Zhanadu, a beverage loving nation, has never faced the necessity to im

Question

Zhanadu, a beverage loving nation, has never faced the necessity to import either tea or coffee, the two most popular beverages. With hardly any tea or coffee left over after satisfying domestic demand, it has not been able to export any of the two either. Historically, when the general standard of living improves the consumption of coffee increases. Because coffee is suited to red soil while tea grows on the less fertile brown soil, growing coffee on brown soil reduces its yield to a one-third of what it is on red soil. Therefore, Zhanadu is expected to either import tea or coffee or both because the acreage of arable area under neither red soil nor brown soil can be increased.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. The land under tea plantations cannot be reduced to accommodate coffee plantations.

B. The people of Zhanadu will buy imported coffee and tea even at increased prices.

C. Tea and coffee, with their slightly bitter tastes, are perfect substitutes of each other.

D. Coffee is most likely a costlier drink than tea, and its consumption reflects the growing standard of living of the people.

E. The people of Zhanadu will not significantly reduce their tea consumption as they step up their coffee consumption.

IanStewart · Answer

This is a badly written ("because the acreage of arable area under neither red soil nor brown soil can be increased" is not in English) copy of this official question: gortland-has-long-been-narrowly-self-sufficient-in-both-272405.html and I'd recommend test takers study the official question rather than this one.

Zhanadu, a beverage loving nation, has never faced the necessity to im

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