The report released by the interior ministry states that within the past 5 years the national land-reclamation program has created a 19 percent increase in arable land within the country. If these figures are accurate, the program has been a huge success. Senator Cox, a distinguished mathematician and a woman of brilliance, maintains, however, that the reclamation program could not possibly have been successful. Clearly, therefore, the figures cited in the report cannot be accurate. The argument above exhibits an erroneous pattern of reasoning most similar to that exhibited by which one of the following?

A) Albert's father claims that Albert does not know where the spare car keys are hidden. Yesterday however, Albert reported that he had discovered the spare car keys in the garage toolbox, so his father's claim cannot be true.

B) Gloria's drama teacher claims that her policy is to give each student the opportunity to act in at least one play during the year but, since Gloria, who attended every class, reports that she was not given such an opportunity the teacher's claim cannot be true.

C) Amos claims that he can hold his breath under water for a full hour. Dr. Treviso, a cardiopulmonary specialist, has stated that humans are physiologically incapable of holding their breath for even half that long; so Amos' claim cannot be true.

D) Evelyn reports that she got home before midnight. Robert, who always knows the time, insists that she did not. If Robert is right, Evelyn could not possibly have listened to the late news; since she admits not having listened to the late news, her report cannot be true.

E) Moira, after observing the finish of the 60-kilometer bicycle race, reports that Lee won with Adams a distant third. Lomas, a bicycle engineering expert, insists, however, that Lee could not have won a race in which Adams competed; so Moira's report cannot be true.

(E) seems right. (A) (B) and (C) all invovle claims by a certain party, but the passage is about report and a specialist in the field countering it.

(D) says Evelyn reports, but the sentence goes on to give some form of evidence Evelyn is not right since she did not see the late night news. The original passage did not go on and explain how the body dervied the figures indicating success.

So (E) seems to be the best choice.

Of course its E.

I had earlier thought C could be the one, and was almost going to ignore the rest of the options (D and E) but better sense prevailed abd I chose to read these options also.
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./abisurd
Not absurd

1 min &30s and E.
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"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you'r gonna get"