- Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:00 pm
#33371
Complete Question Explanation
Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (C)
This author tells the story of a resort area’s plan to eliminate its mosquito problem, by attracting birds with hundreds of fruit-bearing trees. The trees grew and did attract birds, according to plan, and the birds ate a lot of mosquitoes, but the area’s mosquito problem has somehow gotten worse.
The question that follows is a Resolve the Paradox question, so the correct answer choice will resolve the apparent discrepancy between the effective plan to draw mosquito-eating birds, and the unforeseen consequence of worsening the mosquito problem in the area. The right answer will provide a reason why the mosquito population would increase, even as mosquito-eating birds continue to move to the area.
Answer choice (A): If, as this choice provides, the majority of the birds that moved to the area didn’t eat mosquitoes, that still would have left the other birds, and the stimulus specifies that the birds did eat a lot of mosquitoes. Since this answer fails to explain why the approach taken would actually exacerbate the issue, it does not resolve the paradox presented in the stimulus and should be ruled out of contention.
Answer choice (B): Even if the best represented species of birds did not eat mosquitoes, some of the other species must have been the ones that the author provides ate a lot of the mosquitoes. This does not explain the unexpected result of a worsening mosquito problem, so it cannot be the right answer to this Resolve the Paradox question.
Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. If, as this choice provides, the birds that were brought in got rid of more mosquito-predators than mosquitoes, that would explain how the net result would be an increase in the mosquitoes in the area.
Answer choice (D): If, as this choice provides, the weather has been dryer, which tends to keep mosquito populations down, this would expand the paradox, making it that much more surprising that the mosquito problem has gotten worse during that period.
Answer choice (E): A cyclical pattern does not explain how planting the trees, which should have drawn mosquito-eating birds, somehow actually worsened the issue, so this is not the right answer to this Resolve question.
Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (C)
This author tells the story of a resort area’s plan to eliminate its mosquito problem, by attracting birds with hundreds of fruit-bearing trees. The trees grew and did attract birds, according to plan, and the birds ate a lot of mosquitoes, but the area’s mosquito problem has somehow gotten worse.
The question that follows is a Resolve the Paradox question, so the correct answer choice will resolve the apparent discrepancy between the effective plan to draw mosquito-eating birds, and the unforeseen consequence of worsening the mosquito problem in the area. The right answer will provide a reason why the mosquito population would increase, even as mosquito-eating birds continue to move to the area.
Answer choice (A): If, as this choice provides, the majority of the birds that moved to the area didn’t eat mosquitoes, that still would have left the other birds, and the stimulus specifies that the birds did eat a lot of mosquitoes. Since this answer fails to explain why the approach taken would actually exacerbate the issue, it does not resolve the paradox presented in the stimulus and should be ruled out of contention.
Answer choice (B): Even if the best represented species of birds did not eat mosquitoes, some of the other species must have been the ones that the author provides ate a lot of the mosquitoes. This does not explain the unexpected result of a worsening mosquito problem, so it cannot be the right answer to this Resolve the Paradox question.
Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. If, as this choice provides, the birds that were brought in got rid of more mosquito-predators than mosquitoes, that would explain how the net result would be an increase in the mosquitoes in the area.
Answer choice (D): If, as this choice provides, the weather has been dryer, which tends to keep mosquito populations down, this would expand the paradox, making it that much more surprising that the mosquito problem has gotten worse during that period.
Answer choice (E): A cyclical pattern does not explain how planting the trees, which should have drawn mosquito-eating birds, somehow actually worsened the issue, so this is not the right answer to this Resolve question.