Critical Reasoning

Near Chicago a newly built hydroponic spinach �factory,� a completely controlled environment for growing spinach, produces on 1 acre of floor space what it takes 100 acres of fields to produce. Expenses, especially for electricity, are high, however, and the spinach produced costs about four times as much as washed California field spinach, the spinach commonly sold throughout the United States. Which of the following, if true, best supports a projection that the spinach-growing facility near Chicago will be profitable?

Generally scientists enter their field with the goal of doing important new research and accept as their colleagues those with similar motivation. Therefore, when any scientist wins renown as an expounder of science to general audiences, most other scientists conclude that this popularizer should no longer be regarded as a true colleague. The explanation offered above for the low esteem in which scientific popularizers are held by research scientists assumes that

A computer equipped with signature-recognition software, which restricts access to a computer to those people whose signatures are on file, identifies a person's signature by analyzing not only the form of the signature but also such characteristics as pen pressure and signing speed. Even the most adept forgers cannot duplicate all of the characteristics the program analyzes. B Computers equipped with the software will soon be installed in most banks. C Nobody can gain access to a computer equipped with the software solely by virtue of skill at forging signatures. D Signature-recognition software has taken many years to develop and perfect. E In many cases even authorized users are denied legitimate access to computers equipped with the software.

In the United States in 1986, the average rate of violent crime in states with strict gun-control laws was 645 crimes per 100,000 persons: about 50 percent higher than the average rate in the eleven states where strict gun-control laws have never been passed. Thus one way to reduce violent crime is to repeal strict gun control laws. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?

Technological improvements and reduced equipment costs have made converting solar energy directly into electricity far more cost-efficient in the last decade. However, the threshold of economic viability for solar power (that is, the price per barrel to which oil would have to rise in order for new solar power plants to be more economical than new oil-fired power plants) is unchanged at thirty-five dollars. Which of the following, if true, does most to help explain why the increased cost-efficiency of solar power has not decreased its threshold of economic viability?

Studies have shown that elderly people who practice a religion are much more likely to die immediately after an important religious holiday period than immediately before one. Researchers have concluded that the will to live can prolong life, at least for short periods of time. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the researchers' conclusion?

Consumer health advocate: Your candy company adds caffeine to your chocolate candy bars so that each one delivers a specifed amount of caffeine. Since caffeine is highly addictive, this indicates that you intend to keep your customers addicted. Candy manufacturer: 0ur manufacturing process results in there being less caffeine in each chocolate candy bar than in the unprocessed cacao beans from which the chocolate is made. The candy manufacturer's response is flawed as a refutation of the consumer health advocate's argument because it

Which of the following best completes the passage below? At a recent conference on environmental threats to the North Sea, most participating countries favored uniform controls on the quality of effluents, whether or not specific environmental damage could be attributed to a particular source of effluent. What must, of course, be shown, in order to avoid excessively restrictive controls, is that _______.

If there is an oil-supply disruption resulting in higher international oil prices, domestic oil prices in open-market countries such as the United States will rise as well, whether such countries import all or none of their oil. If the statement in the passage concerning oil-supply disruptions is true, which of the following policies in an open-market nation is most likely to reduce the long-term economic impact on that nation of sharp and unexpected increases in international oil prices?

The program to control the entry of illegal drugs into the country was a failure in 1987. If the program had been successful, the wholesale price of most illegal drugs would not have dropped substantially in 1987. The argument in the passage depends on which of the following assumptions?

The recent decline in the value of the dollar was triggered by a prediction of slower economic growth in the coming year. But that prediction would not have adversely affected the dollar had it not been for the government�s huge budget deficit, which must therefore be decreased to prevent future currency declines. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion about how to prevent future currency declines?

Most archaeologists have held that people first reached the Americas less than 20,000 years ago by crossing a land bridge into North America. But recent discoveries of human shelters in South America dating from 32,000 years ago have led researchers to speculate that people arrived in South America first, after voyaging across the Pacific, and then spread northward. Which of the following, if it were discovered, would be pertinent evidence against the speculation above?

If the airspace around centrally located airports were restricted to commercial airliners and only those private planes equipped with radar, most of the private-plane traffic would be forced to use outlying airfields. Such a reduction in the amount of private-plane traffic would reduce the risk of midair collision around the centrally located airports. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn in the second sentence?

The program to control the entry of illegal drugs into the country was a failure in 1987. If the program had been successful, the wholesale price of most illegal drugs would not have dropped substantially in 1987. The argument in the passage would be most seriously weakened if it were true that

To persuade consumers to buy its personal computers for home use, SuperComp has enlisted computer dealers in shopping centers to sell its product and launched a major advertising campaign that has already increased public awareness of the SuperComp brand. Despite the fact that these dealers achieved dramatically increased sales of computers last month, however, analysts doubt that the marketing plan is bringing Super Comp the desired success. Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the analysts� doubt is well founded?

Vitacorp, a manufacturer, wishes to make its information booth at an industry convention more productive in terms of boosting sales. The booth offers information introducing the company�s new products and services. To achieve the desired result, Vitacorp�s marketing department will attempt to attract more people to the booth. The marketing director�s first measure was to instruct each salesperson to call his or her five best customers and personally invite them to visit the booth. Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the prediction that the marketing director�s first measure will contribute to meeting the goals of boosting sales?

United States Hospitals have traditionally relied primarily on revenues from paying patients to offset losses from unreimbursed care. Almost all paying patients now rely on governmental or private health insurance to pay hospital bills. Recently, insurers have been strictly limiting what they pay hospitals for the care of insured patients to amounts at or below actual costs. Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the information above?

A famous singer recently won a lawsuit against an advertising firm for using another singer in a commercial to evoke the famous singer's well-known rendition of a certain song. As a result of the lawsuit, advertising firms will stop using imitators in commercials. Therefore, advertising costs will rise, since famous singers' services cost more than those of their imitators. B Commercials using famous singers are usually more effective than commercials using imitators of famous singers. C The original versions of some well-known songs are unavailable for use in commercials. D Advertising firms will continue to use imitators to mimic the physical mannerisms of famous singers. E The advertising industry will use well-known renditions of songs in commercials.

High levels of fertilizer and pesticides, needed when farmers try to produce high yields of the same crop year after year, pollute water supplies. Experts therefore urge farmers to diversify their crops and to rotate their plantings yearly. To receive governmental price-support benefits for a crop, farmers must have produced that same crop for the past several years. The statement above, if true, best support which of the following conclusions?

Meteorite explosions in the Earth's atmosphere as large as the one that destroyed forests in Siberia, with approximately the force of a twelve-megaton nuclear blast, occur about once a century. The response of highly automated systems controlled by complex computer programs to unexpected circumstances is unpredictable. Which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn, if the statements above are true, about a highly automated nuclear-missile defense system controlled by a complex computer program?