CAT 1 Problem 20

[gmatwork]

Measuring more than five feet tall and ten feet long, the Javan rhinoceros is often called the rarest large mammal on earth. Though the habitat of the Javan rhino once extended across southern Asia, now there are fewer than one hundred of the animals in Indonesia and fewer than a dozen in Vietnam. The decline of the species may have progressed too far to be reversed. For centuries, farmers who wished to cultivate the rhino’s habitat viewed the animals as crop-eating pests and shot them on sight; during the colonial period, hunters slaughtered thousands for their horns, as poachers still do today. The surviving Vietnamese herd has diminished to the point that it can no longer maintain the genetic variation necessary for long-term survival. The Indonesian herd cannot be used to supplement the Vietnamese population because, in the millions of years since Indonesia separated from the mainland, the two groups have evolved into separate sub-species. The Indonesian rhinos are protected on the Ujung Kulon peninsula, which is unsettled by humans, and still thought to have sufficient genetic diversity to survive. The lack of human disturbance, however, allows mature forests to replace the shrubby vegetation preferred by the animals. Human benevolence may prove little better for these rhinos than past human maltreatment.


For what purpose does the author include the last sentence of the passage?

a) To demonstrate that the Indonesian herd has better odds of surviving than the Vietnamese herd.

b) To support the contention that the Javan rhino species may not be able to recover from its current state.

c) To establish that farmers and hunters are no longer killing Javan rhinos.

d) To reinforce the idea that the Indonesian herd of the Javan rhino species will not survive.

e) To illustrate that human benevolence can be just as detrimental to the survival of a species as can human maltreatment.

OA - b CAT -1 Q 20

Can somebody please explain how we get (b) and how to eliminate the wrong ones?

I read the explanation still didn't get it.

[tim]

You’re going to have to be more specific. If one of us tried to give you a generic explanation, it would look almost exactly like the one you already read, but you’ve told us that one wasn’t helpful. If you can tell us what some of your thought processes were and what you specifically didn’t understand about the explanation, we’ll be able to craft an explanation that is designed to help you..

[krishnan.anju1987]

Is the answer for this D?

[krishnan.anju1987]

Sorry for this one. I read the question again and chose B based on the following flaw in D. D states "To reinforce the idea that the Indonesian herd of the Javan rhino species will not survive.". To reinforce the idea, the author should have stated it in the first place somewhere in the passage. Since he has not, and the only other contender is B, it must be the answer.

[krishnan.anju1987]

Just noticed the answer in the post. Sorry for the posts.

[tim]

no problem. let us know if you still have a question..

[djs53]

Just to add, I chose answer choice E and had been stuck on it for quite a while. (I crossed out all answers except E and B, and chose E.)

What I'm learning with RC questions, is each answer choice has to do something to serve the author's purpose-- here, to discuss the Javan rhino. Choice B works because the sentence is there to strengthen the argument. Choice E is incorrect because it is just general (!) information that can be stuck in any passage and we can agree with it.

Overall, I finally get the explanation as to why E is incorrect: it provides information that may be generally (!) correct, but not why the author used this sentence in her passage.

(Below is the explanation you guys gave. Thanks. I think I'm getting the hang of these devilish RC questions.)

(E) While this might be true in general, the final sentence of the passage was not included in order to make a comparison between human benevolence and human maltreatment. Rather, the sentence was included in order to continue the theme introduced earlier in the passage (that the rhinos may not be able to survive).

[jnelson0612]

Glad that you are getting the hang of this! Thanks for sharing. It's interesting and helpful to read through this kind of thought process. :-)

Let me also say that E has the exact same wording as the last sentence: "human benevolence" and "human maltreatment". This is going to attract people who aren't really understanding the purpose of the last sentence, but like the matching wording. :-) Because of this, I'd be more cautious of E.

[BernardK777]

Unfortunately I fell into the trap and chose answer E. Is djs's reasoning above solid? Also, when answering "specific purpose questions" like this one, should you always consider the answer choices in the context of the main point / intention of the passage?

Thanks for the help!

[RonPurewal]

"illustrate" means "provide examples of".

consider this statement:
Many nouns for brightly colored objects have become the names of the colors themselves.

• "Orange, originally the name of the fruit, later became the word for the color of that fruit in general."
this statement illustrates the statement above.

• "Many color words come from the names of things with those colors."
this statement DOES NOT "illustrate" the idea above—it just repeats that idea, in ever-so-slightly different words.

same here. the last sentence just says exactly what choice (e) says; it doesn't illustrate that idea at all.
so, choice (e) is completely incorrect. 100.00000% wrong, no subtlety.

[RonPurewal]

Also, when answering "specific purpose questions" like this one, should you always consider the answer choices in the context of the main point / intention of the passage?

this is the only possible meaning of "purpose".

(did you have something in mind as an alternative? because, well, there's no alternative.)

[HarendraS120]

I rejected the choice E because I find last line optimistic rather than pessimistic.

Human benevolence may prove little better for these rhinos than past human maltreatment.

Writing the below line will make it pessimistic indeed

Human benevolence may prove only little better for these rhinos than past human maltreatment.

The below line is optimistic

Studying for 1 hour daily may bring better results than studying for 7 hours once in a week.

So, according to the last line of the passage, human belevolence is not as detrimental as human maltreament.

For the same reason I rejected the choice B, last line seems to be optimistic, but choice B seems to be pessimistic.

I finally selected choice C which is too strong to be the right choice. Please help !

[RonPurewal]

"little better" means "not much better at all" / "only a tiny bit better".
in other words, the word "little" here means "by such a small amount that it really doesn't matter".