PrepTest 142, Section 2, Question 17
Herbalist: While standard antibiotics typically have just one(79 more words not shown)
In the analogy drawn in(13 more words not shown)
- Aa single(1 more words not shown)
- Bseveral dozen(1 more words not shown)
- Cthe pleasure experienced(4 more words not shown)
- Da(1 more words not shown)
- Ethe ingredients available(3 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Pleasing one dinner guest is different from pleasing several dozen at once. With one guest, a cook has one person's preferences to satisfy. With a crowd, the same meal has to work for many people.
The herbalist uses that comparison to explain resistance. A standard antibiotic typically presents one active ingredient for bacteria to resist. An herbal remedy typically presents several. In the author's comparison, resisting the remedy means overcoming all those different challenges, just as the cook must satisfy all the guests.
What we’re looking for
This doesn't settle which treatment is better overall. A claim about retaining effectiveness against resistance isn't a complete comparison of medical benefits. But we aren't evaluating treatments here; we're matching a role in the analogy. A standard antibiotic sits on the one-challenge side, so look for the single guest.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The single guest corresponds to the standard antibiotic with one active ingredient. Just as the cook has one guest to satisfy, the bacteria have one active ingredient to resist. The relevant feature is the single challenge, not the fact that antibiotics themselves contain chemical ingredients.
- B
The crowd corresponds to the herbal remedy's several active ingredients. Pleasing everyone parallels developing resistance to all the different ingredients. That's the many-challenges side of the comparison, whereas the question asks about the standard antibiotic.
- C
A guest's pleasure is the successful result for the cook. On the other side, the corresponding success would be the bacteria's resistance to the ingredient. The question asks what represents the antibiotic, not the outcome of successfully resisting it.
- D
The cook faces the challenge, just as the bacteria face the remedy. The antibiotic is something the bacteria must overcome, so it occupies the guest's role rather than the cook's.
- E
Don't match this just because the passage also uses the word “ingredient.” Cooking ingredients would be resources the cook uses to prepare a successful meal. The passage doesn't give them an explicit counterpart, but they aren't the guest whose preferences must be met. The standard antibiotic is the challenge being faced, not the resources used to meet it.
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