Myrna: People should follow diets

Answer choices

1. A

   Opposite5% picked this

   it is desirable to live in such a way as to lengthen life as

   Roland actually says the opposite: it is not worth striving to extend life when the payoff is small. He is not assuming that it is always desirable to lengthen life “as much as possible.”

   5%
2. B

   Correct76% picked this

   a low-fat diet cannot readily be made appealing and satisfying to a person who

   Why this is right

   This has the lovable Defender "not". If we negate it, does the answer weaken? Sure! If we say that a low-fat diet can readily (i.e. "easily") be made appealing and satisfying, then where is the sacrifice? Roland’s discussion of a “lifetime of sacrifice eating an unappealing low-fat diet” shows he’s assuming that eating less fat must inevitably be unappealing. If, on the contrary, one could make that diet appealing, his argument that the tradeoff is too high would no longer hold.

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

   76%
3. C

   Too Strong: the only10% picked this

   diet is the only relevant factor to consider in computing influences on

   Just because diet is the only factor influencing length of life that's mentioned doesn't mean the author is assuming that diet is the only factor that influences length of life. This answer would be better if it said he assumes that "Life expectancy is the only relevant factor to consider in deciding whether to modify our diet"

   10%
4. D

   Opposite6% picked this

   the difference in tastiness between a diet in which fat represents 30 percent of total calories and one in which it represents

   Roland’s argument depends on there being a big difference (a “sacrifice”) in taste and appeal. This choice says the difference is “not noticeable,” which would undercut Roland’s “too big of a price to pay” angle.

   6%
5. E

   Irrelevant3% picked this

   not everyone in the country eats the

   Whether not everyone literally eats the “average diet” does not affect Roland’s argument that adopting the low-fat approach yields too little benefit. Roland’s claim involves the hypothetical scenario in which everyone adopts Myrna’s 30% recommendation.

   3%