PrepTest 109, Section 1, Question 6
A recent national study of the trash discarded(78 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(6 more words not shown)
- AA given weight(15 more words not shown)
- BAccording to popular(22 more words not shown)
- CThe sum of(26 more words not shown)
- DThe production of(22 more words not shown)
- EThe proportion of(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A product's life doesn't begin in the trash can.
I'll accept the study's findings. There is more paper trash than plastic trash, whether measured by weight or volume, and equal amounts of the two kinds of trash cause roughly equal damage. That gives us a reason to think paper trash is causing more harm.
But the author concludes something broader about the current use of paper and plastic. What happens when we manufacture those products? What happens while we use them? If making plastic caused a great deal of harm, a comparison focused only on discarded materials could miss an important part of the picture.
What we’re looking for
To strengthen this argument, I'd want to address that missing part. One possibility would be to show that manufacturing and use add no environmental damage, leaving disposal as the relevant comparison. That was the gap we noticed. An answer could also help by giving us information about that earlier damage; it needs to support the author's overall comparison, not just describe something else about trash.
Working the answers
- A
The paper might expand before it is discarded, but the study measures the trash after that point. Any increase in volume would already be reflected in that measurement. This doesn't tell us about an environmental cost omitted from the study, or otherwise make the conclusion about overall harm better supported.
- B
The argument concerns what actually harms the environment, not which measurement people consider more important. Popular opinion could favor volume while being mistaken. Besides, the study gives the same paper-versus-plastic ordering under either measure. This opinion doesn't address the missing part of the products' environmental impact.
- C
Paper and plastic together might cause more harm than food waste or any other category. We still wouldn't know which of the two causes more harm overall. The conclusion compares paper with plastic; adding their damage together and comparing the sum with other trash answers a different question.
- DCorrect
This addresses the production stage we were worried about. It doesn't say production is harmless, as in our initial prediction. It says producing a given amount of paper is more harmful than producing an equal amount of plastic.
That gives us another comparison favoring the author's conclusion. The trash evidence already points toward more harm from paper, and D shows that the production comparison also runs against paper. We haven't calculated every possible effect of using these materials, but we have filled in an important missing part in a way that supports the argument.
- E
Different parts of the country can have different mixes of trash while the national comparison remains true. The study already uses representative areas to support a nationwide conclusion. Regional variation alone doesn't tell us the study is unrepresentative or that paper causes more total harm than plastic.
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