PrepTest 123, Section 1, Question 22

What we’re looking for

Working the answers

• A

  The self-serving criticism questions motives. The first criticism doesn't: even well-meaning donors could be unable to solve problems of that scale. Ineffectiveness doesn't require dishonorable intentions.

• B

  The first criticism doesn't focus on donors' rewards. The second mentions both status and possible economic benefits, but doesn't rank one above the other. There's no shared comparison to support this.

• C

  The writer doesn't fault the criticisms for being too gentle about Victorian condescension. The response is that they patronize the Victorians and overlook their awareness and commitments.

• D
  Correct

  The first paragraph explicitly says the problems needed major government action through legislation. The third paragraph supplies the broader account of modern critics: private charity is treated as an inferior predecessor to “state-sponsored, professionally administered charity.” Resistance to state control is then explained as self-interest or the state's inability to cope. Government action is the needed response behind both critiques. That support is spread across the discussion; it isn't confined to the paragraph introducing the second criticism.

• E

  The first criticism doesn't address attempts to improve one's status. The second treats philanthropy as a way to gain status, not as a futile attempt to do so. “Futility” gets that relationship backward.