PrepTest 111, Section 3, Question 18
If there are any inspired musical performances in(39 more words not shown)
If all of the statements(12 more words not shown)
- AIf there are(17 more words not shown)
- BNo people who(20 more words not shown)
- CIf there will(22 more words not shown)
- DThe audience will(20 more words not shown)
- EIf there are(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
An inspired performance guarantees a good show. If a child gives an inspired singing performance, for example, the first sentence tells us the concert will be a good show. It doesn't say that is the only way to have one.
But the next sentence puts a requirement on any good show: there must be sophisticated listeners in the audience. That requirement also has to be met when the good show comes from an inspired performance.
We can't accept a performance that guarantees a good show while also accepting a missing audience requirement that rules a good show out.
The final sentence adds another requirement. Sophisticated listeners must understand their musical roots. So the chain is: an inspired performance guarantees a good show; a good show requires sophisticated listeners; those listeners must understand their musical roots.
What we’re looking for
For a must-be-true answer, we can connect those rules. An inspired performance needs the audience conditions farther down the chain. Having those conditions, however, doesn't by itself promise us an inspired performance.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Without sophisticated listeners, the passage says there cannot be a good show. Now suppose there were an inspired performance anyway. The first sentence would guarantee a good show, and the second would rule one out. Both can't hold.
So if the audience has no sophisticated listeners, the concert cannot contain an inspired performance. That's what A says. We only need the first two rules to prove it; the additional requirement about musical roots doesn't change the result.
- B
A bad show doesn't tell us that everyone in the audience lacks an understanding of their musical roots. Those people could be sitting there while the performance disappoints them. Understanding their roots doesn't guarantee a good show, so the absence of a good show doesn't rule those people out.
- C
Understanding musical roots is required of sophisticated listeners, but it doesn't guarantee that someone is sophisticated. Even sophisticated listeners don't guarantee an inspired performance. C starts at the end of the chain and tries to use a requirement as a promise of the original result.
- D
This says the audience will get a good show if there are no people there who fail to understand their musical roots. In other words, everyone understanding their roots would be enough to guarantee the show.
The passage doesn't give us that promise. It says a good show requires sophisticated listeners, who must understand their roots. It doesn't say an audience's understanding produces good music, sophistication, or an inspired performance. An audience in which everyone understands their roots could still get a bad show.
- E
Sophisticated listeners are required for a good show and therefore for an inspired performance. But their presence doesn't produce an inspired performance. They could attend a concert with poor performers. E takes something the performance needs and treats it as something that guarantees the performance.
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