PrepTest 120, Section 4, Question 13
Britain is now rabies free.(51 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- Atrying to undermine(24 more words not shown)
- Braising a possible(26 more words not shown)
- Cproviding evidence that(23 more words not shown)
- Dshowing that because(17 more words not shown)
- Earguing that a(24 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The bats aren't going through the animal-import checkpoint. A strict quarantine can control imported pets without controlling wild animals that fly into Britain. That's the problem the author identifies. Britain can be rabies free now and still face a future outbreak through a route this policy doesn't cover.
When I first hear that a quarantine won't work forever, I might imagine someone smuggling an animal past the authorities. But the author's explanation is simpler: wild bats arrive from continental Europe, can carry rabies, and cannot be quarantined. The policy could be enforced properly and still leave that route open.
What we’re looking for
We're asked how the argument works. It explains why a policy won't achieve its goal indefinitely by identifying a threat beyond the policy's reach. We don't have to decide whether quarantine has other benefits or whether it should be abandoned.
Working the answers
- A
This would question whether the policy deserves credit for Britain's current lack of rabies. Perhaps something else produced that good result. But the argument doesn't offer an alternative explanation of past success. It points to a route by which the policy could fail in the future.
- B
The author raises the bat problem as a relevant objection and keeps it. The argument never goes on to dismiss it as irrelevant. That would require something like showing that bats couldn't bring the disease in, which is the opposite of the stated concern.
- C
No official's failure is described. The problem isn't that someone neglects to inspect an imported animal or enforce the quarantine. It's that wild bats fall outside the quarantine even when officials do their jobs.
- D
The argument doesn't blame other countries for failing to adopt the policy. It identifies an animal that this country's policy cannot control. A lack of universal agreement among governments is a different explanation of why a policy might fail.
- ECorrect
The policy aims to prevent widespread rabies outbreaks. Bats entering Britain could defeat that aim, and the policy cannot control rabies spread by those wild bats. The author uses that unaddressed route to argue that the policy won't succeed indefinitely. E maps both the policy's goal and the event outside its influence.
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