Critical Reasoning

1)At an enormous research cost, a leading chemical company has developed a manufacturing process for converting wood fibers into a plastic. According to the company, this new plastic can be used for, among other things, the hulls of small sailboats. But what does the company think sailboat hulls used to be made of? Surely the mania for high technology can scarcely go further than this.

The author's opinion of the manufacturing process described in the passage is based primarily on the fact that

(A) plastic is unlikely to be durable enough for high-quality sailboat hulls
(B) the research costs of developing
the process outweigh any savings possible from the use of the plastic

(C) a small sailboat is not normally regarded as a high-tech product

(D) hulls for small sailboats can be made from wood without converting it into plastic

(E) many other spheres of human activity are in far greater need of technological research




2)The earth's resources are being depleted much too fast. To correct this, the United States must keep its resource consumption at present levels for many years to come.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument above?

(A) New resource deposits are constantly being discovered.

(B) The United States consumes one-third of all resources used in the world.

(C) Other countries need economic development more than the United States does.

(D) Other countries have agreed to hold their resource consumption at present levels.

(E) The United States has been conserving resources for several years.


No OAs. Please provide explanations as much as possible.