PrepTest 154, Section 4, Question 6
Historian: Much of what made medieval European communities(58 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- AMuch of what(18 more words not shown)
- BPeople in industrialized(20 more words not shown)
- CIn medieval communities,(21 more words not shown)
- DMedieval communities were(26 more words not shown)
- ECommunities in industrial(22 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Having to work together could bring people closer. If the crops need harvesting or the community needs a well, neighbors have a reason to set aside their disagreements and cooperate. The historian says that helped make medieval communities close-knit. Then comes the move to today: if people in industrialized societies did corresponding tasks together, their communities would probably become closer too. Imagine neighbors joining in to clean up their roads. The activity could give them the kind of shared work the historian describes.
Could modern life differ from medieval life in ways that matter? Sure. The comparison isn't beyond question. But I can see the reasoning: shared work helped create cooperation then, so similar work might help now. We don't need to manufacture a decisive objection to understand the argument.
What we’re looking for
For the main conclusion, follow that movement from past to present. The medieval example supports a prediction about what group tasks would probably do for communities today. The prediction is the point; the history is the reason offered for believing it.
Working the answers
- A
This is the explanation of medieval communities that supports the later prediction. The argument doesn't stop with why those communities were close-knit. It uses that account to say what would probably happen if modern communities undertook similar work. A gives the historical starting point, not the overall conclusion.
- B
Watch the word should. The historian says what would probably happen if people undertook these tasks, not that they ought to undertake them. We may think stronger communities are desirable, but that judgment isn't stated. Predicting an effect doesn't by itself recommend the action producing it.
- C
This describes how medieval communities met their needs: people cooperated and put private grievances aside. That helps explain the closeness, which in turn supports the prediction about modern communities. It's evidence used along the way, rather than the point the whole argument reaches.
- D
The historian hasn't established that medieval communities were generally closer than modern ones. More importantly, the point isn't to rank the two societies. It's to predict how group tasks could change modern communities. D turns that prediction into a comparison the argument doesn't make.
- ECorrect
This keeps all the important pieces: modern communities, corresponding cooperative tasks, and a probable increase in closeness. The historian uses the medieval example to support that conditional prediction. E doesn't add a recommendation or claim that the result is certain.
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