Self-study
Company spokesperson: In lieu of redesigning our plants, our company recently launched an environmental protection campaign to buy and dispose of old cars, which are generally highly pollutive. ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ██████████ █████ ███████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███████
Summarize Argument
The company spokesperson concludes that the company will reduce air pollution more by buying old cars than it would by redesigning its plants. She supports this by saying that, while the company’s plants account for 4% of local air pollution, automobiles from before 1980 account for 30%.
Notable Assumptions
The company spokesperson assumes a net benefit of disposing of old cars without considering any costs, like how car disposal methods might impact pollution. She also doesn’t consider other factors that might reduce the benefits of the plan, like how many old cars and what kinds of old cars must be disposed of to make a real impact. She also doesn’t address any long-term benefits of redesigning the plants, other than addressing 4% of local air pollution, that might outweigh the benefits of disposing of old cars.
16.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██████████████ █████████
a
Only 1 percent ██ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███████ █████
We know that cars that predate 1980 account for 30% of local air pollution. Even if only 1% of local cars predate 1980, that 1% still accounts for 30% of local air pollution. Thus, (A) doesn’t point out an unaddressed factor that would reduce the benefit of car disposal.
b
It would cost ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ █████ ██████
The spokesperson’s conclusion is about how the company will most effectively reduce local air pollution. Whether the company also saves money in the process is irrelevant.
c
Because the company ████ ████ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ████
This highlights an unaddressed factor that greatly reduces the benefit of the car disposal plan. Cars that aren't running don’t contribute to air pollution. So, if most of the cars the company buys aren't running, the company is not effectively reducing local air pollution.
d
Automobiles made after ████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████
The spokesperson’s argument only addresses the pollution caused by cars made before 1980. The pollution caused by cars made after 1980 is irrelevant.
e
Since the company ████████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██████████ █████ █████████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████ ███ ██████████
Citizen complaints about pollution don’t necessarily reflect the actual amount of pollution. The spokesperson's argument is about which method will best reduce pollution, not which will best reduce citizen complaints.