#18 - North Americans who travel to Europe for the first

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Parallel Reasoning-PR. The correct answer choice is (C)

The principle presented in the stimulus can be summarized as follows: because the appreciation of a given field (Europe) requires thorough knowledge of at least one aspect of that field (a European country), it is best to start off with the most accessible aspect (Italy) before moving on to more difficult ones.

The same line of reasoning appears in answer choice (C): an introduction to U.S. literature requires emphasis on Edith Wharton because she is the most accessible of the classical U.S. writers.

Answer choice (A): The recommendation suggested in this answer choice is the exact opposite to the one needed, because classical music is less accessible, not more accessible, than popular music. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (B): At first glance, this answer choice makes a similar recommendation, but it fails to match the need for acquiring a thorough knowledge of one part of a field in order to appreciate the whole field.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. See explanation above.

Answer choice (D): This answer choice recommends seeing Taiko-drumming because seeing it is necessary to appreciate it. The argument contained in the stimulus never suggested that getting to know Italy is necessary to appreciate Europe. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): Because there is no indication that train travel provides an easier means of appreciating North America, this answer choice fails to parallel the logic in the stimulus. Furthermore, notice the thematic similarity between answer choice (E) and the argument contained in the stimulus — this is a sure sign of a decoy answer!

[avengingangel]

So, my prephrase was, "If you are traveling to a continent for the first time, you should develop an appreciation that goes beyond mere accumulation of impressions, and you should choose a country where other people from your own continent find it easier to get to know."

I realize there are a number of things wrong here about my prephrase, namely, that it's way too specific. But can you please walk me through the process of how you got your prephrase? Like, how would you know to prephrase "seem to find it easier to get to know" as "the most accessible aspects" (without knowing what the correct answer choice is ahead of time, heh) ??

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi angel,

Your prephrase is indeed too specific. We arrived at our prephrase by inductively generalizing from the information contained in the stimulus: if Americans find it easier to get to know Italy than any other European country, then it's reasonable to conclude that they find Italy "more accessible." And, since it's imperative to possess thorough knowledge of at least one country, the author recommends Italy... precisely because it's the most accessible country.

At the most general level, to develop an appreciation for a broad spectrum of things, you need to learn as much as you can about one particular thing. So, start with the thing that's going to be the easiest to learn well.

Does this make sense? Let me know.

Thanks!

[avengingangel]

Nikki - thanks. I just re-visited this question, and I think what my problem with my original prephrase (aside from it being too specific), was that I was focusing too much on the conclusion/recommendation of the stimulus, rather than the principle contained in the stimulus (aka the thing the question is asking me to parallel). My new prephrase this go around was very similar to the general one you gave, "to develop an appreciation for a broad spectrum of things, you need to learn as much as you can about one particular thing." It was, 'in order to develop an appreciation of something large, one should spend significant time in the one part of larger thing that is easiest for one to get to know.' I was then very quickly and clearly able to see why C was correct and why the other answer choices were incorrect.

Also, when I first read the stimulus, my brain understood the statement that "North Americans seem to find it easier" as indicating that "what you (being a North American) do" is (or can be) different from "What North Americans seem to do" .. and that was incorporated into my original prephrase as well... I hope not to do that in the future on questions, but also still feel unsure about knowing when the stimulus is actually talking about 2 different subject groups, and when its not...

[jessamynlockard]

Complete Question Explanation

Answer choice (D): This answer choice recommends seeing Taiko-drumming because seeing it is necessary to appreciate it. The argument contained in the stimulus never suggested that getting to know Italy is necessary to appreciate Europe. This answer choice is incorrect.

I don't understand/accept this explanation, because the stimulus literally says "to develop an appreciation of a continent that goes beyond the mere accumulation of impressions...." I need to be sure I'm not misunderstanding the syllabus here.

[Francis O'Rourke]

Hi Jessa,

The argument in the stimulus gives us a necessary condition "to develop an appreciation of the continent that goes beyond the mere accumulation of impressions." [emphasis mine]

This is not a necessary condition to appreciate Europe. Rather, it is a necessary condition to appreciate Europe in a way that goes further than some lesser type of appreciation. It is still possible to appreciate Europe without acquiring a thorough knowledge of one country; it is just not possible to appreciate the continent in the fullest way possible.

Answer choice (D) gives us a necessary condition for appreciating Taiko-drumming at all. This is a much stronger, more blunt condition than the one that the stimulus provided. If answer choice (D) had said something like "in order to appreciate Taiko-drumming to its fullest extent..." or "to appreciate Taiko-drumming for more than its rhythmic qualities..." the answer choice would have paralleled the stimulus a bit better. Answer choice (C) includes this sort of qualification: "in order to provide a superb introduction..."

Furthermore, the stimulus only tells us the easiest way for North Americans to appreciate Europe. Answer choice (D) does not tell us that seeing Taiko-drumming is easier than some other method to appreciate the art form. Answer choice (C) includes this sort of comparison though. It tells us that Edith Wharton is the "most accessible classical US writer.

Let me know if this helps!

[Marina7]

Hello!

I passed on C because of the end of the statement “while....” Why is it correct, even though the stimulus doesn’t directly mention going to other countries?

Thanks!

[James Finch]

Hi Marina,

In order to understand why (C) is the correct answer choice, we need to first understand the logic in the stimulus, and create an abstract prephrase based on that understanding. The stimulus puts together two premises, then comes to a conclusion based on them. The first premise is that to acquire an appreciation of a continent "beyond the mere accumulation of impressions," one must obtain a deep knowledge of at least one country on that continent. The second is that Italy seems like the easiest for North Americans to obtain that required knowledge of, so it concludes that Italy should be a country first-time North American travelers to Europe spend time in. Implicit in the argument is the assumption that one would want to gain an appreciation for the continent in the easiest possible way.

I prephrased this as an abstract version: "To master X, one needs deep knowledge of a member of X; Y is the easiest X to master." Whichever answer choice fits with this prephrase is correct, even if it contains extraneous information.

(A) doesn't quite work, because it deals with mastering a harder thing, which makes another easier thing even easier. But we want the easy way, not the hard way.

(B) is nothing like the stimulus, even if it's a sound recommendation.

(C) gives us the "Do easy thing Y in order to master X" setup that parallels the stimulus. Visiting other countries isn't prohibited by the stimulus, so studying other classical US writers is fine here too.

(D) No easy way here, so no correct answer.

(E) Sounds pleasant, but not easy, so incorrect as well.

Hope this clears things up!

[Bruin96]

[quote="James Finch"]Hi Marina,

In order to understand why (C) is the correct answer choice, we need to first understand the logic in the stimulus, and create an abstract prephrase based on that understanding. The stimulus puts together two premises, then comes to a conclusion based on them. The first premise is that to acquire an appreciation of a continent "beyond the mere accumulation of impressions," one must obtain a deep knowledge of at least one country on that continent. The second is that Italy seems like the easiest for North Americans to obtain that required knowledge of, so it concludes that Italy should be a country first-time North American travelers to Europe spend time in. Implicit in the argument is the assumption that one would want to gain an appreciation for the continent in the easiest possible way.

I prephrased this as an abstract version: "To master X, one needs deep knowledge of a member of X; Y is the easiest X to master." Whichever answer choice fits with this prephrase is correct, even if it contains extraneous information.

(A) doesn't quite work, because it deals with mastering a harder thing, which makes another easier thing even easier. But we want the easy way, not the hard way.

(B) is nothing like the stimulus, even if it's a sound recommendation.

(C) gives us the "Do easy thing Y in order to master X" setup that parallels the stimulus. Visiting other countries isn't prohibited by the stimulus, so studying other classical US writers is fine here too.

(D) No easy way here, so no correct answer.

(E) Sounds pleasant, but not easy, so incorrect as well.

Hope this clears things up![/quote]


Hi James,

So your example has helped me understand why D is wrong. However, I am still at a loss with why answer choice C would be correct. The main problem with that answer choice for me was that I did not find a correlation with Edith Wharton's writings and emphasizing her work as "easier". Which was I initially crossed it off because I didn't think that it addressed that part of the stimulus.

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Bruin96!

The term "accessible" in this context means "easily understood." Therefore, by describing Edith Wharton as "the most accessible of the classical U.S. writers," answer choice (C) is describing her as essentially the easiest to understand.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey