PrepTest 105, Section 4, Question 12
Nearly everyone has complained of a mistaken utility(52 more words not shown)
The information above conforms most(8 more words not shown)
- AThe fact that(22 more words not shown)
- BIf people do(17 more words not shown)
- CThe degree to(22 more words not shown)
- DThe complaints people(20 more words not shown)
- EThe less willing(18 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A computer can be frustrating and still save us trouble. Losing track of a file is annoying; going back to paper records and a clerk searching through them might be worse. My first reaction is that the passage contrasts inconveniences we still have with inconveniences technology has helped us avoid.
The complaints are real. So are the preferences: few people would accept those long searches, and almost no word-processor user would go back to a typewriter. We shouldn't turn either fact into a claim that technology is perfect or that waiting in lines has disappeared.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for a principle that fits these observations. I'd look for a statement about tolerating some difficulties while keeping the benefits. We need something that accommodates both people's complaints and their reluctance to return to the older way of doing things.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Complaining about some effects of technology doesn't reliably indicate that someone would choose to live without it. The people in the passage can dislike problems with files or bills and still prefer the convenience technology supplies.
That is the useful connection between the two sets of facts. A complaint tells us what bothers a person; it doesn't automatically tell us what the person would choose when the alternative has problems too. We don't have to say every technology is beneficial or everyone wants every device to accept that principle.
- B
The passage describes complaints about technology, not a group of technologies that attracts no complaints. It doesn't tell us whether quiet acceptance signals insignificance. A technology could be very important and work so smoothly that people rarely complain about it. B would require a connection the examples don't give us.
- C
We have no scale connecting the amount of complaining to the degree of dependence. The examples contrast having complaints with wanting to abandon technology. They don't show that twice as many complaints means twice as much dependence, or establish any other reliable measurement. “Always” makes C especially far beyond the evidence.
- D
This elevates complaints over choices as evidence of importance. But the passage warns us, through its examples, that complaints can coexist with a strong preference to keep using the technology. It doesn't establish that complaints are the better guide. Choosing a word processor over a typewriter matters to the comparison precisely because the complaints alone don't settle the preference.
- E
This predicts that people most reluctant to give technology up are more likely to complain. The passage doesn't compare groups by their willingness to abandon technology and then measure their tendency to complain. It only shows that complaints and a preference to keep the technology can occur together. Coexistence doesn't establish E's increasing relationship.
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