Critical Reasoning

Which of the following most logically completes the argument given? Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common today among adult competitive swimmers than it is among competitive athletes who specialize in other sports. Although chlorine is now known to be a lung irritant and swimming pool water is generally chlorinated, it would be rash to assume that frequent exposure to chlorine is the explanation of the high incidence of asthma among these swimmers, since __________.

As a large corporation in a small country, Hachnut wants its managers to have international experience, so each year it sponsors management education abroad for its management trainees. Hachnut has found, however, that the attrition rate of graduates from this program is very high, with many of them leaving Hachnut to join competing firms soon after completing the program. Hachnut does use performance during the program as a criterion in deciding among candidates for management positions, but both this function and the goal of providing international experience could be achieved in other ways. Therefore, if the attrition problem cannot be successfully addressed, Hachnut should discontinue the sponsorship program. In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

Loss of the Gocha mangrove forests has caused coastal erosion, reducing fish populations and requiring the Gocha Fishing Cooperative (GFC) to partially fund dredging and new shore facilities. However, as part of its subsidiary businesses, the GFC has now invested in a program to replant significant parts of the coast with mangrove trees. Given income from a controlled harvest of wood with continuing replanting, the mangrove regeneration effort makes it more likely that the cooperative will increase its net income. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument that mangrove replanting will increase the Gocha cooperative's net income?

Over the last five years, demand for hotel rooms in Cenopolis has increased significantly, as has the average price Cenopolis hotels charge for rooms. These trends are projected to continue for the next several years. In response to this economic forecast, Centennial Commerical, a real state developer, is considering a plan to convert several unoccupied office buildings it owns in Cenopolis into hotels in order to maximize it's revenue from these properties. Which of the following would it be most useful for Cenennial Commerical to know in evaluating the plan it is considering ?

Most of Western music since the Renaissance has been based on a seven-note scale known as the diatonic scale, but when did the scale originate? A fragment of a bone flute excavated at a Neanderthal campsite has four holes, which are spaced in exactly the right way for playing the third through sixth notes of a diatonic scale. The entire flute must surely have had more holes, and the flute was made from a bone that was long enough for these additional holes to have allowed a complete diatonic scale to be played. Therefore, the Neanderthals who made the flute probably used a diatonic musical scale. In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

Letter to the editor: If the water level in the Searle River Delta continues to drop, the rising sea level will make the water saltier and less suitable for drinking. Currently, 40 percent of the water from upstream tributaries is diverted to neighboring areas. To keep the delta's water level from dropping any further, we should end all current diversions from the upstream tributaries. Neighboring water utilities are likely to see higher costs and diminished water supplies, but these costs are necessary to preserve the delta. Which of the following would, if true, indicate a serious potential weakness of the suggested plan of action?

The quality of unrefined olive oil is not actually defined in terms of acidity, yet extensive tests have shown that the less free oleic acid an unrefined olive oil contains per liter, the higher its quality. The proportion of free oleic acid that an olive oil contains is an accurate measure of the oil�s acidity. If the statements above are all true, which of the following conclusions is best supported by them?

Hea Sook: One should not readily believe urban legends. Most legends are propagated because the moral lesson underlying them supports a political agenda. People will repeat a tale if it fits their purpose. They may not deliberately spread untruths, but neither are they particularly motivated to investigate deeply to determine if the tale they are telling is true. Kayla: But people would not repeat stories that they did not believe were true. Therefore, one can safely assume that if a story has been repeated by enough people then it is more likely to be true. Kayla's reply is most vulnerable to the criticism that it

In emerging economies in Africa and other regions, large foreign banks that were set up during the colonial era have long played a major economic role. These institutions have tended to confine their business to the wealthier of banks' potential customers. But development of these countries' economies requires financing of the small businesses that dominate their manufacturing, farming, and services sectors. So economic growth will be likely to occur if local banks take on this portion of the financial services markets, since __________. Which of the following completions would produce the strongest argument?

To reduce waste of raw materials, the government of Sperland is considering requiring household appliances to be broken down for salvage when discarded. To cover the cost of salvage, the government is planning to charge a fee, which would be imposed when the appliance is first sold. Imposing the fee at the time of salvage would reduce waste more effectively, however, because consumers tend to keep old appliances longer if they are faced with a fee for discarding them. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

In order to reduce the number of items damaged while in transit to customers, packaging consultants recommended that the TrueSave mail-order company increase the amount of packing material so as to fill any empty spaces in its cartons. Accordingly, TrueSave officials instructed the company�s packers to use more packing material than before, and the packers zealously acted on these instructions and used as much as they could. Nevertheless, customer reports of damaged items rose somewhat. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain why acting on the consultants� recommendation failed to achieve its goal?

Sascha: The attempt to ban parliament's right to pass directed-spending bills�bills that contain provisions specifically funding the favorite projects of some powerful politicians�is antidemocratic. Our nation's constitution requires that money be drawn from our treasury only when so stipulated by laws passed by parliament, the branch of government most directly representative of the citizens. This requirement is based on the belief that exercising the power to spend public resources involves the ultimate exercise of state authority and that therefore _________. Which of the following most logically completes Sascha's argument?

The kinds of hand and wrist injuries that result from extended use of a computer while maintaining an incorrect posture are common among schoolchildren in Harnville. Computers are important to the school curriculum there, so instead of reducing the amount their students use computers, teachers plan to bring about a sharp reduction in the number of these injuries by carefully monitoring their students' posture when using computers in the classroom. Which of the following would it be most useful to know in order to assess the likelihood that the teachers' plan will be successful?

Country X's recent stock-trading scandal should not diminish investors' confidence in the country's stock market. For one thing, the discovery of the scandal confirms that Country X has a strong regulatory system, as the following considerations show. In any stock market, some fraudulent activity is inevitable. If a stock market is well regulated, any significant stock-trading fraud in it will very likely be discovered. This deters potential perpetrators and facilitates improvement in regulatory processes. In the argument, the portion in boldface plays which of the following roles?

In the past the country of Malvernia has relied heavily on imported oil. Malvernia recently implemented a program to convert heating systems from oil to natural gas. Malvernia currently produces more natural gas each year than it uses, and oil production in Malvernian oil fields is increasing at a steady pace. If these trends in fuel production and usage continue, therefore, Malvernian reliance on foreign sources for fuel is likely to decline soon. Which of the following would it be most useful to establish in evaluating the argument?

People who do regular volunteer work tend to live longer, on average, than people who do not. It has been found that �doing good,� a category that certainly includes volunteer work, releases endorphins, the brain's natural opiates, which induce in people a feeling of well-being. Clearly, there is a connection: Regular releases of endorphins must in some way help to extend people's lives. Which of the following, it true most seriously undermines the force of the evidence given as support for the hypothesis that endorphins promote longevity

Normally, the pineal gland governs a person's sleep-wake cycle by secreting melatonin in response to the daily cycle of light and darkness as detected by the eye. Nonetheless, many people who are totally blind due to lesions in the visual cortex of the brain easily maintain a 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. So the neural pathway by which the pineal gland receives information from the eye probably does not pass through the visual cortex. For purposes of evaluating the argument it would be most useful to establish which of the following?

The total market value of real estate in Altonville has steadily declined over the past four years. This decline has meant that the overall figure on which the city�s property tax is based�the assessed value of that real estate�has also declined. The percentage of assessed value that was paid as property taxes to the city, however, did not change from year to year during this period. The information above most strongly supports which of the following?

Birds have been said to be descended from certain birdlike dinosaur species with which they share distinctive structural features. The fossil record, however, shows that this cannot be so, since there are bird fossils that are much older than the earliest birdlike dinosaur fossils that have been found. Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument relies?

Last year all refuse collected by Shelbyville city services was incinerated. This incineration generated a large quantity of residual ash. In order to reduce the amount of residual ash Shelbyville generates this year to half of last year's total, the city has revamped its collection program. This year city services will separate for recycling enough refuse to reduce the number of truckloads of refuse to be incinerated to half of last year's number. Which of the following is required for the revamped collection program to achieve its aim?