PrepTest 145, Section 1, Question 8
The following passage is adapted from an article(441 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- ABecause not all(35 more words not shown)
- BThe reckoning of(30 more words not shown)
- CBecause they argue(38 more words not shown)
- DBecause it does(48 more words not shown)
- EBecause the need(35 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We've already predicted the main point: cost and benefit alone are not enough to set appropriate corporate penalties. Properly accounting for low detection rates can require fines large enough to cause serious practical harm, so another criterion must supplement the calculation.
What we’re looking for
The important distinction is between completing the economic calculation and deciding whether that calculation should be our only guide.
Working the answers
- A
Detection ratios belong within a true cost-benefit calculation. Adding them does not solve the author's practical objection; it produces the enormous fines that create that objection. A stops before the actual conclusion that another criterion is needed.
- B
This reverses the argument. Taking detection into account does not make cost and benefit sufficient as the sole basis. It reveals how impractical the resulting penalties could be.
- C
The author allows moral weight as an additional consideration, but the argument does not rest on an injustice to communities whose moral opinions were disregarded. The stated problem is the practical effect of the very high fines a complete calculation requires.
- D
This again treats detection as missing from cost and benefit itself. A true calculation includes it. The author's resulting concern is that fines may become impractically large, not merely too small to express community moral standards.
- ECorrect
This connects the reasoning to the conclusion: taking detection seriously creates a practical problem for the method when used alone, so some additional way of determining penalties is needed. Supplementing the calculation preserves its role without treating it as sufficient.
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