Utility Corp, a company with a specific level of cash in its budget, has been clearing uninhabited land near a national park for the construction of a coal plant. This practice continues even though greater annual profits can be made from a nuclear plant, which will not damage the nearby park, than from a coal plant, which will injure the habitat.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain why Utility Corp has been pursuing the less profitable of the two economic activities mentioned above?

The council of Durton, which wants to avoid overly depleting the surrounding forest through exports of lumber, is considering subsidizing the import of certain kinds of wood to offset partly the deforestation. Such a step could actually put the forest in more severe danger, since insects often get into wood and can be introduced as a highly destructive force into habitats where they are non-native. Moreover, in the vast majority of cases in which a lumber-exporting city has become a lumber-importing city, the forest surrounding that city has been wiped out a few years after the switch.

The answer to which of the following would be most useful for evaluating the argument above?

An online media company plans to increase its share of market by deeply discounting its subscription prices for the next two months. The discounts will cut into profits, but because they will be heavily advertised, the company expects that they will attract buyers away from rival providers of similar media. The company foresees that, in the longer term, customers will initially be attracted by the discounts but will then remain loyal subscribers.

In assessing the plan's chances of achieving its aim, it would be most useful to know which of the following?

Genetically modified crops have been sold commercially for almost twenty years now, and there is no evidence linking their consumption with any sort of disease. At this point, it is unreasonable to believe they are dangerous; with such attention on them, if they created short- or long-term health problems, we would know about it by now.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument stated above?

Consuming gluten, a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grains, causes allergic reactions in some adults. Medical records indicate that the percentage of adults in our country who have seen a doctor for gluten allergies has increased significantly in the last four years. Either our adults have been exposed to more gluten, or they have developed a greater sensitivity to them.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A statistical review of word types and frequencies in all of the novels in a library has found that the novels published prior to 1970 use far fewer slang words, measured as a percentage of the book's total words, than the novels published in 1970 or later. Evidently, whether or not they intended to do so, authors of novels published prior to 1970 used less slang than authors of later books.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens this argument?

Geologists believe that one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history occurred 74,000 years ago, the Toba supereruption. In one area, Middle Paleolithic tools of similar styles have been found and dated to closely before and after the Toba supereruption, indicating that the humans who lived after the supereruption were members of the population that had lived in that area prior to the eruption.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

The company Straffkey guarantees in its contracts with clients that for every ten computer programmers employed by Straffkey on a client project, Straffkey will employ at least one certified project manager. Since many of Straffkey's contracts are with the nation's government, its business increases during economic recessions, when the government spends more, and it has to hire more computer programmers at these times to complete its contracts. Therefore, while many jobs are threatened by economic recessions, the prospects of being hired as a project manager at Straffkey will not be lessened by the state of the economy as a whole.

Which of the following would be most important to determine in order to evaluate the argument?

Contrary to earlier predictions, demand for wine has not increased in recent years. Yet, even though prices and production amounts have also been stable during the last three years, wine producers last year increased their profits by more than 10 percent over the previous year's level.

Any of the following statements, if true about last year, helps to explain the rise in profits EXCEPT:

The Nowka apparel company's design for its new luxury jacket, the Fleecer, included a special design for a synthetic fabric layer that was intended to complement the model's image. The winning bid for supplying this synthetic fabric was submitted by Rainflex. Analysts concluded that the bid would only just cover Rainflex's costs on the fabric, but Rainflex executives claim that winning the bid will actually make a profit for the company.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly justifies the claim made by Rainflex's executives?

Cattle rancher: The new government regulations requiring the testing of all cattle crossing state borders would cost cattle ranchers $1 billion annually. These regulations would damage the nation's economy.

Health regulator: Some of the $1 billion spent or lost by ranchers will be revenue for other businesses. Profits will be gained as well as lost.

The health regulator responds to the cattle rancher by

Fund manager: over the last five years, the various stock funds managed by our company increased on average by 7 percent more in value than the market as a whole annually. Furthermore, the performance of each particular stock fund has not varied much from one year to the next, and our few investment products other than stock funds have stayed even with the market. These results show the success of our company: each year, most of our investment products have increased in value more than the market.

The debater's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on which of these grounds?

The percentage of global tourists who visit Glastock has increased by five percentage points over the past three years. Since tourism contributes an estimated 7% of Glastock's gross domestic product, this increase is likely to have a positive impact on the economy of Glastock.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument given?

Inhabitants of the country Orctania suffer from a much lower incidence of cancer than the inhabitants of other countries, for reasons that are generally theorized to be environmental and behavioral--the pollution-free air, stress-free and drug-free living, healthy dietary practices, and active lifestyle. Nevertheless, people from other countries who take up residence in Orctania and attempt to follow the practices of the inhabitants still have a radically higher incidence of cancer than do native Octanians.

Which of the following does NOThelp to explain the higher incidence rate of cancer in non-native Orctanians?

Disease X has afflicted cattle and cut into ranchers' profits. A genetic cause of the disease has been identified, as well as a gene therapy that can completely eradicate the cause of the disease in cattle. By applying this gene therapy to their cattle and eradicating the genetic susceptibility to the disease, ranchers will be able to carry on business in the future without incidence of Disease X in their cattle.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

An obscure novel from the thirteenth century has been attributed to Author X, although whether she was the sole author of the long work is often disputed. The year of completion has also been disputed but should be accepted as 1221, because in this year Author X wrote a diary entry about her joy at having completed the work. In this diary entry she also mentions a specific character who appears only in the last chapter of the book. While doubts may remain about certain aspects of the book's authorship, there is no doubt about its chronology.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the argument above?

In the phenomenon known as blindsight, some people who have been diagnosed as completely blind after damage to their visual cortex nonetheless retain the ability to make judgments and take actions that appear to require or demonstrate the use of sight. Despite the fact that they consciously see nothing, such individuals might, if prompted, catch a ball thrown, walk around obstacles, or guess with unusual accuracy whether an array of dots is moving or stationary. Individuals with blindsight are usually not surprised by these events and attribute them to coincidence.

Which of the following questions indicates the most serious weakness in the explanation that those with blindsight ascribe to their abilities?

Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

The city is threatened by an impending tropical storm, which is expected to raise the water outside the city to levels approaching the height of the protective barrier along the coast. Three teams of engineers and oceanographers have independently predicted the maximum water level will reach 89%, 83%, and 88% of the height of the protective barrier. The city is sufficiently safe, provided that _______________.

Columnist: The chief of police has claimed in a recent press conference that the decline in the number of pickpockets caught on the street indicates that his department that has partly eliminated this petty crime. He might as well argue that because a politician claims to have eliminated bureaucratic waste, there is no need for audits of government agencies. The gentlemen of our police department, in all likelihood, have caught fewer acts of petty crime lately simply because of lax vigilance under pressure from the mayor to lower reported crime rates.

The columnist's statements, if true, best support which of the following as a conclusion?

The year after a company whose success depends on product innovation has a profitable year, it invests more cash in its research and development department to attempt to generate innovations that can ensure future success. Therefore, companies whose success depends on product innovation should generate more innovations during the year following a profitable year of business than during years following unprofitable years of business.

Which of the following, if true about a company whose success depends on product innovation during the year after a profitable year, casts the most serious doubt on the conclusion drawn above?