Self-study
Several major earthquakes have occurred in a certain region over the last ten years. ███ █ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ███████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that a new earthquake prediction system will help local officials decide the exact time to evacuate various towns when earthquakes occur. This is because electrical current changes were detected before each major earthquake in the region over the last decade.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the new earthquake protection system can accurately gauge changes in the earth's electrical currents with enough precision to help officials decide the "exact time" to evacuate certain towns. The argument also assumes that the pattern of electrical current changes preceding earthquakes will continue in the future, as it has over the last ten years.
9.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
Scientists do not █████ ██████████ ████ ███████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ██████
This doesn't weaken the argument. Scientists don't need to understand the exact mechanism causing these currents in order to be able to detect them and predict the right time to evacuate.
b
Most other earthquake ██████████ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █ ██████ ███████████ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ███ ███ ██████████ ████████████
If anything, this strengthens the argument. If old detection methods have been based on weaker correlations, it seems more likely that this new method, based on a stronger correlation, will help local officials figure out more precisely when to evacuate.
c
The frequency of █████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ██████
This doesn't weaken the claim that this new method will help officials figure out when to evacuate. Regardless of how frequent major earthquakes have been, if they have been preceded by electrical current changes that can be detected by this new method, this method can still be useful to officials.
d
There is considerable █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████████ ████████████
This weakens the argument. If this is true, then current changes could possibly occur very shortly before an earthquake, not leaving officials enough time to evacuate towns, which would weaken the claim that this method will aid officials in knowing \"exactly when\" to evacuate.
e
There is presently ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████
This doesn't weaken the argument. Even if there’s only one station capable of using this method, the method could still be employed and be helpful to officials.