Critical Reasoning

Executives at the Fizzles Beverage Company plan to boost profits in Country X on their range of fruit-flavored drinks by introducing new flavors based on tropical fruits that are little known there. The executives reason that since the fruit drinks of other companies have none of these flavors, Fizzles will not have to compete for customers and thus will be able to sell the drinks at a higher price. Which of the following, if true, presents the most serious potential weakness of the plan?

A study of ticket sales at a summer theater festival found that people who bought tickets to individual plays had a no-show rate of less than 1 percent, while those who paid in advance for all ten plays being performed that summer had a no-show rate of nearly 30 percent. This may be at least in part because the greater the awareness customers retain about the cost of an item, the more likely they are to use it. B Many people who attended the theater festival believed strongly that they should support it financially. C Those who attended all ten plays became eligible for a partial refund. D Usually, people who bought tickets to individual plays did so immediately prior to each performance that they attended. E People who arrived just before the performance began could not be assured of obtaining seats in a preferred location.

Enforcement of local speed limits through police monitoring has proven unsuccessful in the town of Ardane. In many nearby towns, speed humps (raised areas of pavement placed across residential streets, about 300 feet apart) have reduced traffic speeds on residential streets by 20 to 25 percent. In order to reduce traffic speed and thereby enhance safety in residential neighborhoods, Ardane's transportation commission plans to install multiple speed humps in those neighborhoods. Which of the following, if true, identifies a potentially serious drawback to the plan for installing speed humps in Ardane?

The earliest Mayan pottery found at Colha, in Belize, is about 3,000 years old. Recently, however, 4,500-year-old stone agricultural implements were unearthed at Colha. These implements resemble Mayan stone implements of a much later period, also found at Colha. Moreover, the implements� designs are strikingly different from the designs of stone implements produced by other cultures known to have inhabited the area in prehistoric times. Therefore, there were surely Mayan settlements in Colha 4,500 years ago. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

One might expect that within a particular species, any individuals that managed to slow down the aging process would leave more offspring. Natural selection should therefore favor extreme longevity�but this does not seem to be the case. A possible explanation is that aging is a product of the inevitable wear and tear of living, similar to how household appliances generally accumulate faults that lead to their eventual demise. However, most researchers do not find this analogy satisfactory as an explanation. Which of the following would, if true, provide the strongest explanation for the researchers' reaction?

In the last few years, plant scientists have been able to genetically engineer seeds to produce crops highly resistant to insect damage. Farmers growing crops with these seeds will be able to spend significantly less on pesticides. This cost reduction would more than make up for the higher cost of the genetically engineered seeds. Clearly, therefore, farmers who grow crops from genetically engineered seeds will be able to reduce their costs by using them. Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument?

In response to viral infection, the immune systems of mice typically produce antibodies that destroy the virus by binding to proteins on its surface. Mice infected with a herpesvirus generally develop keratitis, a degenerative disease affecting part of the eye. Since proteins on the surface of cells in this part of the eye closely resemble those on the herpesvirus surface, scientists hypothesize that these cases of keratitis are caused by antibodies to herpesvirus. Which of the following, if true, gives the greatest additional support to the scientist's hypothesis?

Transportation expenses accounted for a large portion of the total dollar amount spent on trips for pleasure by residents of the United States in 1997, and about half of the total dollar amount spent on the transportation was airfare. However, the large majority of United States residents who took trips for pleasure in 1997 did not travel by airplane but used other means of transportation. If the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true about United States residents who took trips for pleasure in 1997?

Brown tides are growths of algae on the sea's surface that prevent sunlight from reaching marine plants below, thereby destroying not only the plants but also the shellfish that live off these plants. Biologists recently isolated a virus that, when added to seawater, kills the algae that cause brown tides. Adding large quantities of this virus to waters affected by brown tides will therefore make it possible to save the populations of shellfish that inhabit those waters. Which of the following, if true, provides the most support for the conclusion of the argument?

Studies in restaurants show that the tips left by customers who pay their bill in cash tend to be larger when the bill is presented on a tray that bears a credit-card logo. Consumer psychologists hypothesize that simply seeing a credit-card logo makes many credit-card holders willing to spend more because it reminds them that their spending power exceeds the cash they have immediately available. Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the psychologists� interpretation of the studies?

Editorial: Our city's public transportation agency is facing a budget shortfall. The fastest growing part of the budget has been employee retirement benefits, which are exceptionally generous. Unless the budget shortfall is resolved, transportation service will be cut, and many transportation employees will lose their jobs. Thus, it would be in the employees' best interest for their union to accept cuts in retirement benefits. Which of the following is an assumption the editorial's argument requires?

Maize contains the vitamin niacin, but not in a form the body can absorb. Pellagra is a disease that results from niacin deficiency. When maize was introduced into southern Europe from the Americas in the eighteenth century, it quickly became a dietary staple, and many Europeans who came to subsist primarily on maize developed pellagra. Pellagra was virtually unknown at that time in the Americas, however, even among people who subsisted primarily on maize. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the contrasting incidence of pellagra described above?

More and more law firms specializing in corporate taxes are paid on a contingency-fee basis. Under this arrangement, if a case is won, the firm usually receives more than it would have received if it had been paid on the alternate hourly rate basis. If the case is lost, the firm receives nothing. Most firms are likely to make more under the contingency-fee arrangement. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the prediction above?

Vargonia has just introduced a legal requirement that student-teacher ratios in government-funded schools not exceed a certain limit. All Vargonian children are entitled to education, free of charge, in these schools. When a recession occurs and average incomes fall, the number of children enrolled in government-funded schools tends to increase. Therefore, though most employment opportunities contract in economic recessions, getting a teaching job in Vargonia's government-funded schools will not be made more difficult by a recession. Which of the following would be most important to determine in order to evaluate the argument?

Although there is no record of poet Edmund Spenser's parentage, we do know that as a youth Spenser attended the Merchant Tailors' School in London for a period between 1560 and 1570. Records from this time indicate that the Merchant Tailors' Guild then had only three members named Spenser: Robert Spenser, listed as a gentleman; Nicholas Spenser, elected the Guild's Warden in 1568; and John Spenser, listed as a "journeyman cloth-maker." Of these, the last was likely the least affluent of the three�and most likely Edmund's father, since school accounting records list Edmund as a scholar who attended the school at a reduced fee. Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

In the United States, of the people who moved from one state to another when they retired, the percentage who retired to Florida has decreased by three percentage points over the past ten years. Since many local businesses in Florida cater to retirees, this decline is likely to have a noticeably negative economic effect on these businesses. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

One summer, floods covered low-lying garlic fields situated in a region with a large mosquito population. Since mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water, flooded fields would normally attract mosquitoes, yet no mosquitoes were found in the fields. Diallyl sulfide, a major component of garlic, is known to repel several species of insects, including mosquitoes, so it is likely that diallyl sulfide from the garlic repelled the mosquitoes. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

With employer-paid training, workers have the potential to become more productive not only in their present employment but also in any number of jobs with different employers. To increase the productivity of their workforce, many firms are planning to maintain or even increase their investments in worker training. But some training experts object that if a trained worker is hired away by another firm, the employer that paid for the training has merely subsidized a competitor. They note that such hiring has been on the rise in recent years. Which of the following would, if true, contribute most to defeating the training experts� objection to the firms� strategy?

Although the school would receive financial benefits if it had soft drink vending machines in the cafeteria, we should not allow them. Allowing soft drink machines there would not be in our students' interest. If our students start drinking more soft drinks, they will be less healthy. The argument depends on which of the following?

Certain groups of Asian snails include both �left-handed� and �right-handed� species, with shells coiling to the left and right, respectively. Some left-handed species have evolved from right-handed ones. Also, researchers found that snail-eating snakes in the same habitat have asymmetrical jaws, allowing them to grasp right-handed snail shells more easily. If these snakes ate more right-handed snails over time, this would have given left-handed snails an evolutionary advantage over right-handed snails, with the left-handed snails eventually becoming a new species. Thus, the snakes' asymmetrical jaws probably helped drive the emergence of the left-handed snail species. Which of the following would, if true, most strengthen the argument that asymmetrical snake jaws helped drive left-handed snail evolution?