Bunuel
Mayor: the commuters from the nearby suburb of Coldstream perennially complain of a difficult commute to our downtown region. To address these concerns, we should install high-speed toll collector on the interstate between here and Coldstream, thus relieving any traffic snarls caused by the hand-operated toll booths.
Civil engineer: Over 95% of commuters from Coldstream take local roads, not the interstate, to our downtown region.
The civil engineer uses which of the following techniques in responding to the mayor?
(A) pointing out that the premise could lead to an opposing conclusion
(B) questioning whether the methods recommended would work in practice
(C) citing evidence that calls into question the assumption of the argument
(D) suggesting, by analogy, that the argument might not support the conclusion
(E) presenting evidence that the proposed solution would have damaging unforeseen consequences
Magoosh Official Explanation:
The mayor suggesting a plan, assuming that most commuters from Coldstream take the interstate. The civil engineer cites data demonstrating that this is not true. The credited answer is (C) --- what the civil engineer cites is evidence, and it contradicts an assumption of the mayor's argument.
The civil engineer cites new data: that is, she adds something new to the argument. She doesn't criticize anything about the structure of the mayor's argument. That's why (A) is incorrect.
Choice (B) is intriguing: if this were correct, it would imply that the civil engineer agreed with the mayor in theory, and was disagreeing about the way something theoretical would play out in practice. That's simply not the case in this question.
The civil engineer is not making any analogy whatsoever: she is citing cold, hard data! That's why (D) is incorrect.
The mayor wants to solve a problem, and the civil engineer simply points out data that suggests that the mayor's solution won't solve the problem. The current problem remains unsolved, but no new bad thing is predicted.
That's why (E) is incorrect.