Henry: Some scientists explain the dance of honeybees as the means by which honeybees communicate the location of whatever food source they have just visited to other members of the hive. But honeybees do not need so complicated a mechanism to communicate that information. Forager honeybees returning to their hive simply leave a scent trail from the food source they have just visited. There must therefore be some other explanation for the honeybees’ dance.

Winifred: Not necessarily. Most animals have several ways of accomplishing critical tasks. Bees of some species can navigate using either the position of the Sun or the memory of landmarks. Similarly, for honeybees, scent trails are a supplementary not an exclusive means of communicating.

Speaker 1 Summary
Henry argues that the purpose of the honeybees’ dance must be for something besides alerting other bees to the location of food. This is because bees already have another method of communicating the location of food - scent trails from the food source.

Speaker 2 Summary
Winifred points out that animals can have multiple methods for achieving the same goal. So, it’s possible honeybees alert others to food sources through their dance, even if they already have another method for alerting others to food sources.

Objective
We’re looking for a point of disagreement. The speakers disagree on whether there must be another explanation for the honeybees’ dance besides the purpose of communicating the location of food.

A
theories of animal behavior can be established on the basis of evidence about only one species of animal
Henry doesn’t have an opinion on this. He doesn’t try to infer anything about a general theory of animal behavior from a single species. His argument is solely about honeybees and the purpose of their dance.
B
there is more than one valid explanation for the dance of honeybees
Henry has no opinion. He thinks there must be another explanation besides communicating food source. But he could be open to one or multiple other explanations.
C
honeybees communicate the location of food sources through their dance
The speakers disagree. Henry thinks there must be a different explanation for why honeybees dance. Winifred believes this is a potential explanation for the dance.
D
the honeybee is the only species of bee that is capable of communicating navigational information to other hive members
Henry has no opinion. We know he thinks forager honeybees communicate location of food through a scent trail. We don’t know whether he thinks other kinds of bees also do this or whether other kinds of bees use other methods for communicating the location of things.
E
the honeybee’s sense of smell plays a role in its foraging strategies
The speakers agree. Henry believes this because he acknowledges honeybees communicate food location through a scent trail. Winifred also acknowledges this method of communicating food location - it’s a supplementary method of communication.

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Motorcoach driver: Professional drivers spend much more time driving, on average, than do other people and hence are more competent drivers than are other, less experienced drivers. Therefore, the speed limit on major highways should not be reduced, because that action would have the undesirable effect of forcing some people who are now both law-abiding and competent drivers to break the law.

Police officer: All drivers can drive within the legal speed limit if they wish, so it is not true to say that reducing the speed limit would be the cause of such illegal behavior.

Speaker 1 Summary

The motorcoach driver claims that we shouldn’t reduce highway speed limits. Why not? Because doing so would “force” some competent drivers to break the law, presumably by speeding. Who would these drivers be? We can infer the motorcoach driver is talking about professional drivers, who are better-than-average drivers because they spend more time driving. (The assumption is that the professionals wouldn’t reduce their speed to respect a new limit.)

Speaker 2 Summary

The police officer argues that lowering the speed limit would not actually be the cause of people speeding. This is because anyone can drive at the limit if they choose to—so the drivers’ choices, not the limit, would be to blame for speeding.

Objective

We need to find a point of disagreement. The driver and the officer disagree about whether lowering the speed limit would cause any drivers to speed.

A
it would be desirable to reduce the speed limit on major highways

The motorcoach driver disagrees with this, but the police officer doesn’t state an opinion. The police officer never mentions whether or not we should change the speed limit.

B
professional drivers will drive within the legal speed limit if that limit is reduced

The motorcoach driver disagrees with this, but the police officer neither agrees nor disagrees. The police officer doesn’t say whether professional drivers actually will speed; the point is just that if they did so it would be their own fault.

C
reducing the speed limit on major highways would cause some professional drivers to break the law

The motorcoach driver agrees with this, but the police officer disagrees, so this is the point at issue. The police officer claims that the cause of speeding would not be the lower limit, but would instead be that the drivers chose to speed.

D
professional drivers are more competent drivers than are other, less experienced drivers

The motorcoach driver agrees with this, but the police officer doesn’t state an opinion. The police officer doesn’t say anything at all about the competency of professional versus non-professional drivers.

E
all drivers wish to drive within the speed limit

Neither speaker states an opinion about this claim. Neither the motorcoach driver nor the police officer makes any kind of statement about what drivers actually wish to do.


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