Self-paced
Alan: Government subsidies have been proposed in Cariana to encourage farmers in Rochelle, the country’s principal agricultural region, to implement certain new farming techniques. ██████ █████ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██████████████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ █████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ████████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████████ ████████
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Structure: Counter-Argument
The stimulus presents two arguments about government subsidies for the agricultural district of Rochelle in the country of Cariana. Alan argues that, since implementing new agricultural techniques is necessary to control the erosion of productive topsoil, and since farmers cannot afford to implement these new techniques on their own, agricultural output in Rochelle will "inevitably decline" without subsidies.
Betty responds that the cause of the erosion is recurring floods, which will stop when Cariana finishes a new dam next year. She concludes that the total agricultural output of Rochelle will "stabilize at the present level" even if Rochelle does not receive subsidies.
11.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ █████████ ████████ ████████
a
Building a dam ██████ ████████████ █████ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ █████████
Irrelevant. Betty's argument is only about Rochelle. Her argument doesn't require any assumptions about flooding in regions other than Rochelle.
b
The new farming ██████████ ████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████████
Irrelevant. Alan, not Betty, is the one talking about the new farming techniques. Betty's argument isn't about those techniques, nor is it about any region other than Rochelle.
c
The current yearly ███████ ██ ████ ████ ████████████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███████████ █████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██████ ████ ████████████ █████████ █████
Correct. Remember that Betty's argument assumes that no changes will occur between now and when the dam is finished that will permanently reduce Rochelle's output from its present level. This requires Betty to assume that if the dam puts some of Rochelle's productive land underwater, the decline in production will be counterbalanced by additional output from the remaining land.
d
The cost to ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ███████████
Irrelevant. Betty's argument isn't about the cost of anything. She isn't comparing the cost of the dam versus the subsidies. She's just saying that once the dam is finished, Rochelle's agricultural output will stabilize at its present level.
e
The government of ███████ ███ ██████████ █████████ █████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███████ █ █████████████ ████
Irrelevant. Again, Betty's argument isn't about the cost of anything. It's true she assumes that the dam will be finished, and so (presumably) that the government of Cariana has enough resources to finish and operate the dam. But Betty isn't suggesting the government should both operate the dam and subsidize these new farming techniques, so (E) isn't a necessary assumption.