LSAT 128 | Section 4 | Reading Comprehension: Q4

RC Question 4 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Approval of which one of the following is implicit in …

DISCUSSION: Again, this will be hard to prephrase. You should look for something that the author would reasonably approve of, but it won’t be explicitly stated in the passage.

It’s key here to remember what the author generally likes. He’s a proponent of profitability through improving productivity – that’s what the entire passage is about. Keep this in mind when reading the answers.

___________

1. This competition is presented as a problem, so he probably wouldn’t approve of it.
2. He just states that farmers have switched land use away from wool due to land increases. There’s nothing to suggest he thinks this shift is desirable.
3. This is addressed in the last sentence of paragraph 3, and he says they’re willing to accept low returns (profitability). Remember, the author likes profitability. Neither the tone in this sentence nor the overall context suggests that he approves of family farming practices.
4. Paragraph 4 explicitly disapproves of this. It says investment should be shifted away from processing.
5. CORRECT. I’d actually argue this is quite explicit for something that’s supposed to be an implicit answer. This is stated in the last sentence of paragraph 2, and again implied towards the end of paragraph 3.