LR Drill Set 14, Question 1
Researcher: Electronic pingers emit a sound that repels(35 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(10 more words not shown)
- AThe pingers do(12 more words not shown)
- BCommercial fishing is(13 more words not shown)
- CThe pingers have(12 more words not shown)
- DDolphins are the(11 more words not shown)
- EElectronic pingers are(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Keeping dolphins out of the nets sounds like a real benefit. Is it enough for the researcher's claim?
My first concern is whether nets are the only danger fishing boats pose. Perhaps pollution from the boats also harms dolphins. But read the conclusion carefully: the pingers will help solve the conflict, not necessarily remove every possible threat. A remaining problem wouldn't automatically refute that modest claim.
We're told the sound repels dolphins and keeps them from becoming entangled. The question asks for an assumption required by the move from that result to helping resolve the conflict. So we should accept the described protection and examine what else the proposed solution must preserve.
What we’re looking for
The conclusion has two sides: dolphin safety and the needs of commercial fishing. My initial reaction focused on the dolphins. Let's test the choices against the whole claim rather than assume that addressing one side automatically resolves the conflict between them.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
If the pingers also drove away the fish the operations were trying to catch, the nets might be safe for dolphins because they were useless for fishing. That would protect one interest by sacrificing the other, not provide the proposed way to reconcile them.
The argument therefore relies on the target fish not being repelled. This addresses the side my first reaction overlooked: commercial operations still need to catch fish. Keeping dolphins away helps with their safety; keeping the fishing operation workable is also essential to the proposed solution.
- B
Commercial fishing needn't be most common where dolphins are numerous. The conflict could arise in less heavily fished places too. The proposed method's usefulness doesn't depend on a particular geographic ranking of fishing activity.
- C
Avoiding harm to other mammals would be desirable, but the conclusion concerns dolphins and commercial fishing needs. The researcher hasn't claimed to solve every wildlife problem. We cannot require an absence of every effect on other mammals merely because the narrower proposal concerns dolphin safety.
- D
Other animals could also become entangled without preventing the pingers from helping with this dolphin-related conflict. The argument doesn't require dolphins to be the only unintended catch, just that protecting them can coexist with the fishing operation's needs.
- E
A method can help without being the most effective method available. Another device might protect dolphins even better, while pingers still provide a useful improvement. The argument doesn't rank every possible warning method, so it doesn't require E's superlative.
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