PrepTest 104, Section 2, Question 14
By the mid-fourteenth century, professional associations of canon(451 more words not shown)
The author would be most(22 more words not shown)
- AIt is untrue(11 more words not shown)
- BIt is unlikely(16 more words not shown)
- CIt is unlikely(16 more words not shown)
- DIt is impossible(12 more words not shown)
- EIt is directly(9 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The writer finds the idea that these lawyers behaved exceptionally well “inherently weak.” That tells us the direction, but the answer also needs the actual reason for that judgment.
What we’re looking for
Civil courts recorded much more discipline despite similar standards and some shared practitioners. Why assume the church lawyers behaved so much better when some of the same people worked in the other system?
Working the answers
- A
Church authorities' complaints do show misconduct, so we shouldn't say church records are irrelevant. But some documented violations wouldn't by themselves disprove a claim that lawyers generally behaved scrupulously. The explicit assessment is comparative: the civil-court evidence makes that explanation less plausible. C captures this reason and qualified judgment better.
- B
Modern associations appear in the opening as an example of expected enforcement. The writer doesn't use modern lawyers' behavior to evaluate this medieval hypothesis.
- CCorrect
The similar area is the medieval civil-court system. It recorded substantially more instances of discipline under similar standards, with some overlap in lawyers (paragraph 3). That makes the picture of unusually scrupulous church lawyers unlikely.
- D
The writer does assess the explanation and gives evidence for rejecting it. English church records are described as rich, not too scarce to permit a judgment.
- E
The records favor the competing explanation of weak enforcement. This reverses their role by treating them as direct support for unusually ethical behavior.
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