Self-study
Scientists found the remains of several species of mites trapped in rocks in a high-altitude cave. ███████████ ██████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ███████ █████ █████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ████ ███ █████ █ ███ █████ ████ ██ █ ██████ █████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ █████ █████ ████ █████ ████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that a cave where certain mite species were trapped 2,000 years ago was probably cooler at that time than it is now. In support, the author explains that the mites in question don't live in this cave anymore, but they do live in a cooler area nearby. There's also a piece of support missing, which we need to find.
Objective: Find Support
We know we're looking for another premise to support the conclusion that the cave probably used to be cooler. So far, all we know is that these mites currently live in a cooler area. They used to but no longer live in the cave. To strengthen this argument, we could provide some reason that the temperature around the mites today is indicative of the temperature in the cave in the past, e.g. the mites could only live in a cooler area or the mites prefer to live in cooler areas.
8.
The conclusion of the argument ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ███ ████████
a
the mite species █████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ████████ ████████
This is exactly the support we're looking for. We know that the mites can live in the cooler nearby area, meaning that area meets their specific requirements. With that, we can support the conclusion that for the mites to have lived in the cave, it was likely cooler.
b
the cooler area █ ███ █████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ███ █ ████████ ██████ ███████
The argument is only concerned with temperature, so it doesn't help us to know that the nearby area is also wetter. If anything that throws doubt on the conclusion: now it could be the humidity that the mites prefer, not the temperature.
c
the mite species ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ███
The author is only trying to establish that the cave was probably cooler when the mites lived there. As far as we know, it doesn't make any difference how long they lived in the cave, so this isn't relevant.
d
the mite species █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████████
All this tells us is that the nearby area must also be at a high altitude. That doesn't give us any more information about the mites' preferred temperature, so it's not relevant.
e
there are fewer ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ████ █████ ████ █████ █████ ███
We're only concerned with the mite species which were found trapped in this cave, and which currently live in a cooler area nearby. Any other mite species that used to live around the cave aren't relevant, because the argument depends on the preferences only of the specific mites discussed.