PrepTest 103, Section 1, Question 16
Henry: Some scientists explain the dance of honeybees(110 more words not shown)
The point at issue between(5 more words not shown)
- Atheories of animal(15 more words not shown)
- Bthere is more(9 more words not shown)
- Choneybees communicate the(7 more words not shown)
- Dthe honeybee is(16 more words not shown)
- Ethe honeybee's sense(9 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
I can call my mother, text her, or talk to her in person. Having one way to communicate doesn't prevent me from using another.
So why would a scent trail rule out communicating through a dance? Henry says bees don't need such a complicated mechanism because the trail already provides the information. But “they don't need it” doesn't mean “that isn't what it does.”
A second method might even be useful if the first fails. What if rain washes away a scent trail? We aren't told that this happens, but it illustrates why having more than one route to the same goal needn't be pointless.
Winifred makes that basic objection: animals can accomplish an important task in several ways. Some bees navigate using either the Sun or remembered landmarks. Similarly, she treats a honeybee's scent trail as an additional means of communication, not the only one.
What we’re looking for
We're asked where the speakers disagree. Henry rejects food-location communication as the explanation for the dance. Winifred defends that explanation against his objection. Look for the dispute about what the dance communicates.
Working the answers
- A
They don't debate a general rule about establishing animal-behavior theories from one species. Winifred uses an example of bees having multiple navigation methods, but neither speaker takes a clear position on the broad research principle in A. We need opposing positions, not just a phrase that sounds related to her example.
- B
Multiple ways to communicate is different from multiple explanations for the dance. Winifred says scent trails need not be the only way to communicate food locations. She doesn't say the dance has several separate explanations. Henry also doesn't count every possible valid explanation; he rejects the particular one under discussion. We can't establish a disagreement about the number of explanations.
- CCorrect
Henry says the dance must have some explanation other than communicating food locations. Winifred responds that scent trails supplement communication rather than exclude another method, thereby defending the dance as a way to communicate those locations. This is the particular explanation at issue.
- D
The dialogue doesn't establish whether other bee species communicate navigational information to hive members. Winifred's example concerns how some bees navigate, which isn't automatically a claim about communicating directions to other bees. Neither speaker says honeybees alone have the ability in D.
- E
Both speakers allow scent to play a role. Henry relies on scent trails as the reason the dance supposedly needs another explanation. Winifred calls those trails supplementary, so she doesn't deny that they help. They disagree over whether that is the only communication method, not whether smell has a role at all.
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