PrepTest 146, Section 4, Question 27
By 1970 it was well established that ultraviolet(442 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- ANo refrigerant chemicals(15 more words not shown)
- BRefrigerant chemicals developed(16 more words not shown)
- CCFCs were originally(13 more words not shown)
- DThe Montreal Protocol(10 more words not shown)
- ESome of the(12 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The ending tells us that the response included “more environmentally friendly refrigerant chemicals.” Connect that change to the environmental problem we have just spent several paragraphs understanding: CFCs release chlorine into the stratosphere, where it destroys ozone.
What we’re looking for
The inference should stay at that comparative level: safer than CFCs does not mean completely harmless.
Working the answers
- A
Other refrigerants might already have existed when the scientists urged action. They could, for example, have been more expensive or less convenient. Calling for an end to CFC production does not establish that no alternatives had been discovered.
- BCorrect
The author describes substitutes as more environmentally friendly in an account centered on chlorine-driven ozone depletion. That supports the inference that the later substitutes release fewer chlorine atoms into the stratosphere than CFCs do. “Fewer” preserves the comparison; it does not require zero chlorine release or complete environmental safety.
- C
We are not told why CFCs were originally used. They might have been economical or convenient without being the most energy-efficient option.
- D
The dates defeat this causal claim. North America banned CFCs in the late 1970s, before the Montreal Protocol of 1987. That later agreement could not have caused the earlier ban.
- E
“More environmentally friendly” does not establish that some refrigerants manufactured today are known to contain damaging chemicals. They might retain some harmful effects, but the author does not tell us that they do.
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