PrepTest 138, Section 3, Question 12
Dried parsley should never be used in cooking,(12 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- AFresh ingredients should(6 more words not shown)
- BOnly the tastiest(7 more words not shown)
- CIngredients that should(11 more words not shown)
- DParsley that is(11 more words not shown)
- EIn cooking, dried(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Never use it? What if dried parsley is cheaper, easier to store, or already sitting in the pantry when fresh parsley isn't available?
We can accept that fresh parsley tastes better and is more healthful. Those advantages don't automatically settle every cooking decision. Dried parsley could keep longer or be more convenient to use. The author needs a reason those other considerations cannot justify choosing it.
What we’re looking for
The principle should connect taste or healthfulness to what is allowed in cooking. Because the conclusion says never, a mild preference for fresher or better-tasting ingredients won't be as helpful as a rule that rules out the inferior option altogether.
Working the answers
- A
'Whenever possible' leaves an opening. What if using fresh parsley isn't possible? A could be followed while dried parsley was used on that occasion. It supports choosing fresh when available, but doesn't justify the author's unrestricted ban on dried parsley.
- BCorrect
If only the tastiest ingredients should ever be used, dried parsley is disqualified: we know fresh parsley is tastier. We don't need a second rule about health, because failing this taste requirement already rules it out.
That doesn't mean every recipe must contain fresh parsley. The conclusion is about excluding dried parsley, and B gives a reason to exclude it despite any advantages in price, storage or convenience.
- C
This describes ingredients that have already been classified as ones we should never use. It doesn't give us a rule for moving from an ingredient's taste and healthfulness to a ban. We need to establish that dried parsley belongs in the forbidden category, not start by assuming that it does.
- D
Less tasty doesn't mean not tasty. Less healthful doesn't mean not healthful. Dried parsley could still have both qualities, just to a lesser degree than fresh parsley. If so, the condition that triggers D's ban is not met. D sounds close because it mentions both qualities, but it changes a comparison into an absence of at least one of them.
- E
Calling dried ingredients inferior expands the comparison; it doesn't explain why an inferior ingredient must never be used. A less desirable option could still be acceptable when it's cheaper, easier to store, or the only option available. B supplies the exclusion rule that E leaves out.
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