Mississippi.
D)California.
78
According to "Whites Swim in Racial Preference," America's white families, on average, have a net worth 11 times that of its black families.
A)True
B)False
79
As argued in "The Decline of Bigotry in America," prejudice and discrimination in America:
A)have been all but eliminated.
B)are the result of natural processes that cannot be controlled.
C)have increased with the election of an African American president.
D)still exist and are still problematic, but they have diminished considerably in recent decades.
80
As claimed in "The Decline of Bigotry in America," the most extreme exaggerators of the existence of prejudice in America are:
A)left- and right-wing ideologues.
B)people of color.
C)non-Christians.
D)minority politicians.
81
According to "The Decline of Bigotry in America," all acts of selection, preference, or exclusion should be considered prejudicial and discriminatory.
A)True
B)False
82
Back in the 1970s, as presented in "Great Expectations," a close confidante of the vice president offered the opinion that a woman would never be able to serve as president because:
A)women were subject to hormones that made them unstable.
B)no man would ever cast a vote for a woman.
C)women were unable to obtain the necessary education.
D)they lacked the strength to make difficult decisions.
83
Transformational leaders, as described in "Great Expectations," have adopted all of the following strategies except:
A)leading by example.
B)empowering subordinates.
C)responding positively to criticism.
D)focusing on the future.
84
In spite of her powerful role as publisher of the Washington Post, as noted in "Great Expectations," Katharine Graham did not break any feminist ground in creating new, women-focused policies at the newspaper.
A)True
B)False
85
According to "Female Power," the economic empowerment of women across the rich world is remarkable because it has not:
A)increased independence for women.
B)produced any measurable change in the world.
C)resulted in significant friction between men and women.
D)resulted in any negative consequences.
86
As claimed in "Female Power," the most important innovation behind the economic empowerment of women is the:
A)computer.
B)vacuum cleaner.
C)microwave oven.
D)contraceptive pill.
87
As noted in "Female Power," women make up the majority of professional workers in the United States.
A)True
B)False
88
As reported in "The End of Men," since the 1990s, scientists and medical professionals have found that sex selection for children in the United States is driven by:
A)women, with a preference for male children.
B)men, with a preference for female children.
C)women, with a preference for female children.
D)joint decisions of couples, with no sex preference.
89
As claimed in "The End of Men," the keys to economic success in the current global economy are:
A)thinking and communicating.
B)speed and stamina.
C)aggression and competition.
D)size and strength.
90
As noted in "The End of Men," studies have found that the greater the power of women in a country, the greater that country's economic success.
A)True
B)False
91
The corporate community, as maintained in "Who Rules America?", is cohesive on policy issues that affect its general welfare when challenged by any of the following except:
A)environmental groups.
B)organized labor.
C)the Christian right.
D)liberals.
92
The Christian right and the corporate community, as pointed out in "Who Rules America?", are able to work together because both groups:
A)have the same goals.
B)distrust government power.
C)have overlapping memberships.
D)are able to raise large sums of money.
93
According to "Who Rules America?", even the highest-ranking members of powerful nonprofit organizations are excluded from the power elite.
A)True
B)False
94
As observed in "Inside the Hidden World of Earmarks," of the top 50 earmark recipients in the United States in 2005, the vast majority were:
A)civilian contractors.
B)military contractors.
C)medical and pharmaceutical companies.
D)oil companies and their related research facilities.
95
As identified in "Inside the Hidden World of Earmarks," Keith Ashdown is the chief investigator for the watchdog group:
A)Where's the Pork?
B)Rebels With a Cause.
C)Taxpayers for Common Sense.
D)EarmarkWatch.com
96
As pointed out in "Inside the Hidden World of Earmarks," some companies end up without any earmarks despite extensive lobbying.
A)True
B)False
97
In the United States, as put forth in "Foresight for Government," policy makers and the general public appear to have a false sense of security about the country's current position and future prospects as a result of all of the following except:
A)rising levels of education.
B)modest inflation levels.
C)low interest rates.
D)strong economic growth.
98
The GAO report entitled "21st Century Challenges," as described in "Foresight for Government," highlights how much current government policies on a wide variety of issues are based on:
A)optimistic estimates of future conditions.
B)partisan ideology.
C)conditions rooted in the past.
D)protecting the interests of narrowly focused groups.
99
It is not the responsibility of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI), as pointed out in "Foresight for Government," to alert public officials to key emerging opportunities.
A)True
B)False
100
As presented in "Reversal of Fortune," the centuries since Adam Smith launched modern economics with his book The Wealth of Nations have been single-mindedly devoted to the dogged pursuit of:
A)distributed wealth.
B)individualized wealth.
C)maximum economic production.
D)global economic equality.
101
As set forth in "Reversal of Fortune," in some ways, the invention of the idea of economic growth was almost as significant as the invention of:
A)war.
B)movable type.
C)fossil-fuel power.
D)nuclear medicine.
102
As noted in "Reversal of Fortune," mainstream liberals and conservatives no longer compete on the question of who can flog the economy harder.
A)True
B)False
103
As claimed in "The Capitalist Manifesto," historically, when something goes awry with a certain feature of the economic landscape:
A)it signals the end of that feature.
B)economic pundits attempt to cover up or ignore the problem.
C)the entire economic landscape suffers severely.
D)that feature often accelerates in the years that follow.
104
As asserted in "The Capitalist Manifesto," when countries need growth, they turn to:
A)markets.
B)government programs.
C)borrowing from other countries.
D)spending controls.
105
As argued in "The Capitalist Manifesto," capitalism remains the most productive economic engine humans have ever invented.
A)True
B)False
106
According to "Nine Powerful Practices," when students feel that they have been shown disrespect by a teacher, they usually identify the disrespect in the form of:
A)nonverbal signals.
B)calling them by the wrong name.
C)using unfamiliar words.
D)being overly familiar.
107
As reported in "Nine Powerful Practices," the language register in which content should be taught is the:
A)intimate.
B)casual.
C)frozen.
D)formal.
108
As noted in "Nine Powerful Practices," the amount of time devoted to a content area makes no substantial difference to how well students learn that content.
A)True
B)False
109
The author of "Medical Guesswork" contends that, although there is little or no evidence that many widely used treatments and procedures work better than various cheaper alternatives, the annual cost of the high-tech healthcare system in the United States is:
A)$96 million.
B)$48 billion.
C)$2 trillion.
D)incalculable.
110
According to "Medical Guesswork," the benefits have been huge and incontrovertible with all of the following treatments, except:
A)vaccines.
B)spinal fusion.
C)antibiotics.
D)early detection of certain tumors.
111
As noted in "Medical Guesswork," patients in a clinical trial usually are not representative of real people.
A)True
B)False
112
According to "Pandemic Pandemonium," the literal meaning of "pandemic," which is an extraordinary global health event in which an epidemic of infectious disease spreads across regions and, potentially, the entire planet, is:
A)all people.
B)fury of the gods.
C)panic + epidemic.
D)traveling virus.
113
As evaluated in "Pandemic Pandemonium," the 1918 flu pandemic, which claimed probably more than 20 million lives, hit the poorest country, India, the hardest, while the place of least suffering was the wealthy nation of:
A)Denmark.
B)Saudi Arabia.
C)Australia.
D)the United States.
114
As claimed in "Pandemic Pandemonium," today, wealthy and poor nations alike face pandemics that move slowly and do not necessarily show symptoms during the first few years of infection.
A)True
B)False
115
As pointed out in "In Search of the Spiritual," 75 percent of those polled say that a very important reason for their faith is to:
A)ensure themselves a place in heaven.
B)have a venue for communing with others of similar faith.
C)forge a personal relationship with God.
D)learn how to become better people.
116
As stated in "In Search of the Spiritual," the fastest-growing category on surveys that ask people to give their religious affiliation is:
A)Muslim.
B)Roman Catholic.
C)none.
D)Episcopalian.
117
According to "In Search of the Spiritual," 79 percent of those polled describe themselves as "religious," while 64 percent say that they are "spiritual."
A)True
B)False
118
According to "Population & Sustainability," the key to long-term environmental sustainability is to:
A)initiate population-control programs to reduce global population growth.
B)control consumption, particularly in high-population areas.
C)act on both population growth and consumption simultaneously.
D)immediately reduce carbon-dioxide emissions in the United States and European Union by a uniform percentage.
119
As explained in "Population & Sustainability," disparities in the population growth and consumption patterns of different nations indicate that the climate would be better served if:
A)India emulated U.S. population growth.
B)the United States emulated Indian consumption patterns.
C)developing nations emulated China's one-child policy.
D)each individual, wherever he or she lived, took responsibility for his or her environmental footprint.
120
As claimed in "Population & Sustainability," population growth in any one area has an immediate, but short-term, effect on the environment.
A)True
B)False
121
According to "How to Feed 8 Billion People," the world is entering a new food era that will be marked by:
A)lower food prices.
B)a rapid increase in world hunger.
C)sharing land between countries for mutual benefit.
D)closing borders and hoarding resources.
122
As claimed in "How to Feed 8 Billion People," the weak link in our civilization is:
A)water.
B)land.
C)food.
D)fuel.
123
As noted in "How to Feed 8 Billion People," in the United States and Canada, which rank at the top of the food-consumption charts, grain is consumed primarily in its original state.
A)True
B)False
124
According to "Immigration Benefits America," David Stoll suggests that contemporary immigrants threaten American society as we know it because they:
A)hold European values, which are very different from American values.
B)are uninterested in assimilating into American culture.
C)have no interest in financial gain, which is the bedrock of American economic values.
D)have too much power and will soon take over mainstream political systems.
125
As presented in "Immigration Benefits America," college-educated immigrants who come to the United States:
A)help meet the demand for highly skilled professionals that outweighs the availability of U.S. workers with these skills.
B)take jobs away from college-educated U.S. workers.
C)have inferior education and skills when compared to U.S. citizens with comparable degrees.
D)generally find jobs in the lower rungs of the U.S. economy.
126
As noted in "Immigration Benefits America," since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, America's national identity has increasingly weakened.
A)True
B)False
127
In building dams to help increase the productivity of local farms during a drought in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, as presented in "Climate Change, Coming Home," government officials observed an unintended consequence in that:
A)local drinking water became contaminated.
B)farmers were less willing to thoroughly till their fields.
C)many of the saved seeds for the following crop were destroyed when the dams leaked.
D)children in the villages with the dams were far more likely to suffer from malaria.
128
According to "Climate Change, Coming Home," one of the drawbacks to the use of fast-growing crop varieties is that:
A)more rainfall is needed.
B)the food is less nutritious, as the plants have not absorbed sufficient micronutrients.
C)higher temperatures are required to benefit from these seeds.
D)the seeds from these plants are often sterile.
129
The World Health Organization's estimate of how climate change will impact global health, as explained in "Climate Change, Coming Home," is criticized for being too extreme by other experts.
A)True
B)False
130
Ron Bailey, as put forth in "Who's Afraid of Human Enhancement?", hopes that biotechnology can eventually accomplish all of the following except:
A)make death optional.
B)restore the environment.
C)reduce the need for food.
D)enhance an individual's intellectual capacities.
131
Eric Cohen explains in "Who's Afraid of Human Enhancement?" that some people are uncomfortable with the biotech revolution because it has the potential to:
A)make life worse in ways that have not been imagined.
B)destroy diversity on the planet.
C)cause new global political tensions.
D)make a small number of people tyrants over those who have not had enhancements.
132
Any regulatory scheme to control biotechnology, as maintained in "Who's Afraid of Human Enhancement?", must have the United States in the forefront, as it is the sole superpower.
A)True
B)False
133
As pointed out in "Biotech on the Farm," promising new developments in genetic engineering include all of the following except:
A)genetically modified crops seem to thrive in saline soils and stressful climates.
B)scientists are engineering disease resistance into black walnut trees.
C)GM bacteria may perform useful functions in waste disposal.
D)genetically modified plants may someday be an important energy source.
134
As set forth in "Biotech on the Farm," in response to concerns about GM food, the United States should:
A)try to convince the European Union and the rest of the world that they are wrong about GM safety issues.
B)terminate GM projects and stick to natural, organic agriculture.
C)use a policy of accommodation.
D)export only those foods produced through traditional farming techniques.
135
As reported in "Biotech on the Farm," only 18 percent of Americans say that they would prefer to buy GM-free food.
A)True
B)False
136
When the Terror 2000 report was compiled, as explained in "Defeating Terrorism," the common wisdom at the time held that terrorism was becoming obsolete because it:
A)was quickly treated as merely a criminal matter.
B)extracted too high a price from sponsoring states.
C)failed to obtain public support for the terrorists' goals.
D)supported violent ideologies that were themselves becoming obsolete.
137
Participants in the conference that led to the Terror 2000 report, as pointed out in "Defeating Terrorism," anticipated all of the following features of the September 11, 2001, attacks except:
A)a second, more successful attack on the World Trade Center.
B)the accomplishment of simultaneous assaults on widely separated targets.
C)health concerns arising from the rescue and clean-up efforts.
D)the deliberate crash of an airplane into the Pentagon.
138
The Terror 2000 report, as noted in "Defeating Terrorism," was widely distributed to government officials and military officers when it was first written in 1994.
A)True
B)False
139
As reported in "The Jihad against the Jihadis," the U.S. government's primary concern after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, was that:
A)al-Qaeda was capable of far more serious attacks than was originally thought.
B)a major war would break out on U.S. soil.
C)al-Qaeda could establish a powerful hold over Muslims throughout the world.
D)Muslim-Americans were aligned with al-Qaeda and would be a danger to U.S. citizens.
140
As noted in "The Jihad against the Jihadis," currently, in most Muslim nations:
A)al-Qaeda retains a powerful influence and control.
B)modern, secular forces are in control and extremists have been isolated.
C)democracy and political liberalism are flourishing.
D)anti-Western sentiments threaten the stability of the Middle East.
141
As claimed in "The Jihad against the Jihadis," polls in the Muslim world shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks revealed a surprising degree of support for Osama bin Laden.
A)True
B)False
142
As claimed in "War in the Fifth Domain," the "fifth domain" of war is:
A)outer space.
B)air.
C)sea.
D)cyberspace.
143
As quoted in "War in the Fifth Domain," according to former spy chief Mike McConnell, the effects of a full-blown cyberwar would resemble the effects of:
A)a nuclear attack.
B)an aerial attack.
C)a tornado or hurricane.
D)the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
144
As noted in "War in the Fifth Domain," one of the more difficult aspects of a cyber attack is that the perpetrator often remains anonymous.
A)True
B)False
145
According to "A New End, a New Beginning," one indication of the changing status of the United States is:
A)the enormous global influence of President Obama.
B)Singapore's attempts to reposition the nation away from the U.S. dollar.
C)President Obama's move away from conventional processes of economic growth.
D)the increase in U.S. consumerism and Americans' increased use of revolving credit.
146
As claimed in "A New End, a New Beginning," President Obama is currently presiding over:
A)an epochal economic contraction.
B)a pause in the growth epic.
C)a period of new U.S. economic growth.
D)an excess of wealth available for future generations.
147
As noted in "A New End, a New Beginning," the current global financial system is highly simplistic and easily understood by trained economists and political leaders.
A)True
B)False
148
As defined in "A User's Guide to the Century," the era of modern economic growth is:
A)on the horizon.
B)already a fading ember.
C)coincidental with the post-World War II era.
D)two centuries old.
149
As explained in "A User's Guide to the Century," during the 1800s, the military dominance of the United States and Western Europe resulting from vast industrial power, and then colonial dominance over Africa and Asia were among the factors that contributed to a century of:
A)expansionism.
B)isolationism.
C)economic divergence.
D)cultural diversity.
150
As asserted in "A User's Guide to the Century," in geopolitical terms, the uni-polar world of the North Atlantic is over.
A)True
B)False
151
According to the author of "Can America Fail?", a simple empirical test to see whether people are giving back more than they take from their own society is to ask whether citizens:
A)are more likely to volunteer than be drafted into military service.
B)are willing to make sacrifices in time of war.
C)pay back the interest on such government loans as student loans and small business loans.
D)pay more in taxes than they receive in government services.
152
As given in "Can America Fail?", the Doha Round of world trade talks might be successfully concluded if there were a willingness to sacrifice on the part of currently subsidized U.S.:
A)cattle ranchers.
B)citrus growers.
C)wheat farmers.
D)cotton farmers.
153
In the opinion of the author of "Can America Fail?", American thinkers and policymakers are engaged in an incestuous, self-referential, and self-congratulatory discourse that keeps them from seeing how many of the world's problems have been created by American policy.
A)True
B)False





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