Read the paragraph from the section "Economics and society." What conclusion can the reader make based on this paragraph? "Between 1347 and 1350, however, a mysterious disease started to spread across Europe. It was called the bubonic plague, though many at the time called it the "Black Death." It killed about 20 million people in Europe or about 1 out of every 3 people. It was especially deadly in cities. People were so crowded together there that it was impossible to prevent the disease from spreading.

1. The bubonic plague was caused by serfs who moved into cities.
2. People who lived in the countryside were safe from the bubonic plague.
3. Fewer people may have died from bubonic plague if serfs had stayed in the country.
4. Rulers and wealthy people were less affected by bubonic plague than peasants were.

Voters commonly condemn politicians for being insincere, but politicians often must disguise their true feelings when they make public statements. if they expressed their honest views—about, say, their party's policies—then achieving politically necessary compromises would be much more difficult. clearly, the very insincerity that people decry shows that our government is functioning well. which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines this reasoning? (a) achieving political compromises is not all that is necessary for the proper functioning of a government. (b) some political compromises are not in the best long-term interest of the government. (c) voters often judge politicians by criteria other than the sincerity with which they express their views. (d) a political party's policies could turn out to be detrimental to the functioning of a government. (e) some of the public statements made by politicians about their party's policies could in fact be sincere.