PrepTest 125, Section 2, Question 25
To face danger solely because doing so affords(35 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AA person who(17 more words not shown)
- BA person who(18 more words not shown)
- CA person who(13 more words not shown)
- DA person who(19 more words not shown)
- EA person who(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Courage requires fear, on this definition. Doing something dangerous because you enjoy the thrill isn't enough.
Read the first sentence carefully, though: it rules out acting solely for pleasure. If someone enjoys part of an activity but also acts for another reason, that sentence doesn't automatically rule out courage. It doesn't automatically establish courage either. The second sentence adds requirements: the person must pursue a goal and persist despite fear of a danger involved.
What we’re looking for
The inference question asks us to apply those limits. We know something that rules courage out, and we know features that courage requires. We need an answer supported by those rules, without adding our own definition of what makes an action courageous.
Working the answers
- A
Avoiding future pain can be a goal. A person facing danger for that reason might also be afraid and persist despite the fear. The passage doesn't rule out courage in that situation. Don't read 'perseveres' as requiring that the person be free of every pressure to act. And saying someone must face danger to avoid pain doesn't mean they have no choice at all; it describes what avoiding the pain requires.
- B
Fear doesn't disqualify the action. The definition requires fear of one or more dangers involved. Of course, being afraid by itself doesn't establish courage; the person must also pursue a goal and persevere. But B treats a required feature as a reason to rule courage out.
- C
Enjoying some dangerous activities doesn't show that pleasure is the person's sole motive. Also, the person might act courageously in other situations. Someone could enjoy skydiving for the thrill and still face a different, frightening danger to help another person. The passage doesn't let us turn pleasure in some activities into a judgment that the person isn't courageous at all.
- DCorrect
Benefiting others doesn't remove the fear requirement. Even when that is the person's goal, the action counts as courageous only if the person is afraid of a danger involved. This applies the second sentence directly. We don't have to use every detail in the passage for an answer to follow from it.
- E
Someone could be fearless about dangers everyone else fears and still fear something else. Imagine a person who isn't afraid to face a tiger but is frightened of spiders. Whether those fears seem usual isn't the test the passage gives us. The person might persevere despite their own fear in another situation. E jumps from being unafraid of one set of situations to being incapable of courage in any situation.
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