RC Question 18 Explanation
DISCUSSION: Passage B is a bit less clear for the purposes of this question. It never explicitly says agriculture leads to carbs. But it’s implied by the statements that agriculture leads to caries, carbs cause caries (lines 43-45) and that the Ban Chiang groups cultivated carbs.
___________
- Careful. The passage don’t say that highly process = carbohydrates. You can process non-carbohydrates as well.
- CORRECT. Both passages say this. Passage A says that agriculture leads to carbs (lines 1-3) and agriculture is linked to caries (lines 20-22). Passage B says that caries are rare in pre-agricultural populations (lines 39-42) and that cultivated foods (rice and yams) are carbs (lines 55-56).
- Passage A never mentions fiber and grit.
- “Tooth wear” is only mentioned in paragraph 2 of passage B. Tooth wear refers to fiber and grit smoothing away fissures in tooth surfaces. It’s not the same thing as tooth decay.
- Neither passage mentions overall human health.
Hi both, and Graeme. I agree that passage B definitely mentioned “overall human health”, while passage A only showed “rate of caries formation”. This is why the answer E was wrong. Thank you all.
Hi Joshua,
You’re right, Passage B sort of hints at overall human health, but the question is asking for something mentioned in BOTH passages. With these questions, wording is very important, and “human health, including dental health” isn’t necessarily interchangeable with “overall human health.”
Regardless, since “overall human health” is definitely not mentioned in Passage A, you can eliminate (E) right away.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for the explanations Graeme, they’re really great.
Just wanted to point out that this passage does in fact mention “overall human health.” Passage B lines 39-40 say “Research suggests that agricultural intensification results in declining human health, including dental health.” I interpreted “human health” as denoting “overall human health” and thus ultimately chose answer choice (E). I now see why (B) is a better answer though, your explanation was helpful.