Proponents of the electric car maintain that when the technical problems associated with its battery design are solved, such cars will be widely used and, because they are emission-free, will result in an abatement of the environmental degradation caused by auto emissions. But unless we dam more rivers, the electricity to charge these batteries will come from nuclear or coal-fired power plants. Each of these three power sources produces considerable environmental damage. Thus, the electric car ____________.
Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?
(A) will have worse environmental consequences than its proponents may believe
(B) will probably remain less popular than other types of cars
(C) requires that purely technical problems be solved before it can succeed
(D) will increase the total level of emissions rather than reduce it
(E) will not produce a net reduction in environmental degradation
Most cable television companies currently require customers to subscribe to packages of channels, but consumer groups have recently proposed legislation that would force the companies to offer a la carte pricing. Subscribers would pay less, argue the consumer groups, because they could purchase only the desired channels. However, the cable industry argues that under the current package pricing, popular channels subsidize less-popular ones, providing more options for viewers. For this reason, the industry claims that it is always cheaper for the consumer to purchase many bundled channels than to buy them individually.
Which of the following would be most important for the government to determine before deciding whether to require cable television companies to offer a la carte pricing in order to reduce consumer costs?
(A) Whether the total number of channels offered to consumers would decrease, along with programming diversity, as a result of the a la carte pricing structure
(B) Whether advertising revenue for the cable television companies would decrease as a result of the a la carte pricing structure
(C) Whether the vast majority of consumers would greatly reduce the number of channels purchased if given the option of purchasing them individually
(D) Whether cable and satellite companies currently have the ability to buy channels individually from programmers and content providers
(E) Whether a la carte subscribers would be required to have new television set-top boxes