PrepTest 133, Section 1, Question 7
The cause of the epidemic that devastated Athens(53 more words not shown)
Each of the following, if(5 more words not shown)
- AVictims of the(18 more words not shown)
- BNot all of(12 more words not shown)
- CThe Ebola virus's(14 more words not shown)
- DThe Ebola virus(17 more words not shown)
- EThe epidemics known(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The symptoms fit Ebola. Does that settle what caused the epidemic?
The passage calls Ebola the only known disease with this symptom. Known to us is the important limit. What if another disease caused similar symptoms in ancient Athens but has since died out? Or what if we simply haven't discovered it? The matching hiccups and other symptoms make Ebola a possibility without proving it was the cause.
What we’re looking for
This is an EXCEPT question. Four choices will give us reasons to doubt the identification; we want the one that doesn't. My initial concern is another possible disease, but the choices could also weaken by showing that the Athenian outbreak behaved differently from Ebola. Keep asking whether each fact makes this particular identification less convincing.
Working the answers
- A
This weakens. Ebola produces many symptoms that none of the accounts mentions. If the Athenian disease really was Ebola, why don't those additional symptoms appear in the descriptions? The accounts might be incomplete, so this doesn't prove the identification wrong. It does give us a reason to question whether the diseases match.
- BCorrect
The argument never required every Ebola victim to have hiccups. It says many victims in Athens had them, and uses that symptom as a clue. A symptom can help identify a disease even if only some people with that disease experience it.
Imagine only 10 percent of Ebola victims have hiccups. Finding hiccups among Athenian victims could still be relevant evidence, given the passage's claim that no other known disease has that symptom. B doesn't identify a mismatch between the two outbreaks. It therefore doesn't weaken the argument and is the exception we need.
- C
This weakens by making us ask how the virus reached the population. If its host animals weren't there, one route for spreading it is missing. That isn't conclusive: infected people might have brought it and spread it to others. But a weakener only needs to make the proposed explanation less secure, not eliminate every possible transmission route.
- D
This weakens because the reported behavior differs. If Ebola is much more contagious than the Athenian disease was reported to be, why did the Athenian outbreak appear less contagious? That difference gives us another reason to doubt that the same disease caused both.
- E
This also weakens. Known Ebola epidemics usually end sooner than the Athenian epidemic did. Usually allows exceptions, so the longer duration doesn't make Ebola impossible. Still, it is another mismatch. Unlike B's point that symptoms need not appear in everyone, E compares the outbreak in question with the outbreaks used to identify it.
More Weaken questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Weaken questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.