PrepTest 144, Section 1, Question 19
Before contact with Europeans, the Haudenosaune, a group(466 more words not shown)
It can be inferred from(17 more words not shown)
- AThere is evidence(18 more words not shown)
- BThe Europeans who(25 more words not shown)
- CThere is evidence(16 more words not shown)
- DA long-term peaceful(23 more words not shown)
- EPresent day interpretations(15 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
For this broad inference question, keep the author's qualifications in view. Some symbol meanings are described confidently, while others are only suggested. Council fires “possibly” indicated talks, and lines between figures “seem to have indicated” relations between peoples.
What we’re looking for
Those words matter: a plausible interpretation is not the same as a conclusive one.
Working the answers
- A
Other peoples' uses of similar objects are not discussed. Such examples might exist, but the account gives us no evidence for this comparison beyond the Haudenosaune.
- B
The Europeans are said to have misinterpreted wampum's significance. B changes that misunderstanding into an informed decision to use it as currency despite knowing its meaning.
- C
No adoption of the older religious or political uses is described. The European use discussed is purchasing goods, which the author distinguishes from wampum's earlier significance.
- D
The confederacy formed from “warring tribes,” and simpler communicative uses already existed before its formation. A long period of peace is therefore not established as a necessary precondition. Communication helped maintain peace; the author does not say it required that peaceful history first.
- ECorrect
The qualified interpretations directly support this. Council fires possibly indicated talks, and connecting lines seem to have represented relations between peoples. The author leaves room for uncertainty about some meanings, so those present-day interpretations are not conclusive.
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