PrepTest 156, Section 1, Question 12
Passage A What public interest is served by(488 more words not shown)
Passage A(241 more words not shown)
Passage B(255 more words not shown)
The authors would be most(8 more words not shown)
- Abuild social(1 more words not shown)
- Bprovide any(1 more words not shown)
- Cnegatively impact private(2 more words not shown)
- Dguarantee better art(4 more words not shown)
- Eencourage fiscal responsibility(3 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The clearest overall disagreement is whether arts subsidies are justified. These answers ask about particular reasons and effects, so we need a more specific point of conflict. A says subsidies bring people together. B doubts that the government-selected art will produce the widespread enjoyment that this community-building defense depends on.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
A explicitly says arts activities build unofficial relationships that connect people across society (Passage A, paragraph 3). B does not use the term “social capital,” so its opposition is less direct: it doubts wider enjoyment and argues that most people get art they don't like. That challenges the expected shared participation behind A's defense. This is the best-supported disagreement among the choices, not an explicit quotation of B denying social capital.
- B
B opens by conceding “some incidental benefits,” including tourism. Opposition to subsidies is not a claim that they provide no benefits at all.
- C
Neither writer says government funding causes private donors to withdraw support. That could be a separate argument about subsidies, but it isn't made here.
- D
A never claims subsidies guarantee better art. B doubts wider enjoyment even if better art could be guaranteed; that conditional discussion doesn't supply the missing opposing claim from A.
- E
Neither writer discusses whether funding makes arts institutions more careful with money. We cannot turn a dispute about justification into an unstated dispute about institutional budgeting.
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