Criminologist: Some legislators advocate mandating a sentence of life in prison for anyone who, having twice served sentences for serious crimes, is subsequently convicted of a third serious crime. These legislators argue that such a policy would reduce crime dramatically, since it would take people with a proven tendency to commit crimes off the streets permanently. What this reasoning overlooks, however, is that people old enough to have served two prison sentences for serious crimes rarely commit more than one subsequent crime. Filling our prisons with such individuals would have exactly the opposite of the desired effect, since it would limit our ability to incarcerate younger criminals, who commit a far greater proportion of serious crimes.

In the argument as a whole, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

Educational Theorist: Recent editorials have called for limits on the amount of homework assigned to children. They point out that free-time activities play an important role in childhood development and that large amounts of homework reduce children's free time, hindering their development. But the average homework time for a ten year old, for example, is little more than 30 minutes per night. Clearly, therefore, there is no need to impose the limits these editorials are calling for.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the educational theorist's argument relies?

Secret passwords are often used to control access to computers. When employees are allowed to make up their own passwords, they are likely to setup as passwords their initials or birth dates. To improve security, employers should assign randomly generated passwords to employees rather than allowing employees to make up their own

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the conclusion drawn above?

It is crucially important to farmers that the herbicides they use to control weeds do not damage their crops. One very effective herbicide is safe for corn, but soybeans are damaged even by the herbicide's residue, which remains in the soil more than a year after the herbicide is applied. Soybeans and corn are not sown together in the same field; nevertheless, most farmers are reluctant to use the herbicide on their corn.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest justification for the farmers' reluctance?

Rail Executive: Five years ago we discontinued train service between Lamberton and its suburbs because low ridership caused total fares collected to be substantially lower than the cost of operating the service. It is true that recent population growth in the suburban communities suggests increased potential ridership. Nevertheless, since most of the newer residents own automobiles, restoring the train service this year would still result in serious deficits

Which of the following ,if true casts the most serious doubt on the rail executive's argument?

A diet high in saturated fats increases a person's risk of developing heart disease. Regular consumption of red wine reduces that risk. Per-capita consumption of saturated fats is currently about the same in France as in the United States, but there is less heart disease there than in the United States because consumption of red wine is higher in France. The difference in regular red-wine consumption has been narrowing, but no similar convergence in heart-disease rates has occurred.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to account for the lack of convergence noted above?

Environmentalist: The use of snowmobiles in the vast park north of Milville creates unacceptable levels of air pollution and should be banned.

Milville business spokesperson: Snowmobiling brings many out-of-towners to Milville in winter months, to the great financial benefit of many local residents. So, economics dictate that we put up with the pollution.

Environmentalist: I disagree: A great many cross-country skiers are now kept from visiting Milville by the noise and pollution that snowmobiles generate.

Environmentalist responds to the business spokesperson by doing which of the following?

Escalating worldwide demand for corn has led to a sharp increase in the market price of corn, and corn prices are likely to remain high. Corn is extensive used as feed for livestock, and because profit margins are tight in the livestock business, many farmers are expected to leave the business. With fewer suppliers, meat prices will surely rise. Nonetheless, observers expect an immediate short-term decrease in meat prices.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to justify the observers' expectation?

Since 1995, Congress has exempted oil companies that have leases issued by the federal government allowing them to drill for deep-water oil off the Gulf of Mexico from royalty payments as an incentive to spur development in times of low oil and gas prices. These leases were supposed to have included a provision that reinstates the royalties should the market prices of oil and gas exceed a certain level. Because of an error by the federal government, however, the language that reinstates the royalties is missing from the more than 1,100 leases issued by the U.S. government in 1998 and 1999. Since the market price of oil and gas has recently risen far above the threshold levels, this error could allow the oil companies to reap a windfall of more than $10 billion through the life of the leases. In response, the government is pressuring the oil companies to renegotiate the leases. The executives of the oil companies strongly oppose renegotiation; all have issued statements stating that they expect the government to honor the terms of the contracts and that renegotiating a duly signed agreement would set a bad precedent.

Which of the following statements best reflects the position of the oil company executives?

The children in the second grade at a local elementary school scored lower on tests of math skills this year than the second graders did last year. The school board blames the disappointing results on the budget cuts that forced the school to consolidate several classes of second-grade students, thus depriving them of the individualized attention that they had previously enjoyed.

Which of the following, if true, best supports the explanation offered by the school board for the students' lower test scores?

Ecologist: The incidence of alligator attacks on humans in the vicinity of the Blue Lagoon has increased in recent years. Relocating at least half of the Blue Lagoon's alligator population would help decrease the incidence of alligator attacks on humans.

The ecologist's claim relies on which of the following assumptions?

Congress has passed a law that scales back the tax credits offered to purchasers of hybrid cars. Because of this, the number of hybrid cars sold each year, which has approximately doubled in each of the last five years, is likely to flatten in the next few years.

Which of the following statements, if true, most weakens the conclusion that the number of hybrid cars sold annually is likely to flatten in the next few years?

The legislature of the Philippines voted recently to abolish the death penalty. In contrast, the death penalty remains legal in the United States. The difference in the legality of capital punishment demonstrates that the majority of American citizens believe in the death penalty, while the majority of Filipino citizens do not.

Which of the following is an assumption upon which the above argument depends?

On average, American consumers buy a new computer every four years even though older computers are still perfectly capable of basic operations such as word processing and surfing the Internet. This is the case despite the fact that most computers are designed to work for approximately ten years.

The statements above, if true, best support which of the following as a conclusion?

At any given time, approximately fifteen percent of all homes in Florida are on the market. In Texas, however, only seven percent of all homes are on the market at any given time. Therefore, one will have a wider selection of homes to choose from if one looks for a home in Florida rather than in Texas.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously strengthen the argument above?