PrepTest 151, Section 1, Question 22
According to the generally accepted theory of plate(459 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AAs a result(31 more words not shown)
- BThe differences between(29 more words not shown)
- CSome scientists theorize(25 more words not shown)
- DA new version(27 more words not shown)
- EThe generally accepted(31 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We've already predicted the main point: subduction can occur without many earthquakes because the way the plates collide changes how much they grind against each other. The quiet zones aren't evidence that nothing is happening underground. Plates can collide and descend while producing relatively little earthquake-causing friction.
What we’re looking for
Now we want the proposed explanation of that puzzle. An answer that merely reports the unexpected quiet, or announces that plate tectonics has failed, would leave out what the scientists contribute.
Working the answers
- A
The quiet zones are the reason the amount of subduction doesn't give us the whole story. Intense subduction can accompany very little seismic activity. A mentions the different collisions, but ends by emphasizing an amount-to-earthquakes correlation rather than the explanation of that unexpected difference.
- BCorrect
This connects the difference in the collisions with the phenomenon the scientists want to explain: few earthquakes despite intense subduction. The same-direction collision produces a steep descent, less contact, and less friction. “Plausible explanation” fits the scientists' proposal; we aren't being told that every part of it has been conclusively proved.
- C
Same-direction plates still collide. A faster plate catches up to a slower one and goes underneath it. C gets the direction right but then adds the false claim that there is no collision. Reduced contact and friction explain the quiet, not an absence of collisions.
- D
Subduction remains part of the explanation of earthquakes. The scientists are explaining why it can also occur with little seismic activity. That qualifies a simple picture of the process rather than abandoning it.
- E
The unusual quiet creates a question for the theory, but the central discussion supplies a possible answer. E gives us the problem as a threat while leaving out the proposed solution.
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