| Critical Reasoning Butler: June 2026 |
| June 9 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 The average age of residents in Sunset City is well over 70 years of age, and the populace is composed almost entirely of retirees, with extremely few families having young children. However, Sunset City is also known for its many boutiques that specialize in selling clothing for infants and toddlers.
Which of the following, if true, best reconciles the seeming discrepancy described above?
A. The children's clothing boutiques in Sunset City purchase their clothing from wholesalers in Sunrise City, where there are many more families with small children.
B. The few children who do live in Sunset City do not have particularly large wardrobes.
C. The residents of Sunset City are known to spend more on health care than do residents of nearby cities.
D. The residents of Sunset City are generally wealthy and are known to spend large amounts of money buying gifts for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren who live in other cities.
E. Sunset City is not located on a major highway.
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CR 2 Tougher international restrictions on importing pandas to zoos in the United States are not to blame for the recent shortage of pandas on display in U.S. zoos. In fact, the real reason fewer zoos today have fewer pandas on display than 10 years ago is that the reproduction rates of pandas have decreased by 40% and the cost of upkeep of pandas has increased by 30% over the same time period.
Which of the following statements, if true, would most effectively strengthen the conclusion presented above?
A) Over the past 10 years, no pandas have been imported to the United States.
B) Since there are fewer pandas in the world today than 10 years ago, zookeepers have found it difficult to secure pandas for their zoos, especially since the cost to secure and support the panda is twice that of any other animal.
C) The recent drought in China and southeastern Asia has severely decreased the bamboo shoots available for pandas to eat throughout the world.
D) A recent study has concluded that the animal people look forward to seeing the most at zoos is the koala bear.
E) An increase in the number of zoos throughout the United States has increased the demand for pandas by medium-sized and small zoos.