PrepTest 157, Section 2, Question 1
One should not do anything that has the(40 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AA society should(5 more words not shown)
- BOne should vote(15 more words not shown)
- CCelebrities who do(7 more words not shown)
- DPeople should not(7 more words not shown)
- EWidely respected people(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If people copy you, keeping your decision not to vote private matters.
Start with the rule: don't do something that could seriously harm society. Now connect the facts that follow. People copy the public actions and inactions of celebrities and widely respected people. If one of those people publicly refuses to vote, others may follow that example. And the passage tells us that society suffers serious harm when many people don't vote.
That gives us a reason for influential people to vote—or at least to avoid publicly advertising that they won't. Notice the second possibility. The problem described here is the example they set for others. Someone could decline to vote privately without setting that public example.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for a principle that follows from these statements. We don't have to agree with the passage's view of civic responsibility. We have to connect its rule about potential harm with its facts about influence and voting. Look for a duty placed on people whose public behavior others copy.
Working the answers
- A
Saying that a person should do something doesn't establish that society should require it. The passage gives individuals a duty to avoid potentially harmful behavior. It never tells society to enforce that duty by compelling celebrities to vote. And keeping nonvoting private could avoid the particular harm described here.
- B
This says you should vote only when you expect to influence many other voters. But the passage never makes influence a requirement for voting. Someone whose vote inspires nobody else could still have reasons to vote. The concern is whether publicly refusing to vote sets a harmful example.
- C
We aren't deciding who deserves respect. The passage takes widely respected people's influence as a fact and asks what follows about their behavior. It doesn't say that failing to vote, especially privately, should cost someone the public's respect.
- D
This gives instructions to the people doing the copying and singles out celebrities who aren't widely respected. The passage doesn't establish that we should never imitate those celebrities. A celebrity's particular action might be harmless or beneficial. We need to connect the harmful public example about voting with the duty to avoid it.
- ECorrect
Widely respected people should not publicly refrain from voting. Others copy their public behavior, and widespread nonvoting seriously harms society. Publicly setting that example therefore has the potential for harm that the opening rule tells them to avoid. This leaves the conclusion where the evidence supports it: public behavior, not forced voting or a judgment about who deserves respect.
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