PrepTest 110, Section 1, Question 17
In the eighteenth century the French naturalist Jean(442 more words not shown)
According to the passage, the(10 more words not shown)
- Amay affect the(5 more words not shown)
- Bmay help to(6 more words not shown)
- Cmay occur without(5 more words not shown)
- Dmay influence the(5 more words not shown)
- Emay be changed(5 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
My first thought is that these discoveries matter because they might support Lamarck. But the question asks for the particular significance the writer identifies, so that broad prediction may need to change. Where does the writer tell us why this phenomenon is especially noteworthy?
Working the answers
- A
Photosynthesis is mentioned, but the issue is how quickly cells acquire the ability to do it. That is different from how quickly photosynthesis happens once a cell has the ability.
- B
The writer contrasts acquiring an existing capability with waiting for it to develop through random mutation and natural selection. That does not explain the process of natural selection itself.
- C
This is true of the cell-wall example: inherited wall loss occurs without changes to the genes themselves. But it isn't the reason identified for the phenomenon's particular significance. A true feature of an example can still fail to answer the question being asked.
- DCorrect
Paragraph 3 calls the E. coli case “especially noteworthy” because it suggests acquired characteristics could have accelerated evolutionary change (paragraph 3). A cell might acquire an existing photosynthesis capability instead of waiting eons for it to develop. That effect on evolutionary speed is the specific point we needed, narrower than our initial Lamarck prediction.
- E
Experiments appear in the discussion, but the writer doesn't identify experimental control as the reason this phenomenon is particularly significant. The stated significance concerns evolutionary timing.
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