| Critical Reasoning Butler: July 2026 |
| July 22 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 Journalist: Residents of a natural area popular with tourists have long complained about the air pollution caused by tourists’ use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) on local trails. This problem will soon be solved, however, because of a new law requiring that all area tour companies cease using gasoline-powered ATVs and use only electric ones. Whereas a gasoline-powered ATV can emit as much air pollution as multiple cars, electric ATVs produce no emissions.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the journalist’s reasoning relies?
(A) The relatively high weights of electric ATVs do not cause them to cause more damage to local ecosystems than gasoline-powered ATVs.
(B) Few of the residents of the natural area will continue to use gasoline-powered ATVs after the new law goes into effect.
(C) ATVs used on trails do not kick up fine dust that remains airborne for relatively long periods of time.
(D) The vehicles that tourists use to travel to the natural area produce less pollution than the ATVs they ride once there.
(E) The process of mining the minerals used in production of the batteries in electric ATVs does not result in large amounts of air pollution.
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CR 2 Small Business Owner: Prescott’s grocery store was losing customers because of long checkout lines. To address this issue, Prescott’s installed self-checkout stations so that more customers could check out at a time and the lines would be shorter. This approach will not help Prescott’s retain customers, however, since most of the people who shop at Prescott’s dislike checking out their own groceries.
Which of the following, if true, could a Prescott’s manager use to effectively rebut the argument made by the small business owner?
(A) Prescott’s would not become more profitable if it were to hire more cashiers so that customers could check out quickly without having to check out their own groceries.
(B) Most of Prescott’s customers prefer checking out their own groceries over waiting in long checkout lines.
(C) Before Prescott’s installed the self-checkout stations, there were no times of day when the checkout lines at Prescott’s were generally sufficiently short to satisfy most customers.
(D) Prescott’s biggest spending customers tend also to be those customers least willing to wait in long lines.
(E) Prescott’s has personnel supporting self-checkout who can assist customers with solving any problems they experience while checking out.