#8 - Global Reference, Main Point

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

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

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):


This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[scyq6@sina.com]

Hello!

The correct answer is C. However I ruled this out from the first place because it says the "technicians' scientific work was NEVER publicly acknowledged." In line 28, "although published accounts of the experiments rarely,if ever, acknowledged the technicians' contribution." Does "rarely" is the same thing as "never"?

Instead, I chose B. I took the three reasons given in the last paragraph as what it means here "social conventions." Could you tell me why B is wrong?

Thank you!

[Clay Cooper]

Hi scyq6,

Thanks for your question. This is a tough one I think.

In short, no, "rarely" does not mean the same thing as "never"; however, what our author says is that the work of the technicians was "rarely, if ever" acknowledged. In other words, this sentence tells us that the work may never have been recognized; if it was in fact recognized, such recognition only came about rarely.

Then, in the next two sentences, we find out more: Boyle, like other scientists, had the habit of "relying on technicians without publicly crediting their work"; and "why were the contributions of these technicians not recognized by their employers"?

Each of these two further sentences suggests strongly that the work of technicians was NEVER recognized; upon reflection, the first sentence (which as caused all the trouble with its use of "rarely, if ever") definitely does not say that the technicians ever did receive credit for their work.

Answer choice B is wrong because it confuses upper-class and laboratory technicians; the upper-class persons here tended to be the scientists, and were happy to take credit for their work (and even for the work of others, as we have discussed).

Keep working hard!