lsat-0110-1-15,lsat-0110-1-23,lsat-0210-1-14

15. Statistician: A financial magazine claimed that its survey of its subscribers showed that North Americans are more concerned about their personal finances than about politics. One question was: “Which do you think about more: politics or the joy of earning money?” This question is clearly biased. Also, the readers of the magazine are a self-selecting sample. Thus, there is reason to be skeptical about the conclusion drawn in the magazine’s survey.
Each of the following, if true, would strengthen the statistician’s argument EXCEPT:
(A) The credibility of the magazine has been called into question on a number of occasions.
(B) The conclusions drawn in most magazine surveys have eventually been disproved.
(C) Other surveys suggest that North Americans are just as concerned about politics as they are about finances.
(D) There is reason to be skeptical about the results of surveys that are biased and unrepresentative.
(E) Other surveys suggest that North Americans are concerned not only with politics and finances, but also with social issues.
(e)是正确答案，但是我觉得E也同样加强原文了。

23. Some statisticians claim that the surest way to increase the overall correctness of the total set of one’s beliefs is: never change that set, except by rejecting a belief when given adequate evidence against it. However, if this were the only rule one followed, then whenever one were presented with any kind of evidence, one would have to either reject some of one’s beliefs or else leave one’s beliefs unchanged. But then, over time, one could only have fewer and fewer beliefs. Since we need many beliefs in order to survive, the statisticians’ claim must be mistaken.
The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it

(A) presumes, without providing any justification, that the surest way of increasing the overall correctness of the total set of one’s beliefs must not hinder one’s ability to survive
(B) neglects the possibility that even while following the statisticians’ rule, one might also accept new beliefs when presented with some kinds of evidence
(C) overlooks the possibility that some large sets of beliefs are more correct overall than  are some small sets of beliefs
(D) takes for granted that one should accept some beliefs related to survival even when given adequate evidence against them
(E) takes for granted that the beliefs we need in order to have many beliefs must all be correct beliefs
(a)，不太理解。哪位给分析一下

14.Thirty years ago, the percentage of the British people who vacationed in foreign countries was very small compared with the large percentage of the British population who travel abroad for vacations now. Foreign travel is, and always has been, expensive from Britain. Therefore, British people must have, on average, more money to spend on vacations now than they did 30 years ago.
The argument requires assuming which one of the following?
(A) If foreign travel had been less expensive 30 years ago, British people would still not have had enough money to take vacation abroad.
(B) If travel to Britain were less expensive, more people of other countries would travel to Britain for their vacations.
(C) If the percentage of British people vacationing abroad was lower 30 years ago, then the British people of 30 years ago must have spent more money on domestic vacations.
(D) If more of the British people 30 years ago had had enough money to vacation abroad, more would have done so.
(E) If British people are now wealthier than they were 30 years ago, then they must have more money to spend on vacations now than they did 30 years ago.
(d)。我觉得d是对题目第一句话的同义改写，谈不上assumption。当然其他的答案也不对

谢谢！！！

Q15.
Conclusion of the magazine: N.A.s are more concerned about their personal finances than about politics.
Statistician: there is reason to be skeptical about the conclusion drawn in the magazine's survey.
(E) Other surveys suggest that N.A.s are concerned not only with politics and finances, but also with social issues.
Does E weakens the conclusion of the magazine?  Not really.  Magazine is comparing two things.  E introduces a 3rd thing, but it is irrelevant to the original comparison.  Therefore, E does not strengthen the statistician's argument, and thus is the right answer.

Q23: The statisticians claim a certain way is the surest way to increase the correctness of one’s beliefs.

The passage points out, if the claim is followed, over time, one could only have fewer and fewer beliefs, and this would be bad for one's survival.  It then concludes that the statisticians’ claim must be mistaken.

However, the statisticians can counter argue that their claim is indeed correct.  If the following the claim hinder one's ability to survive, so be it – it does not necessarily prove them wrong.

The last question:

First, C.R. is just a kind of logical game.  Whether something is an assumption, is best judged by logical tools, not necessarily by common sense :-)

Try deny test on D.  Deny D, we get "If more of the British people 30 years ago had had enough money to vacation abroad, not necessarily more would have done so."  This will obviously cause the original argument to fall apart.  Therefore, D can be logical-correctly claimed as an "assumption".

多个题目, 还请流沙分开发贴吧

谢谢

非常感谢robertchu，看来我对assumption一直理解不够深入。

谢谢！ 这题想了很久也没有绕出来，现在发现有些题目我在考试的时候是绝对绕不出来了，譬如gwd2的一道逻辑

原文中有这样一句话 One question was: “Which do you think about more: politics or the joy of earning money?” This question is clearly biased. 我对它的理解是false dilema，E就是对这句话加强了。

还是说support只能对结论support，不能对evidence support？