Logical Reasoning

PT103 · S3 · Q20 Only poetry cannot be translated

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Only poetry cannot be translated well, and therefore it is poets who preserve languages, for we would not bother to learn a language if we could get everything written in it from translation.

Facts

~poetry → can be translated well

~poets → ~preserve language

translation provided all → ~learn language

~language written in → can't appreciate poem

Poetry motivates us to learn a new language, since poetry sometimes doesn't translate well, and we can only witness the beauty of a poem in its native language.

Evaluate / Goal

It's hard to tell from the question stem whether this is a "soft" Must Be False question, or a Most Supported EXCEPT question.

If the correct answer is trying to act like a Must Be False, it will probably contradict a conditional. The form of contradicting an inference is "trigger is true, outcome isn't".

So potential answers could sound like - Not a poem, but can't be translated well - Not a poet, but preserves language - Translation provides everything we need, but we still learn a language - read a translation of a poem but do still witness all its beauty

If the four answers we can eliminate are supportable inferences, they will reinforce what we know from the passage. It didn't seem like any of the rules chained together and allowed for inferences by combining facts.

20.

The information above provides the LEAST support for which one of the following?

  1. All nonpoetic literature can be

    Must Be True

    The conditional was can't be translated well → poetry By contrapositive, ~poetry → can be translated well

    31% picked this

  2. Correct

    One purpose of writing poetry

    Why this is right

    We don't receive any information about the purpose of writing poetry. We only hear about the purpose of learning a new language (so that we can truly appreciate the beauty of a poem written in that language).

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    47% picked this

  3. Some translations do not capture

    Supported

    We had a rule that said not in native language → can't witness beauty as well as one that said could get everything from translation → wouldn't bother learning language The fact that we bother to learn languages establishes that we can't get everything from translation.

    4% picked this

  4. The beauty of poetry is

    Supported

    We had a rule that said not in native language → can't witness beauty of poem This suggests that if you can't read Spanish, you wouldn't be able to witness the beauty of a poem written in Spanish.

    5% picked this

  5. Perfect translation from one language

    Supported

    This is such a weak claim: "there is at least one translation that was less than 100% perfect". Since we know that "only poems can't be translated well", it suggests that there are poems that can't be translated well. Thus, there is at least one translation that can't be perfect.

    13% picked this

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