PrepTest 131, Section 2, Question 23
This year a flood devastated a small river(72 more words not shown)
The situation described above most(9 more words not shown)
- APeople are more(12 more words not shown)
- BThose who have(19 more words not shown)
- CThe amount of(18 more words not shown)
- DOnce a disaster(18 more words not shown)
- EPeople are more(26 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Two river towns: perhaps that makes the flood victims' situation feel especially personal to Hollyville's residents. My first thought is that Hollyville might have experienced a flood too, so its residents can picture what people in the other town are going through more readily than they could picture the earlier earthquake.
But keep reading. The disaster Hollyville actually experienced last year was a tornado. That shifts my attention from matching the kind of disaster to the timing. A few years ago, Hollyville sent aid to earthquake victims. Then its own residents needed emergency aid after the tornado. Now a much larger proportion of them are helping the flood victims.
What we’re looking for
Having needed help themselves could make the residents appreciate what disaster victims face and want to help as others helped them. For the generalization illustrated by the passage, I'd look for that before-and-after pattern: people become more willing to help others after experiencing a disaster themselves.
Working the answers
- A
Both towns being on rivers doesn't tell us that their residents know one another. We aren't given a comparison between helping acquaintances and helping strangers. The passage's comparison concerns Hollyville's participation before and after its own disaster.
- B
Sending emergency aid doesn't establish support for government relief programs. The passage tells us what residents did to help other victims, not their position on government policy. B also compares aid recipients with nonrecipients, a comparison the passage doesn't supply.
- C
The earlier earthquake was highly publicized, but we aren't told how much publicity the flood received. Nor does one difference in Hollyville's participation establish that publicity is unrelated to aid generally. The passage doesn't support this broad claim about the amount victims receive.
- DCorrect
Before the tornado, a smaller proportion of Hollyville's residents helped the earthquake victims. After the tornado, a majority helped the flood victims. That is the change D describes: experiencing a disaster is followed by greater willingness to help others in need. We need the generalization the situation fits, not proof that no other factor influenced the residents.
- E
This resembles my initial idea about two river towns, but Hollyville experienced a tornado, not a flood. Both events are hardships, yet the passage doesn't establish that the flood was more similar to Hollyville's experience than the earthquake was. The clearer comparison is chronological: the earthquake appeal came before Hollyville's disaster and the flood appeal came after. E replaces that supported comparison with a similarity ranking we weren't given.
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