PrepTest 145, Section 4, Question 7
It is widely believed that the most environmentally(68 more words not shown)
The claim that the most(26 more words not shown)
- AIt is a(10 more words not shown)
- BIt is a(14 more words not shown)
- CIt is a(16 more words not shown)
- DIt is a(7 more words not shown)
- EIt is the(4 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A shorter trip doesn't guarantee a smaller environmental impact. Imagine trying to grow bananas in a cold place such as Minnesota. If producing them there required much more energy than growing them in a suitable climate, shipping them from farther away might be the better environmental choice. That is the kind of possibility the argument raises: transportation is only part of the cost, and production can matter much more.
So the author has a sensible response to the rule about always buying local when local food is available. There can be exceptions. We don't have to show that local food is always worse; one situation in which buying nonlocal food is environmentally preferable is enough to defeat that blanket rule.
What we’re looking for
The question asks what role the opening belief plays. It's the position the author is arguing against. The author's own conclusion comes later: sometimes buying nonlocal food is preferable.
Working the answers
- A
The author doesn't build the argument on this principle. The argument challenges it by pointing to environmental costs the principle overlooks. A starting point in the passage isn't necessarily an accepted starting point in the reasoning.
- B
This would fit an argument that accepts the local-food rule and uses it to recommend a particular local purchase. Here the rule is introduced so that the author can explain why it doesn't always give the right recommendation.
- C
The author does not accept the opening principle and then reject an activity for violating it. The principle itself is being rejected. The support comes from the relative environmental effects of transportation and production.
- DCorrect
This is the widely held view the argument rejects. Its “whenever available” recommendation conflicts with the author's conclusion that buying nonlocal food can sometimes be environmentally preferable. The production-cost discussion supplies the reason to reject the original rule.
- E
The conclusion is the later claim about sometimes preferring nonlocal food. The opening claim is what that conclusion pushes back against. Calling the first sentence the conclusion would give the author the position the author is disputing.
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