Successful stand-up comedians are able to keep the attention of a large audience for a few hours, in such a way that the audience remembers long afterwards what the comedian said. And in their routines, many comedians make interesting points about serious topics. Unsurprisingly, humor is the means through which comedians are able to accomplish all of this. University professors hope to achieve much the same in their lectures. Thus, _______.
Successful stand-up comedians keep the attention of their audiences for a few hours and in a way that the audience long after the performance remembers what the comedian said. Additionally, some comedians make points about serious topics in their routines. Comedians are able to accomplish all of these qualities through the use of humor. University professors hope to achieve these same qualities through their lectures.
Thus, the use of humor in lectures could help university professors achieve these qualities.
Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?
stand-up comedians and university professors have the same skill set
We don’t know anything about the skill set of a university professor. We only know about the qualities university professors hope to achieve through lectures.
incorporating humor into lectures can help professors to achieve the goals they have for those lectures
If the analogy between stand-up comedians and university professors holds, then the use of humor could help university professors achieve their goals for lectures.
university professors can achieve the goals they have for their lectures only if they incorporate humor into them
We don’t know if humor is the only means university professors could achieve their goals for lectures. The stimulus suggests that humor is one way, but not necessarily that humor is the only way.
there is no reason to suppose that a lecture lasting several hours cannot hold an audience's attention
We don’t know that there’s no reason to think that lectures cannot keep an audience’s attention.
university professors should treat even the most serious topics in a humorous way
We don’t know what university professors should do. The stimulus only suggests that humor could help university professors achieve the goals they have for lectures.
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