ADMISSION-Paragraph comprehension - ASVAB Section Eight Paragraph comprehension Set 1

Nations are political and military units, but they are not necessarily the most important units in economic life, nor are they very much alike in any economic sense. All that nations really have in common is the political fact of their sovereignty. Indeed, the failure of national governments to control economic forces suggest that nations are irrelevant to promoting economic success. According to the paragraph, the economic power of nations is:

From a building designer's standpoint, three things that make a home livable are the client, the building site, and the amount of money the client has to spend. According to this statement, to make a home livable,

Twenty-five percent of all household burglaries can be attributed to unlocked windows or doors. Crime is the result of opportunity plus desire. To prevent crime, it is each individual's responsibility to

In certain areas, water is so scarce that every attempt is made to conserve it. For instance, on one oasis in the Sahara Desert the amount of water necessary for each date palm tree has been carefully determined. How much water should each tree be given?

A thin transparent layer of oxide protects the metal titanium against corrosion. The same thin layer attracts artists interested in making their art with the help of technology. By using heat or electricity, an artist can thicken the oxide layer and thereby turn the metal a range of vivid colors. According to the passage, some artists work with titanium because it

They returned to the beach, where blankets spotted the slope to the water. An advancing wall of clouds, black and gray, darkening the expanse of ground beneath, approached from the west. To the east and above them, the sky remained clear, the sun warm, as if collaborating in the deception. The "deception" referred to in the passage is that

The orientation of a large expanse of glass in a house is important. Improperly positioned, it can cost precious fuel dollars, whereas good orientation can minimize heat lost in the winter and gained in the summer. The best direction to face is south, to make good use of solar energy. Since the sun is low in the southern sky during the winter, orienting any glass in that direction will allow light to shine through and help heat the home. During the summer, the sun is higher in the sky, and an overhang from the roof will shield the glass from direct sunlight. According to the passage, large expanses of glass should be positioned to

The eastern part of Texas will ambush the senses of all who enter it with preconceptions of sand and cacti around every bend. It has a look and atmosphere that does not fit the boots-and-saddle image of the state. The author implies that the look and atmosphere of east Texas does NOT resemble that of the

On Monday, after a long quarter-century, West Virginians said goodbye to their state's 6 percent food tax. Now to see what, if any, business we've been missing. In 1989, retailers warned that sales in West Virginia would go down if legislators imposed a 6 percent tax on food. "Whatever they put on would be passed on to the consumer," Charles Forth, who owned supermarkets in both West Virginia and Ohio, told the newspaper in February 1989. "Six percent is $6 on $100. That will make a difference when people are already hurting and trying to make ends meet." It's a lot easier to drive customers away than to win them back, a fact legislators should bear in mind when it comes to taxation. The author is _______________ that eliminating the 6 percent food tax will bring customers back to West Virginia stores.

The expert predicted that America's gross domestic product will return to more than 3 percent yearly expansion. For example, Dow Chemical is investing $4 billion in Texas plastics production that will be operational by 2017. Such growth requires cheap oil and natural gas - and "by 2020 or so, the United States will surpass Saudi Arabia in oil output, and Russia in gas." He continued: "The big attraction is the low price of natural gas, the lowest-carbon fossil fuel, which can be produced profitably at about a third the price per unit of energy as other hydrocarbons. That is particularly attractive to chemical companies. It is the raw material for plastics, Styrofoam, tires, sealants, adhesives, films, liquid crystal screens, nylons, polyesters - nearly everything around us." In this passage, what's going to cause America's future growth?