PrepTest 117, Section 2, Question 19
It is unlikely that the world will ever(40 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(25 more words not shown)
- AIt is a(19 more words not shown)
- BIt is a(24 more words not shown)
- CIt is a(25 more words not shown)
- DIt is a(16 more words not shown)
- EIt is a(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Never free of disease? I'd want a reason before accepting such a bleak forecast. The author is a little more cautious: a disease-free world is unlikely, not impossible.
The reason offered is that the microorganisms causing most diseases quickly become immune to the medicines used against them while retaining the ability to infect people. That explains why developing a medicine needn't finish the fight. The organisms can respond to that pressure and remain dangerous.
What we’re looking for
I still have a question: must eliminating disease depend on eliminating those organisms with medicine? What if we found a way to protect people from infection even while the organisms remained? That's a possibility to investigate, not a claim that such protection exists. But this question doesn't ask us to defeat the forecast. It asks what role the forecast plays. The discussion of resistance is offered to support it, so the opening claim is the conclusion. We need an answer that identifies both that role and the support accurately.
Working the answers
- A
The role is right, but the stated reason is wrong. The author calls the organisms prolific, yet doesn't argue that their sheer numbers make them impossible to eliminate. The explanation emphasizes how they evolve resistance while remaining able to cause disease. A replaces that response with a different claim about quantity.
- BCorrect
The opening claim is the conclusion, and the later description explains how microorganisms respond to medicine: they develop immunities and retain their ability to infect humans. That response is offered as the reason to expect continuing disease. B gets both the direction of support and the particular evidence right.
- C
This reverses the direction. The author doesn't use the prediction of continuing disease to establish that microorganisms can become resistant. The resistance is the evidence used to support the prediction. Ask which statement is supposed to make us believe the other.
- D
The opening is a broad claim, but that alone doesn't make D right. The argument doesn't use it to predict the organisms' response to medicine. The response is already supplied as the reason for the broader conclusion. D assigns the opening claim a job it doesn't perform.
- E
The passage describes microorganisms developing immunity in response to medicines. It doesn't say that most microorganisms are already immune to the medicines designed to kill them. Also, 'most diseases' being caused by the described organisms is not a count of most microorganisms. E gives the conclusion the wrong supporting claim.
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