Question

Read the passage and the additional information below, then answer the question that follows.

The Bistupur-Sakchi corner needs a speed-breaker. Loyola school children cross this intersection, on their way to the school, and many a times do not check out for traffic. I get to read regular reports of cars and other vehicles hitting children. I know that speed-breakers are irritating for drivers, and I know that children cannot be protected from every danger, but this is one of the worst intersections in town. There needs to be a speed-breaker so that vehicles have to slow down and the children be made safer.

According to a recent research conducted by the district road planning department, ten percent of students come with parents in cars, twenty percent of students use auto-rickshaws, twenty percent of students use taxis, forty percent of students use the school buses, and ten percent of students live in the hostel inside the school.

Which of the following is true about the paragraph containing the survey data above?

• A. It extends the speaker's argument using analogy.
• B. It extends the speaker's argument using statistical data.
• C. It is similar to the speaker's argument.
• D. It contradicts the speaker's argument using statistical data.

Hint:

Add up the percentages given and check whether they leave any student walking across the intersection at all.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

This question asks how the survey paragraph, which lists percentages for how students travel to school, relates to the earlier appeal for a speed-breaker. Work out what the numbers actually show before checking the options.

1. Extends the argument using analogy: an analogy would need a comparison to another situation. The survey gives percentages, not a comparison, so this does not fit.
2. Extends the argument using statistical data: "extends" would mean the data supports the original worry about children crossing on foot. Instead, the data (10% by car, 20% by auto-rickshaw, 20% by taxi, 40% by bus, 10% in the hostel, adding to 100%) shows no student walks to school at all, so it works against the claim, not for it.
3. Similar to the speaker's argument: the numbers actually point the opposite way from the speaker's picture of at-risk children on foot, so "similar" does not fit.
4. Contradicts the argument using statistical data: since the percentages add to 100% and cover every student by vehicle or hostel residence, none are left walking across the intersection, directly undercutting the original claim with numbers.

The data does not support the original plea, it works against it, and it does so using counts and percentages rather than a story or comparison.

Let's summarize:

• Always total any percentages given, here they add to 100%, meaning every student's mode of travel is captured.
• A statistic that removes the basis of an argument, here children walking, contradicts it rather than extending it.

The correct option is the one stating that the paragraph contradicts the speaker's argument using statistical data.