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Bunuel
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Bunuel
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Using armored vehicles to detonate buried land mines entails an unavoidable risk of injury or fatality, but disarming and removing land mines manually currently entails an even greater such risk to those who remove land mines per mine removed. Therefore, in order to reduce the risk of injury or fatality without decelerating the effort to remove buried land mines, we must increase the use of armored vehicles and disarm fewer land mines by hand.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument above?


A. Manual mine disarmers can be quickly trained in methods that significantly decrease their risk of injury or fatality.
B. Injuries caused by manual disarmament tend to be far more serious than injuries caused by armored vehicle detonations.
C. The delivery of armored vehicles with which to detonate buried land mines can be organized easily by military field operatives.
D. Land mines detonated by armored vehicles destabilize the land surrounding the mine, while land mines that are successfully disarmed manually cause no such damage.
E. Hiring and training those who remove mines by hand is far less costly than is importing heavy armored vehicles to detonate buried land mines.


There are two possible methods by which to remove buried land mines; detonating them with armored vehicles or disarming them by hand. We are told that the risk is higher with the manual method, and that, therefore, this method is preferred in terms of risk reduction. To weaken this argument, a statement must add an additional element to the comparison between the two methods that shows manual disarmament to be less risky than previously thought.

Choice A states that manual disarmers can be trained to reduce their risk of injury or fatality. This choice undermines the argument's conclusion that armored vehicles are clearly the safer method; if manual disarmers were better trained, this choice implies, then manual disarmament may be as safe as armored detonation.

Choice B refers to the seriousness of injuries instigated by the two different methods. The risk of injury or fatality does not necessarily correlate to the serious of such injuries. Furthermore, this choice states that manual disarmament causes more serious injuries, which does not weaken the claim that this method should be used less.

Choice C states that it may be easy to organize an effort to step up armored vehicle disarmament. This choice can only strengthen the argument, by ensuring that the strategy recommended is feasible.

Choice D refers to land destabilization. The argument is based on the risk of injury and there is nothing given to relate land destabilization to the risk of injury. So, this choice does not affect the argument.

Choice E states that one method is less costly than the other. Cost plays no role in this argument, so this statement cannot weaken the argument's claim.


Answer: A


Hey!
Thank you for this great explanation. however i agree with rajashreerajashree
Can there be any other reason that will make D wrong? Destabilization is itself a negative word indicating accidents and injuries. Isn't it?
Thanks
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The problem can transform like this "(1) > (2)"
In order to weaken this, we gotta prove "(1) <= (2)"

Answer A. simply tells us that "(2) is high!"
D. makes it clear that "(1) is actually < (2)"

So, D. is definitely a better choice than A.
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rajarshee
Bunuel
Official Solution:


Using armored vehicles to detonate buried land mines entails an unavoidable risk of injury or fatality, but disarming and removing land mines manually currently entails an even greater such risk to those who remove land mines per mine removed. Therefore, in order to reduce the risk of injury or fatality without decelerating the effort to remove buried land mines, we must increase the use of armored vehicles and disarm fewer land mines by hand.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument above?


A. Manual mine disarmers can be quickly trained in methods that significantly decrease their risk of injury or fatality.
B. Injuries caused by manual disarmament tend to be far more serious than injuries caused by armored vehicle detonations.
C. The delivery of armored vehicles with which to detonate buried land mines can be organized easily by military field operatives.
D. Land mines detonated by armored vehicles destabilize the land surrounding the mine, while land mines that are successfully disarmed manually cause no such damage.
E. Hiring and training those who remove mines by hand is far less costly than is importing heavy armored vehicles to detonate buried land mines.


There are two possible methods by which to remove buried land mines; detonating them with armored vehicles or disarming them by hand. We are told that the risk is higher with the manual method, and that, therefore, this method is preferred in terms of risk reduction. To weaken this argument, a statement must add an additional element to the comparison between the two methods that shows manual disarmament to be less risky than previously thought.

Choice A states that manual disarmers can be trained to reduce their risk of injury or fatality. This choice undermines the argument's conclusion that armored vehicles are clearly the safer method; if manual disarmers were better trained, this choice implies, then manual disarmament may be as safe as armored detonation.

Choice B refers to the seriousness of injuries instigated by the two different methods. The risk of injury or fatality does not necessarily correlate to the serious of such injuries. Furthermore, this choice states that manual disarmament causes more serious injuries, which does not weaken the claim that this method should be used less.

Choice C states that it may be easy to organize an effort to step up armored vehicle disarmament. This choice can only strengthen the argument, by ensuring that the strategy recommended is feasible.

Choice D refers to land destabilization. Without knowing the relationship between land destabilization and the risk of injury, this choice does not affect the argument.

Choice E states that one method is less costly than the other. Cost plays no role in this argument, so this statement cannot weaken the argument's claim.


Answer: A

Tell me where I am going wrong:

GMAT assumes some common sense and understanding of the world and based on that it seems as if the land surrounding a mine is destabilized, that can trigger any other mines close by. After all land mines work on the philosophy of pressure destabilization/ change. This makes option D very very hard to ignore and some might say better than option A.
The conclusion drawn above says that manual detonation should be avoided to reduce the number of injuries. Option D only weakens a part of this conclusion. It gives you a downside of not using the manual method to detonate land mines. It does not however weaken the second part of the conclusion that is related to the injuries.

Answer A

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