RC Question 5 Explanation
DISCUSSION: I was stuck on this question, because I forgot that it was a LEAST likely question. Make sure to double check question stems if you’re stuck.
For this type of question, if you’re stuck between two answers: remember that all the wrong answers can be eliminated by reference to the passage.
___________
- This is very well supported. Abnormal prions are the ones that replicate and cause CJD (paragraph 3).
- CORRECT. Unfortunately, the third-to-last line of 3rd paragraph says that CJD is always fatal.
- The second-to-last sentence of 3rd paragraph supports this. Prions lack nucleic acid, yet they still reproduce.
- The second-to-last sentence of 3rd paragraph supports this. Our immune system doesn’t attack prions, and the passage doesn’t mention any other natural defenses.
- The last sentence of 4th paragraph supports this.
But line 42 says “And in the absence of any effective therapy for preventing the cascade process by which affected prions reproduce themselves, CJD is inevitably fatal…” so wouldn’t it then stand to reason the the author is likely to agree that some patients currently infected with CJD will recover if they receive the necessary therapy? It seems misleading to have B be the correct answer despite that information being in the passage.
Yeah, that thought stumped me for a moment as well. But the “standard of proof” in the LEAST-likely-to-agree questions is not that high: although the possibility that the cure will be developed in time to save some of the people currently affected by the disease is not explicitly ruled out, it is not mentioned (or even hinted at) either. Combined with the fact that every other answer choice is explicitly mentioned in the passage, that leaves (B) as the only viable answer.