LR Drill Set 5, Question 3
People in high-risk occupations tend also to engage(11 more words not shown)
Each of the following, if(10 more words not shown)
- APeople who would(13 more words not shown)
- BA below-average ability(19 more words not shown)
- CPeople who enjoy(12 more words not shown)
- DPeople in certain(9 more words not shown)
- EThe process of(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Someone who wants danger at work might want it on the weekend too.
Picture an underwater welder who spends time off rock climbing. A taste for excitement could help explain both choices. Or perhaps the person simply tolerates risks that would put someone else off. These are possible explanations for the pattern, not facts we have to prove about every person in a risky occupation.
The passage gives us the pattern as a fact: people in high-risk jobs tend to pursue high-risk hobbies. There's no conclusion to attack. The question asks which choice does not help explain it, so four answers should give us some reason these two activities go together.
What we’re looking for
For each answer, ask why this would make the same person more likely to choose both activities. Eliminate a choice that supplies a useful connection; keep the one that leaves the pattern unexplained.
Working the answers
- A
Being bored by both low-risk work and low-risk recreation gives the two choices a shared motivation. Someone who wants to escape a dull job may also want to escape a dull weekend. That makes the combination of riskier work and riskier leisure more understandable. It doesn't have to show that every person avoids every activity they find boring.
- B
Difficulty calculating risk could influence both decisions. Someone might underestimate the danger of the job and also underestimate the danger of the hobby. The same limitation would then help explain why the person chooses both. We don't have to endorse that explanation as the only one; the choice asks us to accept it as true and see whether it helps.
- C
This is the excitement explanation we anticipated. The person likes excitement, and that preference draws them toward both kinds of activity. A single preference can explain why high-risk work and high-risk leisure appear together, rather than treating one choice as an unrelated coincidence.
- DCorrect
An accountant who climbs mountains might be an interesting example, but this answer concerns people in low-risk occupations. It doesn't tell us why the people in high-risk occupations also choose high-risk leisure activities. Both groups could enjoy dangerous hobbies for quite different reasons. D describes another pattern without explaining the one the question gave us.
- E
Here the risky job helps produce the attitude. Getting used to danger at work can make risk-taking in general feel more acceptable, which helps explain choosing a risky hobby afterward. If dangerous situations are familiar all week, skydiving on Saturday may seem less intimidating. That differs from being drawn to both activities by a preexisting personality trait, but it still explains their connection.
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