501 Critical Reading Questions

c.
a diverse workforce is more efficient.
d.
a less-qualified minority candidate is still a great asset to a 
company.
e.
it is the right thing to do.
Answers
461.
d.
To 
posit
means to suggest. In this context, Hlusko suggests that
grass stalks may have caused the grooves on early hominid
teeth.
462.
d.
The passage states that modern toothpicks are made of wood
(line 11).
463.
b.
Dr. Hlusko is described a being 
convinced she was on the right
track
and 
patiently
rubbing a baboon tooth with a grass stalk for
eight hours. Both point to a persistent approach.
464.
b.
In lines 19–20, the author states, 
It seems that our early human
ancestors may have used grass, which was easily found and ready to
use, to floss between their teeth
. The use of 
may
indicates that the
author is not 
absolutely certain
, but as the author does not sug-
gest anything to contradict Dr. Hlusko’s findings we can con-
clude that the author finds her theory very probable.
465.
e.
The passage clearly states that 
the median income of the population
as a whole does not vary much in real terms from one year to the next
.
From this statement one can infer that, in general, income
across the United States stays about the same.
466.
d.
A thesis is an assertion, or theory, that the author intends to
prove. The author of this passage is not making an assertion,
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