Weaken Flashcards
The laboratory experiment, the most effective method for teaching science, is disappearing from most secondary school curricula, and students are now simulating experiments with computers. This trend should be stopped. It results in many students’ completing secondary school and going on to a university without knowing how to work with laboratory equipment.
Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the argument?
A) Scientific knowledge is changing so rapidly it is difficult for secondary schools to keep up without using computers.
B) In some secondary schools, teachers conduct laboratory experiments while students observe.
C) Computers have proven to be a valuable tool for teaching secondary school students scientific terminology.
D) Secondary schools and universities across the nation have put a great deal of money into purchasing computers.
E) University students can learn science effectively without having had experience working with laboratory equipment
46.2.8
E) University students can learn science effectively without having had experience working with laboratory equipment
Despite increasing international efforts to protect the natural habitats of endangered species of animals, the rate at which these species are becoming extinct continues to rise. It is clear that these efforts are wasted.
Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the argument?
A) Scientists are better able to preserve the habitats of endangered species now than ever before.
B) Species that would have become extinct have been saved due to the establishment of animal refuges.
C) Scientists estimate that at least 2000 species become extinct every year.
D) Many countries do not recognize the increased economic benefit of tourism associated with preserved natural habitats.
E) Programs have been proposed that will transfer endangered species out of habitats that are in danger of being destroyed.
47.2.2
B) Species that would have become extinct have been saved due to the establishment of animal refuges.
Editorial: Many observers note with dismay the decline in the number of nongovernmental, voluntary community organizations. They argue that this decline is caused by the corresponding growth of government services once provided by these voluntary community groups. But this may not be true. The increase in government services may coincide with a decrease in volunteerism, but the former does not necessarily cause the latter; the latter may indeed cause the former.
The editorial undermines the conclusion of the causal argument by
A) showing that there is no causality involved
B) offering a counterexample to the alleged correlation
C) proving that no generalization can properly be drawn about people’s motives for volunteering
D) offering an alternate explanation of the correlation cited
E) proving that governments must do what community organizations fail to do
47.2.10
D) offering an alternate explanation of the correlation cited
Columnist: There are certain pesticides that, even though they have been banned for use in the United States for nearly 30 years, are still manufactured there and exported to other countries. In addition to jeopardizing the health of people in these other countries, this practice greatly increases the health risk to US consumers, for these pesticides are often used on agricultural products imported into the US.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the columnist’s argument?
A) Trace amounts of some of the pesticides banned for use in the US can be detected in the soil where they were used 30 years ago.
B) Most of the pesticides that are manufactured in the US and exported are not among those banned for use in the US.
C) The US is not the only country that manufactures and exports the pesticides that are banned for use in the US.
D) The banned pesticides pose a greater risk to people in the countries in which they are used than to US consumers.
E) There are many pesticides that are banned for use in other countries that are not banned for use in the US.
47.2.22
C) The US is not the only country that manufactures and exports the pesticides that are banned for use in the US.
Consumer advocate: The manufacturer’s instructions for assembling a product should be written in such a way that most consumers would find it much easier to put the product together if the instructions were available than if they were not.
Which of the following, if true, would provide the strongest reason for thinking that the principle advanced by the consumer advocate cannot always be followed?
A) The typical consumer who assembles a product does so using the manufacturer’s instructions, but still has great difficulty.
B) Often the store at which a consumer put purchases an unassembled product will offer, for a fee, to assemble the product and deliver it.
C) For the typical product, most consumers who assemble it do so very easily and without ever consulting the manufacturer’s instructions.
D) Usually a consumer who is trying to assemble a product using the manufacturer’s instructions has no difficulties understanding the instructions.
E) Some consumers refer to the manufacturer’s instructions for assembling a product only if stye have difficulties assembling the product.
C) For the typical product, most consumers who assemble it do so very easily and without ever consulting the manufacturer’s instructions.
Long-term and short-term relaxation training are two common forms of treatment for individuals experiencing problematic levels of anxiety. Yet studies show that on average, regardless of which form of treatment one receives, symptoms of anxiety decrease to a normal level within the short-term training time period. Thus, for most people the generally more expensive long-term training is unwarranted.
Which of the following most weakens the argument?
A) A decrease in symptoms of anxiety often occurs even with no treatment or intervention by a mental health professional
B) Short-term relaxation training conducted by a more experienced practitioner can be more expensive than a long-term training conducted by a less experienced practitioner
C) Recipients of long-term training are much less likely than recipients of short-term training to have recurrences of problematic levels of anxiety
D) The fact that an individual thinks that a treatment will reduce his or her anxiety tends, in and of itself, to reduce the individual’s anxiety
E) Short-term relaxation training involves the teaching of a wider variety of anxiety-combating relaxation techniques than does long-term training
C) Recipients of long-term training are much less likely than recipients of short-term training to have recurrences of problematic levels of anxiety
Travaillier Corporation has recently hired employees with experience in the bus tour industry and its executives have also been negotiating with charter bus companies that subcontract with bus tour companies. But Travaillier has traditionally focused on serving consumers who travel primarily by air, and marketing surveys show that Travaillier’s traditional consumers have not changed their vacation preferences. Therefore, Travaillier must be attempting to enlarge its consumer base by attracting new customers.
Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument?
A) In the past Travaillier has found it very difficult to change its customers’ vacation preferences.
B) Several travel companies other than Travaillier have recently tried and failed to expand into they bus tour business.
C) At least one of Travaillier’s new employees not only has experience in the bus tour industry but also has designed air travel vacation packages.
D) Some of Travaillier’s competitors have increased profits by concentrating their attention on their customers who spend most on vacations.
E) The industry consultants employed by Travaillier typically recommend that companies expand by introducing their current customers to new products and services.
E) The industry consultants employed by Travaillier typically recommend that companies expand by introducing their current customers to new products and services.
The five senses have traditionally been viewed as distinct yet complementary. Each sense is thought to have its own range of stimuli that are incapable of stimulating the other senses. However, recent research has discovered that some people taste a banana and claim that they are tasting blue, or see a color and say that it has a specific smell. This shows that such people, called synesthesiacs, have senses that do not respect the usual boundaries between the five recognized senses.
Which one of the following statements most seriously weakens the argument?
A) Synesthesiacs demonstrate a general, systematic systematic impairment in their ability to use and understand words.
B) Recent evidence strongly suggests that there are other senses besides sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste.
C) The particular ways in which sensory experiences overlap in synesthesiacs follow a definite pattern.
D) The synesthetic phenomenon has been described in the legends of various cultures.
E) Synesthesias can be temporarily rid of their synesthetic experiences by the use of drugs.
A) Synesthesiacs demonstrate a general, systematic systematic impairment in their ability to use and understand words.
Dietary researcher: A recent study reports that laboratory animals that were fed reduced-calorie diets lived longer than laboratory animals whose caloric intake was not reduced. In response, some doctors are advocating reduced-calorie diets, in the belief that North Americans’ life spans can thereby be extended. However, this conclusion is not supported. Laboratory animals tend to eat much more than animals in their natural habitats, which leads to their having a shorter life expectancy. Restricting their diets merely brings their caloric intake back to natural, optimal levels and reinstates their normal life spans.
Which one would most weaken the dietary researcher’s argument?
A) North Americans, on average, consume a higher number of calories than the optimal number of calories for a human diet.
B) North Americans with high-fat, low-calorie diets generally have a shorter life expectancy than North Americans with low-fat, low-calorie diets.
C) Not all scientific results that have important implications for human health are based on studies of laboratory animals.
D) Some North Americans who follow reduced-calorie diets are long-lived.
E) There is a strong correlation between diet and longevity in some species of animals.
A) North Americans, on average, consume a higher number of calories than the optimal number of calories for a human diet.
Although wood-burning stoves are more efficient than open fireplaces, they are also more dangerous. The smoke that wood-burning stoves release up the chimney is cooler than the smoke form an open flame. Thus it travels more slowly and deposits more creosote, a flammable substance that can clog a chimney - or worse, ignite inside it.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A) The most efficient wood-burning stoves produce less creosote than do many open fireplaces.
B) The amount of creosote produced depends not only on the type of flame but on how often the stove or fireplace is used.
C) Open fireplaces pose more risk of severe accidents inside the home than do wood-burning stoves.
D) Open fireplaces also produce a large amount of creosote residue.
E) Homeowners in warm climates rarely use fireplaces or wood-burning stoves.
C) Open fireplaces pose more risk of severe accidents inside the home than do wood-burning stoves.
The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is found inside the noses of various animals. While its structural development and function are clearer in other animals, most humans have a VNO that is detectable, though only microscopically. When researchers have been able to stimulate VNO cells in humans, the subjects have reported experiencing subtle smell sensations. It seems, then, that the VNO, though not completely understood, is a functioning sensory organ in most humans.
Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument?
A) It is not known whether the researchers succeeded in stimulating only VNO cells in the human subjects’ noses.
B) Relative to its occurrence in certain other animals, the human VNO appears to be anatomically rudimentary and underdeveloped.
C) Certain chemicals that play a leading role in the way the VNO functions in animals which it is highly developed do not appear to play a role in its functioning in humans.
D) Secondary anatomical structures associated with the VNO in other animals seem to be absent in humans.
E) For many animal species, the VNO is thought to subtly enhance the sense of smell.
A) It is not known whether the researchers succeeded in stimulating only VNO cells in the human subjects’ noses.
