Self-study
Monarch butterflies spend the winter hibernating on trees in certain forests. █████ █████████████ ██████ ████ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████████ ███████ ███████ ████████████ ██████████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████ ████ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ███████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that tour groups meant to protect butterfly habitats are actually harming the monarch butterfly population. She supports this hypothesis by saying that the tourists damage most small shrubs, which are essential for the survival of butterflies that fall from the trees.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that tourists destroying the shrubs is enough to threaten the entire monarch population. To make this assumption, she must also believe that the monarchs that fall from the trees make up a significant portion of the entire population, so that, by endangering the subset of monarchs that fall off the trees, the tourists also endanger the population as a whole.
6.
Which one of the following █████ ██ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████
a
the amount of ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████████
Irrelevant— the author only discusses the effects of tourists on the land that is currently being used by monarchs for hibernation. It doesn’t matter whether there is also some other land that could be used for hibernation.
b
the amount of ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████████
Irrelevant— the author concludes that the tourists are endangering the monarch butterfly population by trampling shrubs. Whether or not the woodcutters are also threatening the butterfly population doesn’t help us to evaluate this argument.
c
the amount of █████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ███████████
Irrelevant— the author is only concerned with the plant life, specifically the small shrubs, that is necessary to the monarchs’ survival. It doesn’t matter how much other plant life is trampled by the tourists.
d
the proportion of ███ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████████
Irrelevant— like (B), this doesn’t help us evaluate the author’s argument because her conclusion is only about the effect of the tourists on butterfly survival, not the effect of the woodcutters.
e
the proportion of ███████████ ███████ ███████████ ████ ████ ███ ███ █████
If only a small number of hibernating monarchs fall from the trees, the tourists' actions would have little impact on the population as a whole. However, if a large number fall, the tourists may indeed be endangering the entire monarch butterfly population.