Reading Comprehension

gmat740 wrote:Acting on the recommen-
dation of a British government
committee investigating the
Line high incidence in white lead
(5) factories of illness among
employees, most of whom
were women, the Home Sec-
retary proposed in 1895 that
Parliament enact legislation
(10) that would prohibit women from
holding most jobs in white lead
factories. Although the
Women�s Industrial Defence
Committee (WIDC), formed
(15) in 1892 in response to earlier
legislative attempts to restrict
women�s labor, did not dis-
count the white lead trade�s
potential health dangers, it
(20) opposed the proposal, view-
ing it as yet another instance
of limiting women�s work
opportunities. Also opposing
the proposal was the Society
(25) for Promoting the Employment
of Women (SPEW), which
attempted to challenge it by
investigating the causes of ill-
ness in white lead factories.
(30) SPEW contended, and WIDC
concurred, that controllable
conditions in such factories
were responsible for the devel-
opment of lead poisoning.
(35) SPEW provided convincing
evidence that lead poisoning
could be avoided if workers
were careful and clean and
if already extant workplace
(40) safety regulations were
stringently enforced. How-
ever, the Women�s Trade
Union League (WTUL), which
had ceased in the late 1880�s
(45) to oppose restrictions on
women�s labor, supported the
eventually enacted proposal,
in part because safety regu-
lations were generally not
(50) being enforced in white lead
factories, where there were no
unions (and little prospect of
any) to pressure employers to
comply with safety regulations.


1.Primary Purpose of the passage :
A. presenting various groups� views of the motives of those proposing certain legislation
B. contrasting the reasoning of various groups concerning their positions on certain proposed legislation
C. tracing the process whereby certain proposed legislation was eventually enacted
D. assessing the success of tactics adopted by various groups with respect to certain proposed legislation
E. evaluating the arguments of various groups concerning certain proposed legislation

2. The passage suggests that WIDC differed from WTUL in which of the following ways?
A. WIDC believed that the existing safety regulations were adequate to protect women�s health, whereas WTUL believed that such regulations needed to be strengthened.
B. WIDC believed that unions could not succeed in pressuring employers to comply with such regulations, whereas WTUL believed that unions could succeed in doing so.
C. WIDC believed that lead poisoning in white lead factories could be avoided by controlling conditions there, whereas WTUL believed that lead poisoning in such factories could not be avoided no matter how stringently safety regulations were enforced.
D. At the time that the legislation concerning white lead factories was proposed, WIDC was primarily concerned with addressing health conditions in white lead factories, whereas WTUL was concerned with improving working conditions in all types of factories.
E. At the time that WIDC was opposing legislative attempts to restrict women�s labor, WTUL had already ceased to do so.


3. Which of the following, if true, would most clearly support the contention attributed to
SPEW in lines 30-34 (�SPEW contended � lead poisoning�) ?
A. Those white lead factories that most strongly enforced regulations concerning worker safety and hygiene had the lowest incidences of lead poisoning among employees.
B. The incidence of lead poisoning was much higher among women who worked in white lead factories than among women who worked in other types of factories.
C. There were many household sources of lead that could have contributed to the incidence of lead poisoning among women who also worked outside the home in the late nineteenth century.
D. White lead factories were more stringent than were certain other types of factories in their enforcement of workplace safety regulations.
E. Even brief exposure to the conditions typically found in white lead factories could cause lead poisoning among factory workers


[spoiler]OA- 1B,2E,3A
IMO=>1E,2C,3E[/spoiler]