PrepTest 153, Section 4, Question 2
Forests are among the world's most valuable resources,(432 more words not shown)
It can be inferred from(14 more words not shown)
- AOnly a tiny(9 more words not shown)
- BRain-forest plants are(14 more words not shown)
- CThe value of(13 more words not shown)
- DRain-forest plants derive(13 more words not shown)
- ERain-forest plants that(7 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The scientists' view is in the third paragraph: some undiscovered plants may have disease-fighting properties. Those plants can supply both clues and materials for developing medicines. That's the useful prediction here.
What we’re looking for
We aren't being asked how many plants will succeed or exactly which diseases they will treat. The claim is that their medical potential contributes to their value.
Working the answers
- A
We aren't given a proportion. “Some” undiscovered species may help doesn't tell us whether the useful species are a tiny fraction or a much larger share. Even if a tiny fraction sounds realistic, that number isn't in the evidence.
- B
A plant's location doesn't establish that its medicine works only on diseases from that region. Nothing confines the potential benefits to tropical illnesses. A discovery in the Amazon could, for all we're told, help someone far away.
- CCorrect
The text expressly says the plants can provide “basic materials” for research on new medications. That supports saying their value derives “in part” from those materials. We don't have to claim that every plant will yield a successful drug.
- D
Photosynthesis explains the production of oxygen in the previous paragraph. The author never says that absorbing carbon dioxide or releasing oxygen produces the medicinal properties. D connects two separate discussions without support.
- E
The reason to preserve undiscovered species is partly to avoid losing their potential before we study them. That doesn't mean plants with medicinal properties are already almost completely extinct. E turns a reason for protection into a claim about near-total loss.
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