PrepTest 116, Section 2, Question 14
Resident: Residents of this locale should not consider(49 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(13 more words not shown)
- AFarming is becoming(17 more words not shown)
- BThe development of(11 more words not shown)
- CResidents of this(15 more words not shown)
- DMany residents of(17 more words not shown)
- EThe loss of(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
More money sounds good. Does it replace the way of life people lost?
The resident points to real economic improvements: the area went from economic depression to high-paying industry with more than twenty times as many jobs. Let's grant all of that. People can still value things that don't appear in the job count.
Perhaps farming was central to their culture or community. Maybe the change brought better pay but weakened family connections or left people feeling less connected to their neighbors. Those are possibilities, not facts about this town. They show why economic success alone doesn't settle whether losing the old way of life was a tragedy for the residents.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to strengthen the recommendation that residents shouldn't see the loss as tragic. I'd want a reason the economic gains answer that concern about what residents value. Saying prosperity matters more than the things they lost would help.
Working the answers
- A
Producing the same food with fewer farms doesn't establish how these residents should feel about losing farming as a way of life. Efficiency could improve while residents still grieved the loss of their community or traditions. A doesn't connect the economic story to their priorities.
- B
National security could be a reason to favor an industry, but we haven't been told that residents value that benefit enough to offset the loss they feel. The resident's case focuses on local economic prosperity. B supplies a different possible benefit without resolving the concern about what this community values.
- CCorrect
This addresses that concern directly: residents don't value the rural way of life more than economic prosperity. The economic improvement therefore speaks to something they value at least as much as the way of life they've lost.
Notice the limit. C doesn't say money is the only thing that matters, or even that prosperity matters strictly more than rural life. It rules out the particular objection that residents place greater value on rural life. That strengthens the resident's conclusion without having to prove every part of it.
- D
Doubling many residents' incomes gives us more detail about the economic gain. But we already know the area gained high-wage jobs and became more prosperous. We could accept these larger incomes and still ask whether residents valued the old way of life more. C does more because it addresses that missing comparison of values.
- E
This points toward the objection instead of answering it. People can perceive the loss of a family farm as tragic without financial hardship. That helps explain why an improved economy might not settle their feelings about losing farming. We're looking for support for the resident's recommendation, not a reason to resist it.
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