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Let's get rid of the four answers we can match up with the passage.
Which one of the following is most analogous to the approach taken by the author of the passage with regard to the research described in the third paragraph?
A physics teacher accepts the
Why this is right
We can make this work. The author accepted the data that the research team was using (the existence of a red bloom, the PCB and brevetoxin levels of the sampled dolphins, the observed symptoms of the dolphins), but she questions their conclusions. "For several reasons, this explanation (their conclusions) is not entirely plausible".
Skill tested: Analogy · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
60% picked this
An astronomer provides additional observations
Our author does provide some additional observations (no dolphin die-off in this other red tide / there were dolphins dying in June in the north far in time and space from the red tide), but they are used to oppose the researchers' theory.
15% picked this
A cook revises a traditional
Our author does "revise the recipe" of the researchers' conclusions in her final sentence, because she's saying, "PCB poisoning was the main ingredient; brevetoxin was just a contributing factor". But the author isn't actually switching out one set of ingredients for another. It's the same ingredients, just being combined in a different ratio. Researchers: brevetoxin was the main ingredient, with a sprinkle of PCB poisoning. Author: the reverse
5% picked this
A doctor prescribes medication for
We could say that our author is arguing that the researchers misdiagnosed what killed the dolphins, but the author's preferred explanation would then be called the correct diagnosis. It would not be called a prescription for a remedy. There's no way to save these dead dolphins now. The author isn't saying, "Here's how we fix the dead dolphin problem". He's only saying, "Here's what caused the dead dolphin problem".
19% picked this
A microbiologist sets out to
Our author is tearing down their explanation and then building up her own. There's no way in which we could call that "replicating their experiment".
1% picked this
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