CRITICAL REASONING: STRENGTHEN THE ARGUMENT

If highways were restricted to cars and only those trucks with capacity of less than 8 tons, most of the truck traffic would
be forced to run outside highways. Such a reduction in the amount of truck traffic would reduce the risk of collisions on
highways.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn in the second sentence?
A Highways are experiencing overcrowded traffic mainly because of sharp increases in car traffic
B Many drivers of trucks would rather buy trucks with a capacity of less than 8 tons than be excluded from highways.
C The number of collisions that occur near highways has reduced in recent years
D Trucks that have a capacity of more than 8 tons cause a disproportionately large number of collisions on highways

CRITICAL REASONING: WEAKEN THE ARGUMENT

Offshore oil-drilling operations involve an unavoidable risk of an oil spill, but importing oil on tankers presently involves
an even greater such risk per barrel of oil. So, if we are to lessen the risk of an oil spill without reducing our oil usage, we
must invest more in offshore operations and import less oil on tankers.

Which of the following, if true, seriously weakens the argument above?

A Importing oil on tankers is currently less expensive than drilling for it offshore.
B Tankers can easily be redesigned so that their use entails less risk of an oil spill.
C The impact of offshore operations on the environment can be reduced by careful management.
D Oil spills caused by tankers have generally been more serious than those caused by offshore operations.