501 Critical Reading Questions

c. Although choices a and b may be correct statements, they do not
reflect the author’s purpose in citing the example of untreated
depression in the elderly. Choice d is incorrect and choice e is not
supported by the passage.
193.
c. According to the passage, geriatric training improves a healthcare
provider’s ability to distinguish between “normal” characteristics associ-
ated with aging and illness (lines 58–59).
194.
b. The author states that healthcare providers should consider not
only the physical but mental, emotional, and social changes of the aging
process (lines 57–58).
195.
d. The author’s sense of urgent recommendation is expressed
through the use of the helping verbs must (lines 55 and 56) and
should (line 60).
196.
d. Choices a, b, and e are too specific to be the primary purpose of
the passage, whereas choice c is too general. The passage focuses
on the importance of the first official report (line 27) to name
smoking a serious health hazard.
197.
c. One meaning of preoccupied is lost in thought; another is engaged
or engrossed. In this case, absorbed is nearest in meaning.
198.
a. The debate over the hazards and benefits of smoking (line 6) that con-
tinued since the sixteenth century (line 9) points to a long-standing
controversy.
199.
e. An alliance of prominent private health organizations (line 28) gave
the push for an official report on smoking.
200.
d. The quotation illustrates the response to the report, describing its
effect on the country as a bombshell (line 48).
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501
Critical Reading Questions

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201.
e. Hedged (line 63) can mean hindered or hemmed in, but in this
instance, it most nearly means evaded. The author suggests in
lines 62–67 that the report evaded a risk by calling smoking a
habit rather than an addiction.
202.
b. The author’s statement implies that the report could have sug-
gested specific actions to confront the health problem of smoking,
but that it did not.
203.
b. The author describes the influence of the report in positive terms
except to mention that it did not give recommendations for reme-
dial actions.
204.