Critical Reasoning

One analyst predicts that Hong Kong can retain its capitalist ways after it becomes part of mainland China in 1997 as long as a capitalist Hong Kong is useful to China; that a capitalist Hong Kong will be useful to China as long as Hong Kong is prosperous; and that Hong Kong will remain prosperous as long as it retains its capitalist ways. If the predictions above are correct, which of the following further predictions can logically be derived from them?

Under normal circumstances, the more competition in an industry, the lower the prices that consumers pay for that industry's products. But surgery patients in hospitals in the most competitive market are likely to pay more per hospital stay than are surgery patients in less competitive hospital markets. Which of the following, if true, LEAST contributes to an explanation of the apparent paradox described above?

Country Z's National Health-Care Program(NHCP) provides free health care to all citizens. In the last five years, NHCP has received increase funds, both in absolute terms and as a percent of country Z's gross national product. Yet the standard of health care in the country Z has decreased. Meanwhile, the standard of health care in other industrialized countries has increased. Clearly, over the past five years, NHCP must have become an overgrown and wasteful bureaucracy. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion reached in the passage?

Food aid if given to Ryana, a country that has a hunger emergency, will work to depress the price of food on the local market and drive local producers out of business.Therefore, Ryana will be left less able to provide food for its people. Which of the following, if true, is the strongest counter argument against the argument above?

The following proposal to amend the bylaws of an organization was circulated to its members for comment. When more than one nominee is to be named for an office, prospective nominees must consent to nomination and before giving such consent must be told who the other nominees will be. Which of the following comments concerning the logic of the proposal is accurate if it cannot be known who the actual nominees are until prospective nominees have given their consent to be nominated?

The average age of chief executive officers (CEO�s) in a large sample of companies is 57. The average age of CEO�s in those same companies 20 years ago was approximately eight years younger. On the basis of those data, it can be concluded that CEO�s in general tend to be older now. Which of the following casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?

Surveys show that every year only 10 percent of cigarette smokers switch brands. Yet the manufacturers have been spending an amount equal to 10 percent of their gross receipts on cigarette promotion in magazines. It follows from these figures that inducing cigarette smokers to switch brands did not pay, and that cigarette companies would have been no worse off economically if they had dropped their advertising. Of the following, the best criticism of the conclusion that inducing cigarette smokers to switch brands did not pay is that the conclusion is based on

The value of a product is determined by the ratio of its quality to its price. The higher the value of a product, the better will be its competitive position. Therefore, either increasing the quality or lowering the price of a given product will increase the likelihood that consumer will select that product rather than a competing one. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn above?

In January there was a large drop in the number of new houses sold, because interest rates for mortgages were falling and many consumers were waiting to see how low the rates would go. This large sales drop was accompanied by a sharp rise in the average price of new houses sold. Which of the following, if true, best explains the sharp rise in the average price of new houses?

One state adds a 7 percent sales tax to the price of most products purchased within its jurisdiction. This tax, therefore, if viewed as tax on income, has the reverse effect of the federal income tax: the lower the income, the higher the annual percentage rate at which the income is taxed. The conclusion above would be properly drawn if which of the following were assumed as a premise?

Surveys show that every year only 10 percent of cigarette smokers switch brands. Yet the manufacturers have been spending an amount equal to 10 percent of their gross receipts on cigarette promotion in magazines. It follows from these figures that inducing cigarette smokers to switch brands did not pay, and that cigarette companies would have been no worse off economically if they had dropped their advertising. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion that cigarette companies could have dropped advertising without suffering economically?

A researcher discovered that people who have low levels of immune-system activity tend to score much lower on tests of mental health than do people with normal or high immune-system activity. The researcher concluded from this experiment that the immune system protects against mental illness as well as against physical disease. B people's levels of immune-system activity are not affected by their use of medications C a few people with high immune-system activity had scores on the test of mental health that were similar to the scores of people who had normal immune system activity D people who have low immune-system activity tend to contract more viral infections than do people with normal or high immune-system activity E high levels of stress first cause mental illness and then cause decreased immune-system activity in normal individuals

Blood banks will shortly start to screen all donors for NANB hepatitis. Although the new screening tests are estimated to disqualify up to 5 percent of all prospective blood donors, they will still miss two-thirds of donors carrying NANB hepatitis. Therefore, about 10 percent of actual donors will still supply NANB-contaminated blood. The argument above depends on which of the following assumptions?

Throughout the 1950�s, there were increases in the numbers of dead birds found in agricultural areas after pesticide sprayings. Pesticide manufacturers claimed that the publicity given to bird deaths stimulated volunteers to look for dead birds, and that the increase in numbers reported was attributable to the increase in the number of people looking. Which of the following statements, if true, would help to refute the claim of the pesticide manufacturers?

Meteorologists say that if only they could design an accurate mathematical model of the atmosphere with all its complexities, they could forecast the weather with real precision. But this is an idle boast, immune to any evaluation, for any inadequate weather forecast would obviously be blamed on imperfections in the model. Which of the following, if true, could best be used as a basis for arguing against the author's position that the meteorologists' claim cannot be evaluated?

Black Americans are, on the whole, about twice as likely as White Americans to develop high blood pressure. This likelihood also holds for westernized Black Africans when compared to White Africans. Researchers have hypothesized that this predisposition in westernized Blacks may reflect an interaction between western high-salt diets and genes that adapted to an environmental scarcity of salt. Which of the following statements about present-day, westernized Black Africans, if true, would most tend to confirm the researchers� hypothesis?

Statement of a United States copper mining company: Import quotas should be imposed on the less expensive copper mined outside the country to maintain the price of copper in this country; otherwise, our companies will not be able to stay in business. Response of a United States copper wire manufacturer: United States wire and cable manufacturers purchase about 70 percent of the copper mined in the United States. If the copper prices we pay are not at the international level, our sales will drop, and then the demand for United States copper will go down. If the factual information presented by both companies is accurate, the best assessment of the logical relationship between the two arguments is that the wire manufacturer�s argument

Continuous indoor fluorescent light benefits the health of hamsters with inherited heart disease. A group of them exposed to continuous fluorescent light survived twenty-five percent longer than a similar group exposed instead to equal periods of indoor fluorescent light and of darkness. The method of the research described above is most likely to be applicable in addressing which of the following questions?

Sales campaigns aimed at the faltering personal computer market have strongly emphasized ease of use, called user-friendliness. This emphasis is oddly premature and irrelevant in the eyes of most potential buyers, who are trying to address the logically prior issue of whether______

People tend to estimate the likelihood of an event�s occurrence according to its salience; that is, according to how strongly and how often it comes to their attention.By placement and headlines, newspapers emphasize stories about local crime over stories about crime elsewhere and about many other major events. It can be concluded on the basis of the statements above that, if they are true, which of the following is most probably also true?