Summarize Argument
The difficulty in connecting different parts of personal computers is a common obstacle to their use. This is because customers must take responsibility for meeting obscure technical specifications and adding certain accessories can cause other accessories to stop working.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that a significant number of customers choose to take on the responsibility of installing accessories on their personal computers rather than seeking help from a professional. The author also assumes that many customers want or need to use accessories with their computers.
A
Personal computer instruction manuals usually explain the purposes of the jumpers and switches.
This does not affect the argument. Knowing the purposes of the jumpers and switches does not necessarily make it easier for an individual to set them in compliance with obscure specifications.
B
Software for accessories can often be obtained for free.
This does not affect the argument. The difficulty does not lie in purchasing the software, but in ensuring that the accessories function as intended.
C
Installing an accessory will become extremely easy in the foreseeable future.
This does not affect the argument. The argument is concerned with the present, not the future.
D
A personal computer is usually sold as part of a package that includes accessories and free installation.
This weakens the argument. If personal computers are typically sold with the necessary accessories and customers are not burdened with the responsibility of installing them, the author’s counterpoints lose their strength and relevance.
E
Computer manufacturers rarely take into account ease of installation when they are designing programs or accessories.
This strengthens the argument by showing that ease of installation is often overlooked in designing programs and accessories. This suggests that computer manufacturers are not making efforts to simplify the installation experience, which adds to the complexity for customers.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why don’t mice develop bladder cancer when fed high doses of saccharin, even though rats who are fed high doses of saccharin do develop such cancer?
Objective
The correct answer should tell me something different about mice compared to rats that would inhibit the development of bladder cancer. It probably has something to do with silicate crystals, which the stimulus says are toxic to cells in rat bladders.
A
Urine proteins that react with saccharin to form silicate crystals are found in rats but not in mice.
Saccharin in rats leads to toxic silicate crystals in their bladders. This answer suggests saccharin in mice won’t develop silicate crystals in their bladders, which could explain why mice don’t get bladder cancer from saccharin.
B
Cells in the bladder regenerate more quickly in mice than they do in rats.
Is faster regeneration of cells something that would prevent bladder cancer? We don’t know.
C
High doses of saccharin are much more likely to produce silicate crystals than lower doses are.
This doesn’t help differentiate mice and rats. So, it can’t help explain the different reactions in mice and rats to saccharin.
D
The silicate crystals are toxic only to the cells lining the bladder and not to other bladder cells.
This doesn’t help differentiate mice and rats. So, it can’t help explain the different reactions in mice and rats to saccharin.
E
High doses of other artificial sweeteners have been shown to produce silicate crystals in mice but not in rats.
This makes the lack of bladder cancer in mice who are given saccharin more difficult to explain. Saccharin is an artificial sweetener, so we might think mice would react similarly to saccharin as to the other sweeteners mentioned in this answer.
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that people can help reduce air pollution by switching from gas mowers to electric mowers. This is because gas mowers produce lots of air pollutants, while electric mowers produce none.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that air pollutants should be measured on the output side of an individual lawn mower. This means the author either doesn’t think pollutants on the input side (i.e. electricity generated at air-polluting power plants) should be factored in, or that such pollutants are negligible compared to the pollutants individual lawnmowers produce.
A
Lawns help to clean the air, replacing pollutants with oxygen.
The author doesn’t talk about the mere fact of having a lawn. We’re interested in how different mowers contribute to air pollution.
B
Electric lawn mowers are more expensive to purchase and maintain than are gasoline mowers.
We don’t care about expense. We care about which helps reduce air pollution.
C
Producing the power to run an electric mower for an hour causes less air pollution than does running an automobile for an hour.
Even accounting for the energy spent producing electricity, electric mowers still produce less air pollution than gas mowers.
D
Most manufacturers of gasoline lawn mowers are trying to redesign their mowers to reduce the emission of air pollutants.
We don’t care what they’re trying to do. As it is, gas mowers produce a ton of air pollutants.
E
Lawn mowers are used for fewer hours per year than are automobiles.
We’re comparing between mowers. We don’t really care about the differences between mowers and cars.