PrepTest 144, Section 2, Question 2
Government official: Residents who are foreign citizens can(65 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(7 more words not shown)
- Aforeign citizens who(13 more words not shown)
- Bforeign citizens should(6 more words not shown)
- Conly former cabinet(7 more words not shown)
- Dforeign citizens should(7 more words not shown)
- Ecabinet undersecretaries should(9 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If your job includes filling in for the secretary, you need to be able to do the secretary's work. That's the connection between the two positions. The passage rules out foreign citizens as cabinet secretaries because the job includes duties they should not perform. It also gives us a general rule: don't appoint someone to a position that involves duties that person should not perform.
Now add the undersecretary's responsibility. When the secretary is unavailable, the undersecretary is expected to take over. Being qualified for the undersecretary's ordinary duties isn't enough if the person cannot handle this part of the job.
What we’re looking for
We might initially wonder about complications such as dual citizenship. But we're completing the official's argument using the eligibility rules the passage gives us. The missing conclusion should carry the restriction over to undersecretaries: foreign citizens should not be appointed to that position either.
Working the answers
- A
This proposes granting citizenship to public servants. The official gives us rules for deciding who should hold particular positions, not a proposal to change anyone's citizenship. Most public-service positions are already open to foreign citizens under the passage's stated policy.
- BCorrect
An undersecretary must be able to stand in as secretary, and the passage excludes foreign citizens from performing some of the secretary's duties. Under the official's rule, someone should not be appointed to a job that involves duties that person should not perform. The restriction therefore applies to undersecretaries too.
- C
Nothing requires prior service as an undersecretary before someone becomes secretary. The connection runs through the duties an undersecretary may have to perform, not through a required career path. A person could qualify for the secretary position without having held the other job.
- D
The passage explicitly says foreign citizens cannot serve as cabinet secretaries and defends that restriction. This answer reverses the position the official is taking. It also leaves the newly introduced undersecretary role out of the conclusion.
- E
The official treats substituting for the secretary as part of the undersecretary's job. The conclusion should tell us whom to appoint in light of that responsibility. E instead proposes removing the responsibility, which the argument gives us no reason to do.
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