PrepTest 133, Section 2, Question 12
Commentator: Recently, articles criticizing the environmental movement have(92 more words not shown)
The commentator's statements, if true,(8 more words not shown)
- AWinslow is correct(9 more words not shown)
- BCritics of environmentalism(7 more words not shown)
- CWinslow's explanation is(12 more words not shown)
- DThe position attacked(10 more words not shown)
- ESerious environmentalism will(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
An article can look rebellious without actually challenging the dominant view.
Keep those two ideas separate here. Winslow says editors like articles that seem daring, which explains why they publish attacks on environmentalism. The commentator then explicitly agrees: 'It is true' that editors like these pieces because they seem to challenge political orthodoxy—the prevailing political position.
The objection comes next. Serious environmentalism isn't actually the dominant position, so attacking it doesn't make someone a genuine rebel. The critics may have sold a rebellious image without earning it.
What we’re looking for
That doesn't undo the agreement about the editors. If editors want the appearance of controversy, an article can satisfy that preference even when its rebellious image is misleading. For this supported-inference question, we don't need to invent a bigger conclusion. We can check the answers against what the commentator has actually accepted and rejected.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The commentator agrees with Winslow about the editors' preference for articles that appear controversial. The sentence beginning 'It is true' directly accepts that explanation of why editors like these pieces. The later disagreement concerns whether the critics are genuinely challenging orthodoxy, not whether editors favor the appearance of doing so.
- B
Being a genuine renegade and successfully promoting yourself as one are different things. The commentator rejects the first description but allows that the critics may have succeeded at selling the image. B says that promotion failed, which doesn't follow. A misleading image can still be persuasive.
- C
'Not consonant' means inconsistent. Nothing in the passage shows that Winslow's explanation conflicts with these articles appearing regularly. Editors liking apparently daring pieces fits their decision to run them. The commentator challenges the critics' self-image, not the compatibility of Winslow's account with the publication pattern.
- D
The commentator says serious environmentalism is not politically orthodox. D describes the position being attacked as the prevailing one, which goes against that point. Looking like an attack on the establishment doesn't establish that the target actually represents the establishment.
- E
We aren't told what serious environmentalism will become. It might gain influence, lose influence, or remain where it is. The commentator's present-tense description doesn't support a prediction that it will eventually become the prevailing position.
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