PrepTest 125, Section 2, Question 6
Manufacturers of writing paper need to add mineral(95 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- ACertain kinds of(7 more words not shown)
- BThe fillers that(11 more words not shown)
- CGrayish writing paper(11 more words not shown)
- DBeyond a certain(22 more words not shown)
- EThe total amount(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What's wrong with gray paper? I can still write on it.
We learn that filler makes paper white and that recycled paper needs more filler to achieve that result. That might make us wonder whether recycled paper is more expensive or whether filler harms the environment. But the author doesn't conclude either of those things. The claim is simply that switching to recycled writing paper will require manufacturers to use more filler.
The author even rules out two ways around the increase: using filler more efficiently and inventing another whitening method. There's still a simpler possibility. Stop whitening the paper. If people were happy to buy gray paper, the manufacturers wouldn't need filler for that purpose. I might accept gray paper if it saved me money; nothing here establishes that every buyer insists on white.
What we’re looking for
So the necessary assumption should address that escape route. The argument needs some continuing demand for white paper. It can't work on the understanding that gray paper would be an acceptable substitute for everyone.
Working the answers
- A
The conclusion doesn't require a kind of paper that can't be made from recycled material. Even if every kind could be made that way, the question would remain: how much filler would manufacturers need? A adds a limit on recycling rather than addressing the assumption about whiteness.
- B
The claim concerns how much filler manufacturers would use, not whether using it is environmentally harmful. Filler could be harmless and the proposed increase could still occur. We shouldn't import an environmental judgment just because the argument mentions recycling.
- CCorrect
Gray paper cannot be a universally acceptable substitute for white paper. If everyone were willing to make that substitution, the argument would lose its reason to insist on more filler: manufacturers could make gray paper instead. C doesn't say that most people demand white paper, much less that everyone does. It blocks the complete switch to gray that would undermine the author's reasoning.
- D
Whether adding filler eventually stops making paper whiter doesn't establish that manufacturers must keep making white paper at all. We don't need a rule about the maximum whiteness achievable by adding more and more filler.
- E
Total paper production needn't increase significantly. Imagine the same amount of white writing paper being produced, but recycled material replacing other material. On the stated facts, that switch could increase filler use even while the total amount of paper stayed constant. Growth in total output is not required.
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