A museum has been offered an undocumented statue’ supposedly Greek and from the sixth century B.C. Possibly the statue is genuine but undocumented because it was recently unearthed or because it has been privately owned. However, an ancient surface usually has uneven weathering, whereas the surface of this statue has the uniform quality characteristically produced by a chemical bath used by forgers to imitate a weathered surface. Therefore, the statue is probably a forgery.

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

In the arid land along the Colorado River, use of the river’s water supply is strictly controlled: farms along the river each have a limited allocation that they are allowed to use for irrigation. But the trees that grow in narrow strips along the river’s banks also use its water. Clearly, therefore, if farmers were to remove those trees, more water would be available for crop irrigation.

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

Near Chicago a newly built hydroponic spinach 6factoryr” a completely controlled environment for growing spinach, produces on 1 acre of floor space what it takes 100 acres of fields to produce. Expenses, especially for electricity, are high, however, and the spinach produced costs about four times as much as washed California field spinach, the spinach commonly sold throughout the United States.

Which of the following, if true, best supports a projection that the spinach-growing facility near Chicago will be profitable?

Studies have shown that elderly people who practice a religion are much more likely to die immediately after an important religious holiday period than immediately before one. Researchers have concluded that the will to live can prolong life, at least for short periods of time.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the researchers’ conclusion?

Manufacturers of mechanical pencils make most of their profit on pencil leads rather than on the pencils themselves. The Write CompanS which cannot sell its leads as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its mechanical pencil so that it will accept only a newly designed Write Company lead, which will be sold at the same price as the Write Company’s current lead.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Write Company’s projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of pencil leads?

The mayor plans to deactivate the city’s fire alarm boxes, because most calls received from them are false alarms. The mayor claims that the alarm boxes ane no longer necessary since most people now have access to either public or private telephones. But the city’s commercial district, where there is the greatest risk of fire, has few residents and few public telephones, so some alarm boxes are still necessary.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the editorial,s argument?

A proposed change to federal income tax laws would eliminate deductions from taxable income for donations a taxpayer has made to charitable and educational institutions. If this change were adopted, wealthy individuals would no longer be permitted such deductions. Therefore, many charitable and educational institutions would have to reduce services, and some would have to close their doors.

The argument above assumes which of the following?

To persuade consumers to buy its personal computers for home use, SuperComp has enlisted computer dealers in shopping centers to sell its product and launched a major advertising campaign that has already increased public awareness of the SuperComp brand. Despite the fact that these dealers achieved dramatically increased sales of computers last month, however, analysts doubt that the marketing plan is bringing SuperComp the desired success.

Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the analysts’ doubt is well founded?

A factory was trying out a new process for producing one of its products, with the goal of reducing production costs. A trial production run using the new process showed a 15 percent reduction in costs compared with past performance using the standard process. The production managens thercforc concluded that the new process did produce a cost savings.

Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the production managers’ conclusion?

Consumer advocate: It is generally true, at least in this state, that lawyers who advertise a specific service charge less for that service than lawyers who do not advertise. It is also true that each time restrictions on the advertising of legal services have been eliminated, the number of lawyers advertising theirnservices has increased and legal costs to consumers have declined in consequence. However, eliminating the state requirement that legal advertisements must specify fees for specific services would almost certainly increase rather than further reduce consu mers’legal costs. Lawyers would no longer have an incentive to lower their fees when they begin advertising and if no longer required to specify fee arrangements, many lawyers who now advertise would increase their fees.

In the consumer advocate’s argument, the two portions italic play which of the following roles?