1.Online shopping provides consumers with many product alternatives and a vast amount of product information. But purchasing common, everyday items—convenience goods-—requires little brand comparison, planning, or new information. Consumers know exactly what to buy, and where to buy it, based on past shopping experience. So, in relation to convenience goods, online shopping has little advantage over traditional shopping.
The argument above is most vulnerable to the criticism that it
A. fails to take into account that the most significant segment of online shopping sales is not convenience goods
B. presumes, without providing justification, that convenience goods are typically products of a kind that everybody purchases at some time
C. presumes, without providing justification, that online shopping has no significant advantages that are relevant besides product choice and product information
D. fails to consider the advantages of traditional shopping in relation to certain categories of goods other than convenience goods
E. fails to take into account that even ordinary, everyday items are sometimes not conveniently available to purchase
2. In a certain rural area, people normally dispose of household garbage by burning it. Burning household garbage releases toxic chemicals known as dioxins. New conservation regulations will require a major reduction in packaging—specifically, paper and cardboard packaging—for products sold in the area. Since such packaging materials contain dioxins, one result of the implementation of the new regulations will surely be a reduction in dioxin pollution in the area.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. Garbage containing large quantities of paper and cardboard can easily burn hot enough for some portion of the dioxins that it contains to be destroyed.
B. Packaging materials typically make up only a small proportion of the weight of household garbage, but a relatively large proportion of its volume.
C. Per-capita sales of products sold in paper and cardboard packaging are lower in rural areas than in urban areas.
D. The new conservation regulations were motivated by a need to cut down on the consumption of paper products in order to bring the harvesting of timber into a healthier balance with its regrowth.
E. It is not known whether the dioxins released by the burning of household garbage have been the cause of any serious health problems.