PrepTest 149, Section 1, Question 24
Critics of a plan to create new building(72 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(5 more words not shown)
- Athe dolphins’ current(18 more words not shown)
- Bthe dolphins do(10 more words not shown)
- Cthe most serious(14 more words not shown)
- Dthe average depth(10 more words not shown)
- Ea short distance(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Do these dolphins even use water that shallow?
The building sites would replace water only five meters deep. My first thought is that this might be too shallow for the dolphins. The passage gives us a maximum depth of 30 meters, but that doesn't answer the question: five is less than 30. We still need to know the shallowest water they inhabit.
What we’re looking for
The land and deep water around the habitat explain why the dolphins can't simply spread out in every direction. Even so, the construction wouldn't reduce their habitat area if the five-meter water wasn't part of it in the first place. That's the completion I'd predict: the dolphins don't inhabit the shallow area the plan would replace.
Working the answers
- A
A large habitat can still get smaller. Even if the remaining area could support far more dolphins, removing part of their habitat would still reduce the available area. The critics' claim is about reduction, not necessarily an immediate shortage of room for the present population.
- BCorrect
The dolphins don't inhabit water shallower than ten meters, so they don't inhabit the five-meter water at these proposed building sites. The plan therefore wouldn't remove habitat area they use. B supplies the lower-depth boundary we were missing. We don't need to claim the project has no possible environmental consequence; this answer addresses the critics' specific claim about habitat area.
- C
A threat doesn't have to be the most serious threat to exist. Disease or pollution could be worse while the plan still reduced habitat area. Ranking other dangers above this one doesn't show that the critics are mistaken about the reduction.
- D
An average doesn't establish a minimum. Imagine five equally sized patches of habitat: one five meters deep and four thirty meters deep. Their average depth is 25 meters, even though some habitat is only five meters deep. D therefore leaves open that construction removes water the dolphins inhabit. We need to exclude the shallow area, not know the average depth of the whole area.
- E
We already know much deeper water lies beyond the habitat. A drop to 100 meters doesn't tell us whether the dolphins use the five-meter shallows where construction is planned. Since they don't enter water over 30 meters deep, this extra detail also doesn't provide alternative habitat to offset a loss.
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