Kitchen magazine plans to license the use of its name by a line of cookware. For a magazine, licensing the use of its name for products involves some danger, since if the products disappoint consumers, the magazine's reputation suffers, with consequent reductions in circulation and advertising. However, experts have evaluated the cookware and found it superior to all other cookware advertised in Kitchen. Therefore, Kitchen can collect its licensing fee without endangering its other revenues.

The argument above assumes which of the following?

Citizens of Parktown are worried by the increased frequency of serious crimes committed by local teenagers. In response, the city government has instituted a series of measures designed to keep teenagers at home in the late evening. Even if the measures succeed in keeping teenagers at home, however, they are unlikely to affect the problem that concerns citizens, since most crimes committed by local teenagers take place between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Which of the following, if true, most substantially weakens the argument?

In response to mounting public concern, an airplane manufacturer implemented a program with the well-publicized goal of reducing by half the total yearly amount of hazardous waste generated by its passenger-jet division. When the program began in 1994, the division's hazardous waste output was 90 pounds per production worker; last year it was 40 pounds per production worker. Clearly, therefore, charges that the manufacturer's program has not met its goal are false.

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

Which of the following, if true, most logically completes the reasoning in the passage?

Kernland's government restricts the export of unprocessed cashew nuts in order to ensure a low-cost supply for domestic processing plants. Though the policy constrains farm income and limits the number of farmers who can profitably grow cashews, the government defends it on the grounds that, since the processing plants are in urban areas, removing the restrictions would hurt efforts to reduce urban unemployment. However, the policy may actually have contributed to urban unemployment, since __________.

Comcorp Shipping Clerk: Last week, no shipments of building supplies were sent out on Friday. The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday, and each of those specially ordered shipments consisted entirely of building supplies. Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week, none of which consisted of building supplies.

If the shipping clerk's statements are true, which of the following must also be true?

Advertisement: Ten years ago, the Cormond Hotel's lobby was carpeted with Duratex carpet while the lobby of a nearby hotel was being carpeted with our competitor's most durable carpet. Today, after a decade in which the two hotels have had similar amounts of foot traffic through their lobbies, that other hotel is having to replace the worn-out carpeting near its lobby entrances, whereas the Cormond's Duratex carpeting has years of wear left in it.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the force of the advertisement's evidence for concluding that Duratex carpet is more durable than the carpet of its competitor?

A study followed a group of teenagers who had never smoked and tracked whether they took up smoking and how their mental health changed. After one year, the incidence of depression among those who had taken up smoking was four times as high as it was among those who had not. Since nicotine in cigarettes changes brain chemistry, perhaps thereby affecting mood, it is likely that smoking contributes to depression in teenagers.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

In order to improve the long-term savings rate of its citizens, Levaska's government has decided to introduce special savings accounts. Citizens can save up to $3,000 a year in special accounts without having to pay tax on the interest, unless they withdraw money from the account before they reach the age of sixty-five. If they do withdraw any money before that age, they have to pay tax on the accumulated interest and a penalty.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously threatens the success of the government's plan?

Insect infestations in certain cotton-growing regions of the world have caused dramatic increases in the price of cotton on the world market. Knowing that cotton plants mature quickly, many soybean growers in Ortovia plan to cease growing soybeans, the price of which has long been stable, and to begin raising cotton instead, thereby taking advantage of the high price of cotton to increase their income significantly at least over the next several years.

Which of the following, if true, most calls into question the reasoning on which the plan is based?

Which of the following most logically completes the reasoning?

When species are extensively hunted, individuals that reach reproductive maturity early make up a larger proportion of the population, because they have a better chance of reproducing. When species face diminished food resources, on the other hand, individuals tend to take longer to reach reproductive maturity. These considerations may help settle whether the primary cause of the gradual disappearance of North America's mastodons, prehistoric animals related to elephants, was diminished food resources or human hunting, since __________.