PrepTest 106, Section 4, Question 1
Some Native American tribes have had difficulty establishing(436 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- ALand claim suits(22 more words not shown)
- BLand claim suits(16 more words not shown)
- CLand claim suits(21 more words not shown)
- DLand claim suits(25 more words not shown)
- ELand claim suits(29 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We've already predicted the main point: the Mashpee case shows the trouble that arises when a community's way of preserving information doesn't fit the court's expectations about proof. The lawsuit is our example of a broader cultural mismatch.
What we’re looking for
Look for that relationship, rather than a statement about just one requirement in this case.
Working the answers
- A
Written documentation was an obstacle here, but the ending describes growing accommodation of cultural differences. We aren't establishing that every successful land claim must include written records.
- B
The writer doesn't propose changing the definition of tribe. Allowing oral evidence to demonstrate self-government or territory would differ from changing what those requirements mean.
- CCorrect
The town demands documents; the Mashpee offer evidence preserved through an oral culture. Their unsuccessful suit illustrates the complications created by “differing perceptions and definitions” when cultures try to resolve a dispute.
- D
The courts aren't said to have promised to accept oral testimony and then refused it. The mismatch is between cultural approaches to evidence, not between a court's announced policy and its actions.
- E
An earlier ruling supplies the definition, so precedent does matter. But using precedent isn't itself the problem being illustrated. C captures what goes wrong: the different systems don't understand evidence in the same way.
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