PrepTest 150, Section 1, Question 25
It might reasonably have been expected that the(461 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(23 more words not shown)
- AEvidence from cut(17 more words not shown)
- BHuman populations are(17 more words not shown)
- CArchaeological evidence indicates(16 more words not shown)
- DAn increase in(24 more words not shown)
- EThe fossil record(17 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Whose claim are we strengthening? The authors say the widespread assumption that cooking is too recent to affect evolution appears wrong. We want evidence against that timing objection, not an explanation of why other people believe it.
What we’re looking for
One useful prediction is evidence that biological adaptation can happen relatively quickly. If humans can adapt to a dietary change in much less than 250,000 years, the mere recency of cooking becomes a less convincing reason to rule out its effects.
Working the answers
- A
Butchering with stone tools does not tell us how long dietary adaptation takes. It also does not establish when cooking began. The presence of tools leaves the timing objection untouched.
- BCorrect
An adaptation to drinking domesticated animals' milk in 5,000 years or less would show that a dietary change can affect human biology over a relatively short period. The authors cite possible cooking evidence more than 250,000 years old. B therefore makes it harder to dismiss cooking as necessarily too recent. It supports the possibility of adaptation; it does not prove that cooking caused every feature discussed.
- C
Fire use coinciding with an ice age does not tell us how quickly humans could adapt to cooked food. It connects fire with climate, rather than connecting the available time with biological change.
- D
More plant food in the diet is a dietary change, but this does not establish a cooking-related adaptation or how long such an adaptation takes. We still lack the link to the authors' timing claim.
- E
A sequence of anatomical changes is not a measure of their speed. Brain growth occurring after dental reduction does not tell us whether the interval was thousands or millions of years. It also does not connect the change with cooking. B directly addresses the time needed for a dietary adaptation.
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