PrepTest 154, Section 2, Question 7
Library policy: For a book to be removed(63 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(11 more words not shown)
- APaper Flowers is(2 more words not shown)
- BPaper Flowers has(7 more words not shown)
- CPaper Flowers was(9 more words not shown)
- DPaper Flowers was(5 more words not shown)
- EPaper Flowers was(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
This library makes removing a book difficult. The book has to be badly damaged, and it has to have gone more than two years without being checked out. Both requirements matter. Meeting just one doesn't make the other disappear.
Some books have an additional protection: books by local authors or significant to local history must have gone more than three years without a checkout. That's a longer waiting period, not a promise that the library will keep them forever.
What we’re looking for
We want to establish that Paper Flowers should stay. There are several possible ways to do that. It might not be badly damaged. It might have been checked out recently. Or it might be a local-history book last checked out two and a half years ago: long enough for the ordinary waiting period, but not for the special one. The question asks for a fact that fully justifies keeping it under the policy. We don't need to know everything about the book. Showing that it fails even one requirement for removal is enough.
Working the answers
- A
Being badly damaged satisfies one requirement for removal. It doesn't establish a reason the book must stay. We still know nothing about its checkout history, so A doesn't justify the application we're given.
- BCorrect
A checkout within the last year means the book has not gone more than two years without being checked out. It therefore fails a requirement that applies to every book. Whether it's badly damaged, locally written, or historically significant doesn't matter: the library cannot remove it under this policy.
- C
This would protect the book if it fell into one of the local categories. But we aren't told that it does. An ordinary book last checked out two and a half years ago would have passed the two-year waiting period. C leaves us needing another fact, so it doesn't fully justify the conclusion by itself.
- D
A local author gets the book the longer waiting period, but we don't know when anyone last checked it out. Suppose it is badly damaged and hasn't been checked out for four years. Being locally written would no longer disqualify it from removal. D gives extra protection without establishing that the protection currently prevents removal.
- E
Significance to local history also triggers the three-year requirement, even without a local author. But the same problem remains: perhaps the book is badly damaged and hasn't been checked out for four years. We need its condition or checkout history to establish that it must stay. Its special category alone doesn't settle the application.
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