1.(Z13)FastMart, a convenience store chain, is planning to add pancake syrup to the items it sells. FastMart stores do not have shelf space to stock more than one variety of syrup. Surveys of FastMart customers indicate that one-fourth of them prefer low-calorie syrup, while three-fourths prefer regular syrup. Since FastMart’s highest priority is to maximize sales, the obvious strategy for it is to stock regular syrup.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A: People buying pancake syrup at convenience stores, unlike those buying it at supermarkets, generally buy it only a few times.
B. People who prefer low-calorie syrup generally use about the same amount of syrup on their pancakes as those who prefer regular syrup.
C. Regular syrup does not sell for a higher price per unit than low-calorie syrup.
D. In general, customers who prefer regular syrup will buy low-calorie syrup if regular is unavailable, but those who prefer low-calorie will not buy regular syrup.
E. Sales of syrup are not expected to account for a large proportion of total dollar sales at the average FastMart store.
2.(Z10)Certain genetically modified strains of maize produce a natural insecticide that protects against maize-eating insects. The insecticide occurs throughout the plant, including its pollen. Maize pollen is dispersed by the wind and often blows onto milkweed plants that grow near maize fields. Caterpillars of monarch butterflies feed exclusively on milkweed leaves. When, in experiments, these caterpillars were fed milkweed leaves dusted with pollen from modified maize plants, they died. Therefore, use of the modified maize inadvertently imperils monarch butterflies.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. Per unit of volume, the natural insecticide produced by the genetically modified maize plants is less toxic to insects than are many commercial insecticides commonly used on maize plants.
B. Standard weed-control practices that have been used by farmers for decades have largely eliminated milkweed plants from certain areas where monarch-butterfly caterpillars were once common.
C. The experiments showed that the caterpillars were not harmed by contact with the pollen from the genetically modified plants unless they ingested it.
D. The maize-eating insects that the natural insecticide protects against do not feed on the pollen of the maize plant.
E. Airborne maize pollen tends to collect on the middle leaves of milkweed plants and monarch caterpillars feed only on the plant’s tender upper leaves.
3.(Z)In 1983 Argonia’s currency, the argon, underwent a reduction in value relative to the world’s strongest currencies. This reduction resulted in a significant increase in Argonia’s exports over 1982 levels. In 1987 a similar reduction in the value of the argon led to another increase in Argonia’s exports. Faced with the need to increase exports yet again, Argonia’s finance minister has proposed another reduction in the value of the argon.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the prediction that the finance minister’s plan will not result in a significant increase in Argonia’s exports next year?
A. The value of the argon rose sharply last year against the world’s strongest currencies.
B. In 1988 the argon lost a small amount of its value, and Aronian exports rose slightly in 1989.
C. The value of Argonia’s exports was lower last year than it was the year before.
D. All of Argonia’s export products are made by factories that were operating at full capacity last year, and new factories would take years to build.
E. Reductions in the value of the argon have almost always led to significant reductions in the amount of goods and services that Argonians purchase from abroad.
4.(Z14)Eurasian watermilfoil, a weed not native to Frida Lake, has reproduced prolifically since being accidentally introduced there. In order to eliminate the weed, biologists proposed treating infested parts of the lake with a certain herbicide that is nontoxic for humans and aquatic animals. However, the herbicide might damage populations of certain rare plant species that the lake contains. For this reason local officials rejected the proposal.
Which of the following, if true, points out the most serious weakness in the officials’ grounds for rejecting the biologists’ proposal?
A. The continuing spread of Eurasian watermilfoil in Frida Lake threatens to choke out the lake’s rare plant species.
B. Because of ecological conditions prevailing in its native habitat, Eurasian watermilfoil is not as dominant there as it is in Frida Lake.
C. The proliferation of Eurasian watermilfoil in Frida Lake has led to reductions in the populations of some species of aquatic animals.
D. Although Eurasian watermilfoil could be mechanically removed from Frida Lake, eliminating the weed would take far longer this way than it would using herbicides.
E. Unless Eurasian watermilfoil is completely eliminated from Frida Lake, it will quickly spread again once herbicide treatments or other control measures cease.
5.(Z14)In each of the past five years, Barraland’s prison population has increased. Yet, according to official government statistics, for none of those years has there been either an increase in the number of criminal cases brought to trial, or an increase in the rate at which convictions have been obtained. Clearly, therefore, the percentage of people convicted of crimes who are being given prison sentences is on the increase.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. In Barraland the range of punishments that can be imposed instead of a prison sentence is wide.
B. Over the last ten years, overcrowding in the prisons of Barraland has essentially been eliminated as a result of an ambitious program of prison construction.
C. Ten years ago, Barraland reformed its criminal justice system, imposing longer minimum sentences for those crimes for which a prison sentence had long been mandatory.
D. Barraland has been supervising convicts on parole more closely in recent years, with the result that parole violations have become significantly less frequent.
E. The number of people in Barraland who feel that crime is on the increase is significantly greater now than it was five years ago.
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