Critical Reasoning

Proposed new safety rules for Beach City airport would lengthen considerably the minimum time between takeoffs from the airport. In consequence, the airport would be able to accommodate 10 percent fewer flights than currently use the airport daily. The city�s operating budget depends heavily on taxes generated by tourist spending, and most of the tourists come by plane. Therefore, the proposed new safety rules, if adopted, will reduce the revenue available for the operating budget. The argument depends on assuming which of the following?

Political theorist: Even with the best spies, area experts, and satellite surveillance, foreign policy assessments can still lack important information. In such circumstances intuitive judgment is vital. A national leader with such judgment can make good decisions about foreign policy even when current information is incomplete, since __________. Which of the following, if true, most logically completes the argument?

Because the cork stoppers in wine bottles can leak, crumble, or become moldy, winemakers must often discard a significant proportion of their inventory of bottled wine. Bottlemaster, Inc., produces a plastic stopper that cannot leak, crumble, or mold. Bottlemaster's plastic stopper is available to winemakers for a price only slightly higher than that of traditional cork stoppers, and cork prices are expected to rise considerably in the near future. Therefore, Bottlemaster's plastic stopper will increase its share of the market for wine-bottle stoppers. In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

Boreal owls range over a much larger area than do other owls of similar size. Scientists have hypothesized that it is scarcity of prey that leads the owls to range so widely. This hypothesis would be hard to confirm directly, since it is not possible to produce a sufficiently accurate count of the populations of small mammals inhabiting the forests where boreal owls live. Careful study of owl behavior has, however, shown that boreal owls do range over larger areas when they live in regions where food of the sort eaten by small mammals is comparatively sparse. This indicates that the scientists� hypothesis is not sheer speculation. In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

Last year Comfort Airlines had twice as many delayed flights as the year before, but the number of complaints from passengers about delayed flights went up three times. It is unlikely that this disproportionate increase in complaints was rooted in an increase in overall dissatisfaction with the service Comfort Airlines provides, since the airline made a special effort to improve other aspects of its service last year. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the disproportionate increase in customer complaints?

Cognitive scientist: Using the pioneering work of comparative psychologist Gordon Gallup as a model, several studies have investigated animals' capacity for mirror self-recognition (MSR). Most animals exposed to a mirror respond only with social behavior, such as aggression. However, in the case of the great apes, repeated exposure to mirrors leads to self-directed behaviors, such as exploring the inside of the mouth, suggesting that these animals recognize the reflection as an image of self. The implication of these studies is that the great apes have a capacity for self-awareness unique among nonhuman species. The cognitive scientist makes which of the following assumptions in the argument above?

Proponents of the recently introduced tax on sales of new luxury boats had argued that a tax of this sort would be an equitable way to increase government revenue because the admittedly heavy tax burden would fall only on wealthy people and neither they nor anyone else would suffer any economic hardship. In fact, however, 20 percent of the workers employed by manufacturers of luxury boats have lost their jobs as a direct result of this tax. The information given, if true, most strongly supports which of the following?

As a construction material, bamboo is as strong as steel and sturdier than concrete. Moreover, in tropical areas bamboo is a much less expensive construction material than either steel or concrete and is always readily available. In tropical areas, therefore, building with bamboo makes better economic sense than building with steel or concrete, except where land values are high. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the exception noted above?

Harunia Province has a relatively dry climate and is attracting a fast-growing population that has put increasing demands on its water supply. The two companies that supply water to the region have struggled to keep up with demand and still remain profitable. Yet now they are asking Harunian authorities to write residential water-use regulations that could reduce their revenues and restrict their future flexibility in supplying water profitably. Which of the following would, if true, most logically help explain why the water-supply companies are asking the authorities to regulate residential water use?

NorthAir charges low fares for its economy-class seats, but it provides very cramped seating and few amenities. Market research shows that economy passengers would willingly pay more for wider seating and better service, and additional revenue provided by these higher ticket prices would more than cover the additional cost of providing these amenities. Even though NorthAir is searching for ways to improve its profitability, it has decided not to make these improvements. Which of the following, if true, would most help to explain NorthAir's decision in light of its objectives?

Economist: In 2015, the average per-person amount paid for goods and services purchased by consumers in Country X was the equivalent of $17,570inUnitedStatesdollars,just30percentofthecorrespondingfigureof$58,566 for Country Y. Yet in 2015, there was already a substantial middle class in Country X that had discretionary income for middle-class consumer goods such as new vehicles, computers, or major household appliances, while a significant portion of the middle class in Country Y did not have sufficient income to purchase such items. Which of the following, if true, most helps explain the discrepancy in the relationships described by the economist?

During the earliest period of industrialization in Britain, steam engines were more expensive to build and operate than either windmills or water mills, the other practicable sources of power for factories. Yet despite their significant cost disadvantages, steam-powered factories were built in large numbers well before technical improvements brought their cost down. Furthermore, they were built even in regions where geographical conditions permitted the construction of wind- and water-powered factories close to major markets. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the proliferation of steam-powered factories during the earliest period of industrialization in Britain?

Large national budget deficits do not cause large trade deficits. If they did, countries with the largest budget deficits would also have the largest trade deficits. In fact, when deficit figures are adjusted so that different countries are reliably comparable to each other, there is no such correlation. If the statements above are all true, which of the following can properly be inferred on the basis of them?

A study compared a sample of Swedish people older than 75 who needed in-home assistance with a similar sample of Israeli people. The people in the two samples received both informal assistance, provided by family and friends, and formal assistance, professionally provided. Although Sweden and Israel have equally well-funded and comprehensive systems for providing formal assistance, the study found that the people in the Swedish sample received more formal assistance, on average, than those in the Israeli sample. B More Swedish than Israeli people older than 75 live in rural areas where formal assistance services are sparse or nonexistent. C Although in both Sweden and Israel much of the funding for formal assistance ultimately comes from the central government, the local structures through which assistance is delivered are different in the two countries. D In recent decades, the increase in life expectancy of someone who is 75 years old has been greater in Israel than in Sweden. E In Israel, people older than 75 tend to live with their children, whereas in Sweden people of that age tend to live alone.

Rainwater contains hydrogen of a heavy form called deuterium. The deuterium content of wood reflects the deuterium content of rainwater available to trees during their growth. Wood from trees that grew between 16,000 and 24,000 years ago in North America contains significantly more deuterium than wood from trees growing today. But water trapped in several North American caves that formed during that same early period contains significantly less deuterium than rainwater in North America today. Which of the following, if true, most helps to reconcile the two findings?

Neuroscientist: Memory evolved to help animals react appropriately to situations they encounter by drawing on the past experience of similar situations. But this does not require that animals perfectly recall every detail of all their experiences. Instead, to function well, memory should generalize from past experiences that are similar to the current one. The neuroscientist's statements, if true, most strongly support which of the following conclusions?

Which of the following most logically completes the argument below? NowNews, although still the most popular magazine covering cultural events in Kalopolis, has recently suffered a significant drop in advertising revenue because of falling circulation. Many readers have begun buying a competing magazine that, at 50 cents per copy, costs less than NowNews at $1.50 per copy. In order to boost circulation and thus increase advertising revenue, NowNews's publisher has proposed making it available at no charge, but this proposal has a serious drawback, since _______.

Many athletes inhale pure oxygen after exercise in an attempt to increase muscular re-absorption of oxygen. Measured continuously after exercise, however, the blood lactate levels of athletes who inhale pure oxygen are practically identical, on average, to those of athletes who breathe normal air. The lower the blood lactate level is, the higher the muscular re-absorption of oxygen is. If the statements above are all true, they most strongly support which of the following conclusions?

Newspaper editors should not allow reporters to write the headlines for their own stories. The reason for this is that, while the headlines that reporters themselves write are often clever, what typically makes them clever is that they allude to little-known information that is familiar to the reporter but that never appears explicitly in the story itself. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

The spacing of the four holes on a fragment of a bone flute excavated at a Neanderthal campsite is just what is required to play the third through sixth notes of the diatonic scale�the seven-note musical scale used in much of Western music since the Renaissance. Musicologists therefore hypothesize that the diatonic musical scale was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians. Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the hypothesis?