PrepTest 127, Section 4, Question 11
Mechanisms for recognizing kin are found throughout the(466 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(13 more words not shown)
- Ato draw attention(23 more words not shown)
- Bto explain why(15 more words not shown)
- Cto describe behavior(14 more words not shown)
- Dto offer evidence(10 more words not shown)
- Eto imply that(17 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The sentence adds a limit: cannibal tadpoles generally spare siblings, but are less likely to do so when very hungry. So our explanation must handle more than a simple rule that relatives are always protected. It needs to explain when their own survival takes priority.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
“Further complicates” describes that added condition. The earlier facts were about sparing siblings; now we must also account for eating them under greater hunger. That is an extra fact for a theory to explain, even if the behavior seems understandable once we think it through.
- B
Nothing compares the frequency of kin-eating in most species with its frequency in these tadpoles. This sentence concerns one species and a change in its circumstances.
- C
The earlier sibling-sparing behavior supplied the straightforward support. This sentence qualifies that pattern rather than simply adding another example of it. It also doesn't show that a tadpole has stopped recognizing its sibling.
- D
More complicated doesn't mean unexplainable. The sentence itself suggests a reason: giving its own genetic makeup priority.
- E
The author doesn't rank this observation as more relevant than the preceding one. Both the avoidance and its limit belong in the account we need to explain.
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