PrepTest 122, Section 4, Question 8
One good clue as to which geographical regions(47 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(14 more words not shown)
- APollens are often(11 more words not shown)
- BThere are several(20 more words not shown)
- CMany types of(11 more words not shown)
- DData are scarce(12 more words not shown)
- EPollen analysis is(9 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Pollen from a plant found only in Germany would be a useful clue that an object had been in Germany. I can see why the method might work. But did the object travel, or did the pollen?
Imagine a merchant carrying some pollen to another country and getting it on a relic there. The relic would now have German pollen without ever having visited Germany. We don't have to think someone actually did that. The example shows what the method depends on: the pollen must reliably indicate where the object went, rather than where something that later touched it came from.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to cast doubt on the method's reliability. I'd look for evidence that pollen can move between regions. That would make a plant's unique home less reliable as a record of the relic's travels.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Wind or people can carry pollen beyond the region where its plant grows. Now an object can pick up pollen from a place it never visited, just as in our merchant example. The plant can still be unique to its home region; the problem is that its pollen need not stay there. This makes the clue less reliable without showing that every conclusion from pollen analysis is wrong.
- B
Easier methods might be available, but the author never calls this the easiest method or the only useful one. A complicated method could still reliably identify where an object has been. B gives us a possible reason to prefer another approach without showing this one's conclusions are unreliable.
- C
We're specifically using pollen from plants known to have been unique to an area. Pollen shared by several regions wouldn't be the distinctive clue described here. Its existence doesn't undermine the use of the separate types that do identify a unique plant location.
- D
Limited information about many ancient plants could limit how often we can apply the method. But the method described uses plants whose unique locations are known. Missing information about other plants doesn't show that an analysis based on those known locations produces unreliable travel histories. A attacks that connection even when we know exactly where the plant grew.
- E
Expensive and painstaking doesn't mean inaccurate. It could take substantial work and money to identify the pollen correctly and still give us a useful clue. We're judging reliability, not whether the process is affordable or convenient.
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