PrepTest 114, Section 1, Question 20
Sociologist: Climate and geology determine where human industry(25 more words not shown)
The sociologist's statements, if true,(8 more words not shown)
- AClimate is the(4 more words not shown)
- BAll shifts in(8 more words not shown)
- CA population remains(8 more words not shown)
- DPopulations settle in(8 more words not shown)
- EEvery migration is(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A major change in climate could make people move. If a place became much harder to live or work in, I can follow why people would look elsewhere. For this question, the sociologist makes the stronger claim that drastic shifts always lead to migration, and we need to accept that statement.
The next step brings ideas into the picture. I might wonder whether a population simply moving together would necessarily encounter different ideas. But the passage explicitly gives us intermingling as a result of migration. We can picture people from different places meeting and exchanging ways of doing things; we don't need to establish that pattern from our own knowledge.
What we’re looking for
We're asked which answer these statements most strongly support. I don't have one precise sentence in mind yet. I'll compare the choices with the stated links among climate, migration, and the mixing of ideas.
Working the answers
- A
Climate can cause migration without being the primary cause. Economic opportunities or other motives could account for more migration overall. The passage doesn't rank the causes, so A adds a comparison we haven't been given.
- B
The statement about migration concerns drastic climate shifts, not every shift. B also promises a net gain in progress. The passage gives us the intermingling needed for rapid advances, not a guarantee that advances occur or outweigh every possible loss. B goes too far in more than one way.
- CCorrect
If drastic changes always produce migration, a population that remains settled cannot be undergoing those drastic changes. That supports the description of its climate as fairly stable.
The wording initially makes me pause: 'fairly stable' isn't the exact phrase 'no drastic shifts.' But it needn't mean perfectly unchanging. Read it as a contrast with the major changes the sociologist says would cause migration. With that ordinary meaning, C fits the stated relationship without adding a ranking of causes or a promise of progress.
- D
Climate and geology determining where industry can be established doesn't mean people settle in every suitable place. A location could be physically suitable while people choose to live elsewhere. D turns a statement about possibility into a claim that every possibility is realized.
- E
Migration brings an intermingling of ideas that rapid advances require. That doesn't make the intermingling enough to produce those advances. Other things could still be needed. E jumps from getting one required ingredient to guaranteeing the result, so the passage doesn't support 'every migration.'
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