PrepTest 135, Section 3, Question 13
While recent decades have seen more information recorded(452 more words not shown)
The passage most strongly suggests(10 more words not shown)
- AFuture electronic information(19 more words not shown)
- BAs much information(25 more words not shown)
- CThe general public(16 more words not shown)
- DDistinguishing what is(13 more words not shown)
- EValue judgments made(13 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Archivists must decide what to keep and what to discard, ideally by assessing each document's value. The examples of ancient works show what is at stake: copies that survive become available to later generations; works that disappear may be lost entirely.
What we’re looking for
Put those ideas together. Choices made now help determine what evidence people in the future will have about our time. That's a supported consequence of the archivists' decisions, even though the author doesn't state the entire connection in one sentence.
Working the answers
- A
The author actually mentions emerging technologies that may provide the required durability. Current failures therefore don't establish that future systems will be no more viable. Be skeptical of a prediction that turns today's problem into an unavoidable permanent condition.
- B
The recommendation here is to assess the value of documents when making preservation decisions. We aren't told that no one can predict future importance or that archivists should therefore store as much as possible. Difficulty deciding what matters doesn't establish that judging value is impossible.
- C
There is no claim that manufacturers misled the public. Problems with technology don't, by themselves, establish deception by the people selling it.
- D
A problem can become larger without being new. The growing volume of records makes sorting more urgent and difficult, but the author doesn't say archivists only recently began distinguishing essential from dispensable material.
- ECorrect
Decisions about preserving or disposing of documents determine which records remain available (paragraph 3). Later generations use surviving records to understand the past, just as we rely on surviving ancient works. The archivists' judgments can therefore influence that understanding. This modest connection is supported; it doesn't require the much stronger claim in B that future value cannot be predicted at all.
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