Machu Picchu

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Machu Picchu

by amysky_0205 » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:20 am
Driving the steep road to the mountaintop Inca ruins of Machu Picchu is potentially dangerous and hiking there is difficult. Now the Peruvian government is installing a cable car that will make access much easier, and hence results in a large increase in tourisms. However, since the presence of large numbers of tourists tends to accelerate the deterioration of a site, installation of a cable car is certain to result in harm to the ruins.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the argument?

A. The daily number of tourists that are expected to take the cable car to Machu Picchu is smaller than the original resident
B. The construction of the cable car terminal at Machu Picchu will require the use of potentially damaging heavy machinery at the site.
C. Machu Picchu is already one of the most popular tourist sites in Peru
D. Natural weathering will continue to be a more significant cause of the deterioration of Machu Picchu than tourist traffic
E. The cable car will replace the tour buses whose large wheels and corrosive exhaust at present do significant damage to the site.


OA: E

can someone explain this one?
I eliminated A and C. But chose D instead.

thank u so much!
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by charu_mahajan » Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:37 am
Hello amysky,

The official question has been twisted a bit to create this one, which brings me to a question - what is the source of your postings?

Meanwhile -

Argument concludes - installation of a cable car is certain to result in harm to the ruins.

Question - Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the argument. So, one just needs to find an explanation or reason as to why the cable car will not harm the ruins and which is precisely what E does.

The cable car will replace (We are considering this to be TRUE - Did you read the question - Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the argument? ) tour buses that were damaging the ruins.

As for D - All I can say is that if - Natural weathering will continue to be a more significant cause of the deterioration of Machu Picchu than tourist traffic - Now Macha Picchu is in real danger. Because now it has to face both natural weathering and tourist traffic. It does not explain why cable car is a good idea.

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by hemant_rajput » Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:38 am
hey let me tell you this thing first that at first look even I fell for option D. But then I saw OA and I realize that damn man I did a mistake in hurry.

now here is the explanation.

option D suggest that Natural weathering will continue to cause more harm than tourism will do, but it is not raising questions on damage caused by cable car in compassion to driving transport. So i would say if E is missing the best answer will be D.

Now Here E says that installing cable car will reduce the harm to the site, which is in contradiction to the conclusion stated in last sentence. Hope it makes it clear.
I'm no expert, just trying to work on my skills. If I've made any mistakes please bear with me.

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by ice_rush » Tue Jan 29, 2013 9:19 am
option D is completely irrelevant to our plan i.e. installing cable cars for the tourists. for all you know these ruins might be located on the fault line - does that weaken our argument?