Question ID:PT10 S4 Q8 Passage:X: Since many chemicals useful for agriculture and medicine derive from rare or endangered plant species, it is likely that many plant species that are now extinct could have provided us with substances that would have been a boon to humanity. Therefore, if we want to ensure that chemicals from plants are available for use in the future, we must make more serious efforts to preserve for all time our natural resources. Y: But living things are not our “resources.” Yours is a selfish approach to conservation. We should rather strive to preserve living species because they deserve to survive, not because of the good they can do us. Stem:X’s argument relies on which one of the following assumptions? Correct Answer Choice:CChoice A:Medicine would now be more advanced than it is if there had been a serious conservation policy in the past. Choice B:All living things exist to serve humankind. Choice C:The use of rare and endangered plant species as a source for chemicals will not itself render those species extinct. Choice D:The only way to persuade people to preserve natural resources is to convince them that it is in their interest to do so. Choice E:Few, if any, plant species have been saved from extinction through human efforts.