PrepTest 102, Section 3, Question 21
Medieval Arabs had manuscripts of many ancient Greek(63 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(8 more words not shown)
- AA number of(13 more words not shown)
- BMedieval Arabic story(17 more words not shown)
- CIn addition to(20 more words not shown)
- DAristotle's Poetics has(10 more words not shown)
- EAristotle's Poetics is(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if the poets could read Greek?
The argument uses the absence of an Arabic translation of Homer to infer that medieval Arab poets weren't interested in Aristotle's Poetics. The proposed connection is that a poet interested in Poetics would want to read the epics it frequently discusses. I can follow that connection. But wanting to read Homer doesn't necessarily mean wanting someone to translate Homer.
Imagine a poet who reads Greek fluently. That poet could read Homer in the original language without creating any demand for an Arabic version. The absence of a translation wouldn't tell us that the poet lacked interest in either Homer or Poetics.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to strengthen the argument, so my first prediction is evidence that the poets couldn't read Greek. Then their interest would be more likely to create demand for a translation. That is one possible way to help the reasoning, though the choices might address a different obstacle. Keep the actual conclusion in sight: the claim is about medieval poets' interest in Poetics, with the lack of a Homer translation offered as evidence.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This takes a different route. The translators actually had the Homeric manuscripts available. Without that fact, maybe poets wanted Homer translated but nobody had a copy to translate. Demand alone couldn't produce an Arabic edition of an unavailable text.
I hadn't initially focused on access to the manuscripts. A makes the missing translation more telling by ruling out that particular obstacle: translators had the material, and the passage says texts were translated when there was demand. It doesn't resolve my concern about poets reading Greek themselves. A strengthener can close one gap without closing every gap.
- B
Similarities between stories don't establish a lack of interest in Poetics. Perhaps the similarities reflect influence, or perhaps stories developed similar features independently. We aren't told. The resemblance doesn't explain why the absence of a translation should count as evidence that these poets weren't interested.
- C
Translating works from Indian languages and Persian tells us about other translation projects. It doesn't tell us whether medieval Arab poets wanted to read Poetics or why Homer remained untranslated. A broad ability to translate texts is different from having the particular manuscripts or demand relevant here.
- D
Modern poets' interest doesn't establish medieval poets' lack of interest. The groups lived in different periods, and the answer provides no connection that would let us infer what the earlier group wanted to read. Frequent modern discussion of Poetics leaves the historical claim unresolved.
- E
Writing and performing drama doesn't establish that the poets lacked interest in a work largely concerned with drama. If anything, the shared subject might make an interest easier to imagine. But either way, E doesn't help connect the missing Homer translation to the claimed absence of interest in Poetics.
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