27. What does "modus operandi" in boldface in the last paragraph signify?
(A) A worldview.
(B) An entire body of values.
(C) A mode of thinking.
(D) A moderate way of doing something.
(E) A habitual way of doing something.

23. Which of the following statements is most likely TRUE according to the author? (A) One can readily make sense of a meme as long as s/he is digitally savvy. (B)Memes could become obsolete. (C) The more highly coded a meme, the more it speaks to under-represented groups. (D)The more niche a meme is, the more likely it becomes a lingua franca. (E)Memes are intelligible to netizens regardless of their cultural backgrounds.

24. Based on the passage, what can be inferred from the coded nature of memes? (A) The meaning of memes derives from their exploitation in context. (B) Memes always have fixed meaning. (C) Memes belong only to a specific online group or community. (D) Memes are not culturally mediated. (E) Digital literacy is by no means a prerequisite for decoding memes.

25. Which of the following is closest in meaning to "ostracize" in the third paragraph? (A) Shun. (B) Extol. (C) Approve. (D) Esteem. (E) Approbate. 

26. Which of the following best describes the author's attitude toward "the shock doctrine"? (A) Nonchalant. (B) Enthusiastic. (C) Critical. (D) Insolent. (E) Condescending

28. Based on the passage, which of the following statements would define "the shock doctrine" most sufficiently? (A) Using moments of collective trauma to engage in radical social and/or economic engineering. (B) Using armies to drive free market capitalism. (C) Provoking a kind of hurricane in the mind. (D) A shocking man-made or natural disaster helps unify a society. (E) A society needs shock to reconstruct what a disaster has demolished.

29. Following the author's logic, which of the following would NOT be considered an example of shock doctrine? (A) The disorder and nationalist excitement resulting from the Falklands War in 1982 enabled Margaret Thatcher to use forceful measures to suppress the striking British miners and initiate the first privatization frenzy in a Western democracy. (B) The events surrounding the Tiananmen Square massacre in China in 1989 created a situation in which the Communist Party was able to implement policies that transformed much of the country into an export zone, with workers who were often too afraid to demand their rights. (C) The Bush administration used the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 to wage a war against Iraq and establish a corporate security complex at home that transformed the United States into a more privatized and security- focused society. (D) After the 2004 tsunami, the Sri Lankan government implemented policies that allowed foreign investors to build large resorts along the coastline, which displaced fishing communities who were unable to rebuild their villages near the water. (E) Vladimir Putin invoked the Soviet Union's victory over fascism in World War II to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as an act to 'denazify' and liberate the country from what he claimed were neo-Nazi elements.

30. What does "them" in boldface in the first paragraph refer to? (A) "Most people." (B) "Disaster capitalists." (C) "Iraq, Sri Lanka, and New Orleans." (D) "The public sphere and rooted communities." (E) "The places that formed them." 

31. Here are three statements concerning the problem of overpopulation: I In the 1960s and 1970s, projections of a future of food shortages due to the explosion of population were common in the cultural imagination. II Out of the fear of overpopulation, widespread sterilization campaigns in India in the 1970s and 1980s were well accepted as an effective method of containing population growth. III Novelist John Brunner believed that population explosion would not happen until tomorrow. Based on the passage, (A) Only I is true (B) Both I and II are true (C) Both I and III are true (D) All of the three statements are true (E) None of the three statements are true

32. Based on the passage, which of the following statements is NOT correct? (A) According to the UN projections, the world population will continue to grow and reach 9.1 billion in 2050. (B) The political debates over the cause of starvation were no longer as vehement in the 1990s as they were in the 1970s and 1980s (C) The event that the number of world population in October 1999 doubled that of1960 conjured up the images of mass starvation and nightmarishly overcrowded spaces. (D) For countries still affected by continued population growth, one of the challenges they have to face is providing medical care to an ever-increasing number of people. (E) The number of the world population in 1930 doubled that of 1850.

33. Which of the following most closely captures what the author means by saying "the future will be a divided one" in the third paragraph? (A) Whereas a number of countries will be industrialized, other countries will not. (B) Whereas a number of industrialized countries will be able to deal with the problem of shrinking populations, other countries will be significantly affected by the labor shortage. (C) Whereas a number of industrialized countries will face shrinking populations, other countries will be affected by continued population growth with the attendant challenges of providing education, jobs, and medical care to an ever- increasing number of people. (D) Whereas a number of countries will be significantly affected by staggering social inequalities, other countries will suffer from overall scarcity. (E) Whereas in the developing world, environmental devastation will be caused principally by rampant population growth, in the developed world, it will be caused by rampant increases in consumption.