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gmatmachoman · Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:59 am

Cafereria patron The apples sold in this cafeteria are greasy. The cashier told me that the apples are in that condition when they are delivered to the cafeteria and that the cafeteria does not wash the apples it sells. Most fruit is sprayed with dangerous pesticides before it is harvested, and is dangerous until it is washed. Clearly, the cafeteria is selling pesticide-covered fruit thereby endangering its patrons.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) The apples that the cafeteria sells are not thoroughly washed after harvest but before reaching the cafeteria
(B) Most pesticides that are sprayed on fruit before harvest leave a greasy residue on the fruit
(C) Many of the cafeteria's patrons are unaware that the cafeteria does not wash the apples it sells.

(D) Only pesticides that leave a greasy residue on fruit can be washed off
(E) Fruits other than apples also arrive at the cafeteria in a greasy condition

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pandeyvineet24 · Thu Nov 05, 2009 12:37 pm

IMO B

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gmatv09 · Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:29 pm

Concln: the cafeteria is selling pesticide-covered fruit thereby endangering its patrons.

Premise:
1. Greasy = Pesticides
2. Apples are not washed ...

IMO B

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KapTeacherEli · Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:08 pm

Conclusion:
Apples are dangerous.

Evidence:
Apples are not washed by the cafeteria.
Apples are dangerous until someone washes them.

Assumption:
No one ELSE washed the apples.

A restates this assumption clearly.

The word "most" is the reason B is incorrect. We don't need to know anything about "most" pesticides, we only need to know about the one used on the apples. In C, we don't care about what patrons are aware of; D doesn't matter, because we still don't know the greasy residue is pesticide; E talks about other fruit, so is wrong.

This problem is a rarity in GMAT terms; most GMAT arguments don't include such a blatant red herring as the "greasiness" of the residue. However, the fact that there is grease is secondary and doesn't play a direct role in the cafeteria patron's chain of logic; we need to recognize that the evidence, and conclusion, are both about whether the apples have been washed, not about whether the apples are greasy.

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gmatmachoman · Sat Nov 07, 2009 12:39 pm

Yeah it was an LSAT prep Q not a GMAT One..

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raghavakumar85 · Sat Nov 07, 2009 1:01 pm

A.The apples that the cafeteria sells are not thoroughly washed after harvest but before reaching the cafeteria.

Deny A now. It implies that "apples that cafeteria sells are washed after harvest..." That is, the apples are not greasy because of pesticides.

Now the conclusion that "cafteria is selling fruits with pesticides..." falls apart.

IMO A

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