Self-paced
Lydia: Red squirrels are known to make holes in the bark of sugar maple trees and to consume the trees' sap. █████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███████████ █████ ████ █ █████ █████████████ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ ██████ █████████ ███ █████ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ █████████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ █████ █████ █████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ██ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ███ ██████
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Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis and Counter-Position
Lydia starts by describing a phenomenon: red squirrels make holes in the bark of sugar maple trees and consume their sap. She lays out two alternative explanations for this phenomenon: the squirrels are seeking either water or sugar, which are the two main components of sugar maple sap. Lydia then rules out the possibility that they are seeking water, since water is more easily available from other sources. Thus, Lydia concludes the explanation for this behavior is that the squirrels are seeking sugar.
Galina, meanwhile, rejects Lydia's hypothesis. Because the concentration of sugar in maple sap is low enough that squirrels would have to drink "an enormous amount of sap" to get "any significant amount" of sugar, Galina thinks something other than sugar must be the explanation.
11.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████
a
Squirrels are known ██ ████ █████ ████ ████ █ ████ █████████████ ██ ██████
Incorrect. This doesn't do anything to weaken Gallina's rebuttal. We know that sugar maple sap has a very low concentration of sugar, so knowing that squirrels happen to like foods with a high concentration of sugar doesn't tell us anything about why they are drawn to sugar maple sap, or undermine Gallina's claim that it is not the sugar that draws squirrels to sugar maple sap.
b
Once a hole ██ █ █████ █████ █████ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████
Incorrect. This doesn't clarify why squirrels are drawn to sugar maple sap in the first place, or weaken Gallina's argument that it is not the sugar that draws squirrels to sugar maple sap.
c
Trees other than █████ ███████ █████ ███ ████████ █ █████ █████████████ ██ █████ ████ ████ █████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████
Incorrect. Even if (C) is true, and squirrels tap trees with lower sugar concentrations less frequently than they tap sugar maples, this doesn't get rid of Galina's objection that sugar maple sap still has too low a concentration of sugar for the sugar itself to explain why squirrels tap sugar maples. Maybe sugar maples, besides having a higher sugar concentration than other trees, also have higher amounts of some trace vitamin that is the real reason squirrels tap those maples.
d
Red squirrels leave ███ █████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███ ███ ███████████
Correct. Gallina's objection is based on the idea that squirrels can't drink enough sap to get any significant amount of sugar from the sugar maples. But (D) tells us that the squirrels don't actually drink the sap immediately: they let it dry and so get the sugar in a more concentrated form. So while (D) is different from the possibility we pre-phrased in our analysis, it also gives us a reason to say that it is in fact the sugar in sugar maple sap that leads squirrels to tap sugar maples.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.
e
During the season ████ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ████ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██████
Incorrect. Knowing how the weather affects sap oozing out of the tree doesn't helps us understand wy squirrels consume sugar maple sap.