PrepTest 103, Section 4, Question 20
Between June 1987 and May 1988, the bodies(454 more words not shown)
The author refers to dolphins(12 more words not shown)
- Arefute the assertion(12 more words not shown)
- Bcompare the effects(11 more words not shown)
- Ccast doubt on(10 more words not shown)
- Dillustrate the fact(13 more words not shown)
- Eprovide evidence for(12 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
If these algae caused the disaster, why haven't we seen a similar disaster where both the algae and dolphins are common? That's the challenge raised by the Gulf comparison. We need an answer that captures its role in questioning the explanation.
Working the answers
- A
No one claims dolphins avoid places where this alga is common. The question is whether it explains the deaths, not where dolphins live.
- B
The Gulf example concerns P. brevis, not synthetic pollutants. No comparison of synthetic pollution's effects in Gulf and Atlantic dolphins is supplied.
- CCorrect
Both dolphins and P. brevis red tides are common in the Gulf, yet no comparably large loss of dolphins has been observed there (paragraph 4). That makes the proposed connection less convincing: the explanation needs to account for the different result. It casts doubt without proving the toxin can never harm dolphins.
- D
We aren't told the Gulf waters are relatively pollution-free. Nor does the absence of a comparable mass die-off establish that its dolphins are healthier overall. This adds two unsupported comparisons.
- E
Right subject, opposite direction. The Gulf observation is used to question P. brevis's role, not to support it as the cause.
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