PrepTest 129, Section 1, Question 15
Anderson maintains that travel writing has diminished in(78 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(24 more words not shown)
- AIt is claimed(8 more words not shown)
- BIt is cited(12 more words not shown)
- CIt is part(13 more words not shown)
- DIt is cited(15 more words not shown)
- EIt is cited(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Anderson says travel writing has gotten worse. The author thinks that judgment is too harsh. Why?
Today's readers have traveled more, so merely describing a place may not be enough to interest them. Imagine writing about London for someone who has already visited it. Listing the familiar sights might add little; the writer needs to offer a fresh way to see the city. A writer addressing someone who has never been there has a different task.
The author uses that change in the audience to explain why contemporary travel writing is harder. The genre's continued success despite the harder task then becomes evidence of the writers' talent. Those points support the main conclusion that Anderson is being too harsh.
What we’re looking for
The question asks about the statement that the public is better traveled. Its role is to identify the changed circumstances that make writers' work more demanding. It helps explain why they must do more than simply show readers a place.
Working the answers
- A
The argument doesn't say good travel writing caused the public to travel more. It starts with the public's greater travel experience and explains what that means for writers. A treats the fact as an effect of writing when the author uses it as a circumstance writers must respond to.
- B
Better-traveled readers aren't necessarily a larger group of readers. The point is that the audience brings more experience to the writing, which changes what the writer must offer. The author doesn't use this fact to establish a wider intended readership.
- C
We know Anderson criticizes contemporary travel writing, but we aren't told that readers in general are disappointed. The better-traveled public helps explain a harder task, not an established pattern of reader dissatisfaction. C adds a reaction that the passage never gives us.
- D
The author does say the genre has flourished, but doesn't say it flourishes more today than in the past. Nor is the public's greater travel experience offered as the cause of flourishing. It creates a challenge; succeeding in the face of that challenge is what demonstrates talent.
- ECorrect
The public's greater travel experience has transformed the writer's task. Writers must now make readers see a place anew rather than merely introduce it. E describes the particular job this fact does in the argument, while the broader argument uses that harder task to defend today's writers.
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