Bunuel wrote:
Tsumi bats are a rare breed of omnivorous bat found only in highly temperate climates. Most Tsumi bats living in captivity develop endocrine imbalances from their normal zoo diets, which consist mostly of fruits and berries. The healthiest way to feed the bats, therefore, is to provide them primarily with nuts, grubs, and vegetables and only minimal amounts of fruits and berries.
Which of the statements below does NOT reflect an assumption upon which the argument depends?
(A) Those who care for Tsumi bats in captivity should avoid feeding them diets that produce endocrine imbalances.
(B) Tsumi bats living in captivity will not be malnourished on diets that contain minimal fruits and berries.
(C) Tsumi bats living in captivity will consume diets that consist of nuts, grubs, and vegetables but no fruits or berries.
(D) Tsumi bats living in captivity will be adequately nourished on a diet that consists primarily of nuts, grubs, and vegetables.
(E) For Tsumi bats living in captivity, no health problem stemming from diets consisting mostly of nuts, grubs, and vegetables would surpass in severity the health problems associated with endocrine imbalances.
Project CR Butler: Critical Reasoning
For all CR butler Questions Click HereKAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Four valid assumptions in the answer choices? The stem itself prepares us to expect a pretty weak argument. Our job is to locate the statement that's not assumed in the argument. The author concludes that, to achieve maximum health, Tsumi bats should be fed certain nuts and veggies and a minimum amount of fruits and berries. The evidence comes in the second sentence: These bats, who are now fed mostly fruits and berries, develop endocrine imbalances. It's not worth the effort to try to prephrase all the assumptions inherent in this argument, but if a few ideas jumped out at you, great. At the very least, you should proceed to the answer choices with a clear understanding of the evidence and conclusion.
(A) is a valid assumption. The author suggests that the bat's endocrine imbalance is a problem, and that a revised diet might fix that problem. Thus the argument does assume that bats should not be fed endocrine imbalance-producing foods.
(B) and (D) are valid assumptions too. If the proposed diet will make the bats "healthiest," then the argument assumes that it will adequately nourish them (D) and that it won't malnourish them (B). Negate these choices and the argument falls apart, confirming that these are necessary assumptions here.
An 800 test taker confirms whether a statement is a necessary assumption in an argument by seeing what happens to the argument when that statement is denied or negated. If the argument crumbles, that's proof positive that the statement is necessary and thus must be assumed.
(C) The conclusion states that the bats will be fed a minimal amount of fruits and berries, while this choice says that they will eat none. Must that be a necessary part of this argument? No, it's too extreme: The author says straight away that some fruits and berries is okay, so it need not be assumed that the bats are denied these foods altogether. (C) is therefore our winner—our "odd-man-out."
An 800 test taker reads the answer choices extremely carefully and notices even very subtle inaccuracies. Here,
(C) is correct because it discusses a diet with "no" fruits or berries instead of "minimal" fruits and berries.
(E) focuses again on the author's claim that the recommended diet will make the bats healthiest. If that is true, then the author must assume that it won't create any health problems that are more detrimental to the bats' health than the endocrine imbalances that inspired the proposed diet in the first place.
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