Bunuel
Civil Engineer: Trade between the northern and southern cities of our state has stagnated greatly. There are few reliable methods of transporting goods between these two groups of cities, so in order to spur economic growth in this state, we must build a freeway system, connecting the two groups of cities, that passes no more than five miles away from each city.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the civil engineer’s reasoning?
A. Building a freeway system that passes as much as ten miles from each city would be sufficient to greatly increase trade between the northern and southern cities of the state.
B. There are other, more important causes for the lack of trade between the northern and southern cities of the state in addition to a lack of reliable methods of transporting goods between these two groups of cities.
C. The state’s infrastructure budget is not currently large enough to finance the construction of a freeway system.
D. Growth in the commercial traffic between two groups of cities is most often associated with the closeness of the transportation system with the cities.
E. The reliability of existing methods of transporting goods between the northern and southern cities of the state can be improved to some extent without building a freeway system
The conclusion to this argument is " so in order to spur economic growth in this state,
we must build a freeway system, connecting the two groups of cities, that passes
no more than five miles away from each city."
This is a strong conclusion.
A. Building a freeway system that passes as much as ten miles from each city would be sufficient to greatly increase trade between the northern and southern cities of the state.
This option provides additional information that does weaken the conclusion. If ten miles is sufficient, then we don't necessarily have to build less than 5 miles. Keep A.
B. There are other, more important causes for the lack of trade between the northern and southern cities of the state in addition to a lack of reliable methods of transporting goods between these two groups of cities.
The option doesn't say that transportation is not important. There could be other methods as well. Hence, the information has no effect. Eliminate B.
C. The state’s infrastructure budget is not currently large enough to finance the construction of a freeway system.
Such information play no role. This is out of scope. We are not measuring feasibility here. Eliminate C.
D. Growth in the commercial traffic between two groups of cities is most often associated with the closeness of the transportation system with the cities.
Irrelevant to the conclusion. We can eliminate D.
E. The reliability of existing methods of transporting goods between the northern and southern cities of the state can be improved to some extent without building a freeway system
This information plays no role. Also, the option only talks about "Some extent" of improvement. Hence, we can eliminate E
Option A is correct