Bunuel wrote:
Heavy snow fall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is usually preceded by subzero temperatures in northwestern Canada. When snow fall is high in Canada’s northwestern provinces, the same storm typically produces heavy snows in the Sierra Nevadas. Therefore, subzero temperatures cause winter snow storms to rebuild as they move down from Canada to the Sierra Nevadas.
Which selection contains the same type flaw as that contained in the passage above?
(A) Professional golfers tend to have lean builds. Therefore, professional golfers typically have healthy eating habits.
(B) People tend to write larger when they use wide-ruled notebook paper than when they use narrow-ruled paper. Therefore, people write more neatly on the wide-ruled paper.
(C) Students who participate in debate in high school often end up as trial lawyers. Therefore, participating in high school debate must somehow influence students to attend law school.
(D) During the hottest part of the day, song birds do not visit unshaded feeders. Therefore, song birds must visit the feeders before dawn.
(E) The kind of shows on Broadway can impact the type of shows premiered during new television seasons. Therefore, if the new Broadway shows feature aliens as characters in their productions, then the new television shows will also feature alien characters.
Official Explanation
The author of this passage uses a false correlation in his argument. He assumes that subzero temperatures lead to heavy snow storms in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The author doesn’t recognize that some other weather condition might lead to both the subzero temperatures and the heavy snow storms. As you look over the answer selections, it appears that selection (C) makes the same mistake. In (C), it is assumed that participation in high school debate must influence students to attend law school. Instead, perhaps a student’s interest in public affairs or some other subject
causes her to take high school debate classes
and go to law school. The argument doesn’t contemplate another possible cause.
Thus, selection (C) is the correct answer. The other selections also contain flaws, but they do not pattern the same defect contained in the passage.
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