PrepTest 134, Section 3, Question 5
Peter: Unlike in the past, most children's stories(49 more words not shown)
Peter and Yoko disagree over(4 more words not shown)
- Ashould be less(4 more words not shown)
- Btend to be(7 more words not shown)
- Cdiffer significantly in(6 more words not shown)
- Dtend to have(5 more words not shown)
- Eshould help children(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A bad character doesn't have to be a frightening character. Keep those two ideas separate.
Peter says most current children's stories lack clearly immoral characters. He thinks they should include them so children can learn what happens when someone behaves badly. Yoko's first response directly challenges his description: the stories still tend to include clearly immoral characters.
Then Yoko adds a different point. Those characters tend to be less frightening now, and she calls that an improvement. Peter hasn't said whether the characters scare children or whether they should. We shouldn't turn his desire for a clear moral lesson into a desire to frighten anyone.
What we’re looking for
The disagreement we can actually pin down is about the characters' presence. Do today's stories tend to contain clearly immoral characters? Peter says no; Yoko says yes. That's our prediction, and we can point to a statement from each speaker to support it.
Working the answers
- A
Neither speaker argues that today's stories need to be made less frightening than they already are. Yoko likes the change she describes, but approving a reduction in fear doesn't mean demanding another reduction. Peter doesn't discuss frightening children at all.
- B
Yoko describes the bad characters as less frightening than before. Peter offers no position on that comparison. His complaint concerns the absence of clearly immoral characters, which is not the same as saying that stories are more or less scary.
- C
They evaluate features of the stories, but that doesn't give us opposed judgments about a significant difference in overall quality. Peter could dislike the missing moral clarity while liking other improvements. Yoko could like the less frightening characters while disliking other changes. Neither supplies the broad assessment this answer needs.
- DCorrect
Peter says most of today's stories don't have clearly immoral characters. Yoko says they still tend to have them. These claims directly oppose one another on the same issue. We don't need to resolve their additional views about lessons or fear to establish this disagreement.
- E
Peter clearly wants stories to teach children the consequences of bad behavior. Yoko never rejects that goal. She could agree that stories should teach it while thinking a less frightening villain can still get the lesson across. Silence about Peter's goal isn't disagreement with it.
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