LR Drill Set 9, Question 10
Editorialist: Deep ocean waters are now contaminated with(53 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AIn the past,(16 more words not shown)
- BIt is rare(18 more words not shown)
- CPeople have been(15 more words not shown)
- DEven in the(23 more words not shown)
- EIn seawater conditions,(18 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Getting into coastal water isn't the same as making people sick.
The editorialist has identified a possible route: currents could move the microbes from deep water toward places where people might encounter them. That sounds worth investigating.
But what happens when the microbes get there?
Maybe their concentration is too low to cause disease. Maybe they cannot survive outside deep water. Those are possible objections, not facts we've established.
The conclusion is cautious in one important way: there is a risk of an epidemic. The author doesn't promise an epidemic or even call it likely. So an answer saying an epidemic isn't guaranteed won't do much against the claim actually made.
What we’re looking for
For the weakener, I'd look for a reason that this route doesn't create the proposed disease threat. We can accept the microbes' presence in deep water and the possibility that currents carry them into shallow water while questioning the next step: whether exposure there could start an epidemic.
Working the answers
- A
Rare epidemics still indicate that epidemics can happen. The author claims a risk, not a frequent or certain outcome. This historical fact doesn't give us a strong reason to dismiss the danger from the microbes now described. It leaves the basic possibility in place.
- B
The passage tells us the microbes are in deep water now. That can be true even if finding them there is unusual. Knowing this situation is rare doesn't tell us whether it poses a risk once it occurs. We need to evaluate the stated situation, not replace it with what usually happens.
- C
Exposure elsewhere doesn't resolve the danger here. People might encounter sewage microbes in other locations while coastal exposure creates an additional risk. Also, exposure alone doesn't tell us whether those people became ill. C supplies neither protection from the coastal microbes nor a reason to reject the proposed route.
- D
Not necessarily means not guaranteed. A few cases of disease might fail to produce an epidemic, but an epidemic could still result in other cases. The conclusion already allows that uncertainty by calling the epidemic a risk. The wording about an unlikely initial illness may sound reassuring, but this answer doesn't rule out the proposed threat as directly as E does.
- ECorrect
These microbes cannot cause disease in people who encounter them under seawater conditions. Now let the current carry them into the coastal water and let someone come into contact with them. The disease-producing step still cannot happen under the conditions described.
This answers our concern about whether reaching the coast creates the proposed threat. It is stronger than saying epidemics are rare or uncertain: it blocks the route from seawater exposure to illness that the editorialist needs for the feared epidemic.
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