Gasoline-powered boat engines manufactured in the a North American cou

Question

Gasoline-powered boat engines manufactured in the a North American country prior to 1990 contribute significantly to the pollution found in the world’s oceans. In 1990, however, the government imposed stricter pollution controls on gasoline engines manufactured for boats, and beginning in 1995, the government imposed a program of inspections for pre-1990 boat engines with increasingly rigorous pollution standards. As the older boat engines fail to pass inspection, boat owners are increasingly retiring their old engines in favor of newer, less polluting boat engines. As a result, the amount of pollution these older boat engines emit into the world’s oceans will steadily decrease over the next ten years.

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

(A) Water from the various oceans cannot be accurately divided among nations because ocean currents travel thousands of miles and cross numerous national boundary lines.

(B) Even as they become older, boat engines manufactured after 1990 will never pollute as much as boat engines manufactured prior to 1990.

(C) When boat owners retire their older boat engines in favor of newer ones, the older engines are frequently sent overseas to countries with less stringent pollution standards, where they are in high demand.

(D) The government’s pollution control standards for boat engines are increasingly stricter up until 1998; then they level off.

(E) If demand for new fishing and pleasure boats increases significantly every year, then pollution of the world’s oceans will continue to increase, regardless of the fact that older boat engines are being retired.

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

Official Explanation

Typically, to weaken an argument, one of its premises must be shown to be false or flawed. The argument implies that when boat owners buy new engines for their boats, their old engines will be discarded or destroyed. Selection (C) contradicts this assumption by explaining that old boat engines are in high demand in countries with less rigorous pollution standards and that old engines are often sent overseas to satisfy that demand. Thus these old engines may still be in use. Selection  (C) is the right answer.

rajatparuthi · Answer

C should be correct as it is challenging the conclusion that pollution will reduce.

It will not reduce if we continue using the boats in some other country.

Abhishek009 · Answer

+1 as the conclusion here talks about " the amount of pollution these older boat engines emit into the world’s oceans will steadily decrease over the next ten years."

kntombat · Answer

The OA for this question has to be C   , as it is the only answer that shows a possibility where despite these measures undertaken by the North American country pollution will increase.

Option A is out    as it is irrelevant.

Options B and D are out    as they could be true but we cannot say whether they are true or not from the stimulus.

Option E    would have been the correct answer in my opinion if it didn't contain the word "if", but due to the presence of this word, it turns this option into a conditional option about which we do not know anything from the stimulus,     thus it is out  .

snigdha3108 · Answer

Option C is right as to weaken the conclusion we must try to prove the old engines of the boat regardless of the action taken are the cause of pollution to continue, we can clearly see that in option C

Gasoline-powered boat engines manufactured in the a North American cou

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Gasoline-powered boat engines manufactured in the a North American cou

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

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Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

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