| Critical Reasoning Butler: December 2025 |
| December 30 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 Which of the following most logically completes the argument below?
Standard dumpsters found in suburban neighborhoods next to forested land attract racoons, as the racoons forage for discarded food in the dumpsters at night. The racoons, in turn, attract foxes and bobcats, their natural predators who feed primarily on the racoons, into the neighborhoods. The town of Bonne’ Borough intends to rectify this situation by replacing their current dumpsters with lockable ones that will not attract racoons. This change is likely to result in a drop in the population of foxes and bobcats in Bonne’ Borough, since __________.
A. without a local concentration of the racoons on which foxes and bobcats prey, these predators expend much more energy on hunting, requiring much more prey for each fox and bobcat
B. foxes and bobcats are not likely to prey on other animals that might be attracted to the dumpsters
C. the sanitation department is capable of replacing the current dumpsters with lockable ones within a relatively short time and without disrupting regular sanitation services.
D. foxes and bobcats do not start hunting before sundown
E. foxes and bobcats primarily rely on smell to track prey and therefore gain no advantage from the fact that there is more light in the neighborhoods than in the forested land
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CR 2 Smithson University’s English department recently found that, because the Literary Analysis elective is not particularly relevant to contemporary society, the elective attracted few students. So, to attract more students to the literary analysis elective, the department proposed a curriculum emphasizing the use of literary analysis in producing articles of mass media and understanding their impact on the consumer.
Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest reason to expect that the proposed curriculum will be successful in attracting students?
A. Several of the foundational principles of literary analysis are involved in producing articles of mass media and understanding their impact on the consumer.
B. Knowledge of literary analysis is becoming increasingly important in understanding the role of mass media in contemporary society.
C. In contemporary society, the production of articles of mass media and the understanding of how they impact the consumer is of major importance in business, politics, and recreation.
D. Fewer students are interested in literary analysis today than there were 20 years ago.
E. An executive at a major mass media publisher has offered to deliver a guest lecture that could be useful in explaining the proposed curriculum.