PrepTest 103, Section 1, Question 13
Some people think that in every barrel of(51 more words not shown)
Assuming that the author's statements(11 more words not shown)
- ASome people think(4 more words not shown)
- BSome politicians are(2 more words not shown)
- CSome people define(9 more words not shown)
- DSome deceitful politicians(2 more words not shown)
- ESome scrupulously honest(3 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why would doing the job well require deceit? The author makes that claim forcefully, but we haven't been given much reason to accept it.
For this question, though, we are told to assume the author's statements are accurate. So put that objection aside. The rule we're working with is that an effective politician must be deceitful. The passage also explicitly says that a scrupulously honest person will never be an effective politician.
That doesn't mean there are no honest politicians. It means that, under these rules, any honest politicians would be ineffective.
What we’re looking for
We're looking for the statement that cannot be true. My prediction is a politician who combines the two qualities the passage keeps apart: scrupulous honesty and effectiveness. That person would directly violate the stated rule.
Working the answers
- A
Some people could believe that all politicians are rotten. The opening tells us that some people think only a few are rotten, but that doesn't prevent other people from holding a more negative view. Different people can believe different things. A is possible, so it is not our answer.
- B
Honest politicians could exist. They just wouldn't be effective according to the passage. B never calls them effective, so it doesn't conflict with the rule. Adding “effective” would make a crucial difference.
- C
People's definitions of the job are not restricted here. Some could define it as obeying society's rules even if the author thinks that strict honesty prevents a politician from being effective. We need a statement that conflicts with the facts we're accepting, not one whose subject the passage leaves unsettled.
- D
Deceit is presented as something effective politicians need, not as something that makes every deceitful politician effective. Someone might lie and still do the job badly. Thus some deceitful politicians could be ineffective without violating anything in the passage.
- ECorrect
This is the combination the final sentence expressly forbids. The passage says someone who is scrupulously honest will never be effective; E says some such politicians are effective. Even one would conflict with “never.” Unlike B, this answer gives the honest politicians the very quality the passage rules out.
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