PrepTest 133, Section 1, Question 5
Gardener: The design of Japanese gardens should display(26 more words not shown)
The gardener's argument depends on(6 more words not shown)
- AThe selection of(19 more words not shown)
- BIn the selection(14 more words not shown)
- CThe only criterion(16 more words not shown)
- DExpressing harmony with(8 more words not shown)
- EEach component of(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Does looking like nature necessarily mean being in harmony with nature? The gardener moves between those ideas as though the connection were settled.
Rocks in nature come in different shapes, sizes, and appearances. Choosing a similarly varied collection would imitate that feature. But why is that the way to achieve the garden's goal? Imagine choosing only smooth white rocks, or only round black ones. Could a carefully arranged garden like that still look harmonious? We haven't been told why variety helps.
Notice how the argument is built. The first sentence says what Japanese gardens should do. It might initially sound like the conclusion, but the gardener uses it to support a further recommendation about which rocks to choose. The word 'should' appears in both. What supports what tells us more than spotting a particular word.
What we’re looking for
The assumption question asks what the gardener's reasoning needs. We need a connection between imitating the variety found in nature and achieving harmony with nature. Keep that connection narrow. The gardener can use harmony as a reason to choose varied rocks without claiming it is the only thing a gardener should care about.
Working the answers
- A
Every key value is much broader than the one goal discussed here. Even if harmony with nature is a key value, the argument doesn't require rock selection to reflect every other value of Japanese garden design. Other features of the garden might serve those values. A adds a requirement the reasoning doesn't need.
- BCorrect
Choosing varied rocks imitates the variety found in nature, and B says that imitation helps achieve harmony with nature. Now we have the missing reason why nature's variety matters to the gardener's recommendation.
Notice the modest claim: it helps. B doesn't say every harmonious garden must imitate nature in every respect. If this imitation did nothing to promote harmony, pointing to natural variation would no longer provide the offered reason to select varied rocks.
- C
Only? A gardener might also care whether a rock is dangerous to handle or whether it fits in the available space. Those considerations could matter alongside harmony without undermining the argument. The problem isn't that the word 'only' is automatically wrong; it's that excluding every other consideration is unnecessary here.
- D
Being natural and displaying harmony with nature need not be identical. A garden is deliberately arranged, yet it could still display harmony through the way its features are chosen. The argument needs imitation to help with the goal, as B says. It doesn't need these two broader ideas to mean the same thing.
- E
We were talking about the rocks. Why must the trees, flowers, or cherry blossoms also be varied? The gardener could recommend a wide variety of rocks beside identical trees. E extends the recommendation to every component, which the stated reasoning doesn't require.
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