A century in certain ways is like a life

Question

A century in certain ways is like a life, and as the end of a century approaches, people behave toward that century much as someone who is nearing the end of life does toward that life. So just as people in their last years spend much time looking back on the events of their life, people at a century’s end __________.

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

(A) reminisce about their own lives
(B) fear that their own lives are about to end
(C) focus on what the next century will bring
(D) become very interested in the history of the century just ending
(E) reflect on how certain unfortunate events of the century could have been avoided

Source: LSAT

tarunk31 · Accepted Answer

Argument says century is like a life.
people in their last years spend much time looking back on the events of their life.

Now we need to answer what will people do at a century’s end?

This is sort of a parallel reasoning question.
We are given that century is like a life and people at the end of life look back on the events of their life. Therefore, people at the end of century will look at the events of the century.

This is also a real life situation. Have you noticed at the end of every year a lot of TV shows are aired which go over events of the last year? Same here.

D says people become very interested in the history of the century just ending. This is akin to saying that people become interested at the events of the century just ending.

sairam595 · Answer

Hi,

Can anyone explain why D is the correct answer?

subhamoycomputer · Answer

Hi... Can someone explain why D is the answer ? I choose A.

kanigmat011 · Answer

Not a recommended Question for GMAT

just as  people in their last years spend much time looking back on the events of their life, people at a century’s end

just as brings comparison so one can suggest that persons who are at end of their life enjoy looking back in century , the others enjoy looking forward to upcoming century.

Option C has equal chance as D
Kindly let me know if I am missing something

HKD1710 · Answer

Just as people behave when their life is about to end they behave exactly the same when a century is about to end. It means what u do when life or a century is going to end is same.
so what you should fill in the blank to complete the sentence should be exactly parallel to the first part. Here is how :

just as X so Y - we know its and idiom where X & Y has to be of similar nature and should be comparable, all in all parallel and should be expressing the same meaning.

in argument "Y" is - "People spend much time looking back on the events of their life when in their last years (when life is going to end)
so "X" should be - "People spend much time looking at events of the century when it is going to end".

Choice  "D"  is exactly what "X" should be. it says people take interest in history (events happened in century) of century just ending.

manikanth · Answer

Why not A & B ?

I am unable to understand how it is D ?

How to approach this sentence ?

Can someone help me out ?

aditya8062 · Answer

you have to read the TEXT in entirety.The passage talks about a subtle comparison between TWO EPISODES. the way one looks at his life as he come to his own FAG end AND the way one VIEWS as the 100 years comes to an end.

(A) reminisce about their own lives-------> this PEOPLE are said to be doing when their OWN life is coming to FAG END so it CANNOT be the answer 
(B) fear that their own lives are about to end---->FEAR is no where in the PICTURE ! so this is also out

make sense?

gmatexam439 · Answer

A century in certain ways is like a life, and as the end of a century approaches, people behave toward that century much as someone who is nearing the end of life does toward that life. So just as people in their last years spend much time looking back on the events of their life, people at a century’s end __________.

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

(A) reminisce about their own lives - People become interested in events that happened in the current ending century 
(B) fear that their own lives are about to end - People become interested in events that happened in the current ending century 
(C) focus on what the next century will bring - Their focus is on the current century, rather than on the next century 
(D) become very interested in the history of the century just ending - Correct 
(E) reflect on how certain unfortunate events of the century could have been avoided - Out of scope

Skywalker18 · Answer

A century in certain ways is like a life, and as the end of a century approaches, people behave toward that century much as someone who is nearing the end of life does toward that life. So just as people in their last years spend much time looking back on the events of their life, people at a century’s end __________.

This argument makes a parallel between how people behave at the end of a century and how people behave at the end of a life. If people look back at the events of their lives as their lives come to an end, then we can infer that people will look back at the events of the century as the century comes to an end. Answer choice (D) clearly expresses this.

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

(A) reminisce about their own lives - is incorrect because a century’s end will prompt reminiscence of the century’s events, not reminiscence of the people’s lives
(B) fear that their own lives are about to end - is out of scope. There is no indication that people would be fearful. 
(C) focus on what the next century will bring - looks forward instead of backward.
(D) become very interested in the history of the century just ending -- Correct
(E) reflect on how certain unfortunate events of the century could have been avoided - is out of scope. There is no reason to conclude that people would look back on the unfortunate events.

sayiurway · Answer

Hi expert, 
I understood the logic in this question, but I am still confused about the phrase "history of the century just ending" in answer D. 
I think "People at year-end" means we are still in this year, not yet enter a new year. Therefore, the century just ending seems to talk about the previous century, rather than the current one. 
Could you explain?

AkshdeepS · Answer

_________

(A) reminisce about their  own lives   Not own lives but century

(B)  fear that  their own lives are about to end  Not mentioned

(C) focus on what the  next century will bring   Out of scope

(D) become very interested in the history of the century just ending

(E) reflect on how certain  unfortunate events  of the century could have been avoided   Out of scope

(D)

adkikani · Answer

generis   nightblade354   GMATNinja   GMATNinja 2  KarishmaB

I feel totally stumped to understand why I faltered in argument understanding and PoE.

Argument understanding:

A century is analogous to life

(1) Towards end of a century, people have similar reactions for century as a person 
who is towards end of his life, e.g. critically injured in an accident and admitted in ICU

Key conclusion marker: so
Key comparison marker: just as

Main conclusion: Just as people who are in their last year spend thinking about past events in their lives___
what do people at end of century do?
Well from (1) it clearly folows they people would like to think about events in century.

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

Why I chose this? Although I knew I was intersted in key word century in answer choices
this choice seemed so tempting since it talks about people thinking about their own lives 
and I could not disassociate people's lives and century.

Why I rejected this?
Wait? People are interested in  events that occurred in a century 
as they are interested in events that occurred in past lives.

I guess in spite of such simple language in argument, I was stumped to match my paraphrase
with PoE. Is that correct?

KarishmaB · Answer

You need to be exact in your understanding of the argument.

A century is like a life so say 1900 to 2000 years is like one life of 100 years.

"People behave toward that century much as someone who is nearing the end of life does toward that life."
So just as someone nearing the end behaves towards the life he has lived, people behave towards that century.

"So just as people in their last years spend much time looking back on the events of their life,"
People at the end of their life look back on the events of their life.
Similarly, at the end of a century, people will look back on the events of the century (which is a life coming to an end).

So answer is (D), not (A). People don't look back at their own lives, they look back at the century's life. Else, the whole point of comparing century to a life etc is lost.

hiranmay · Answer

A century in certain ways is like a life, and as the end of a century approaches, people behave toward that century much as someone who is nearing the end of life does toward that life. So just as people in their last years spend much time looking back on the events of their life, people at a century’s end __________.

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

Analysis:
analogy used:
one person <=> all people as a whole
one's life <=> a century
someone looks backs on the events of his life near the end of his lifetime i.e. someone looks back his own history
same for the people as a whole look back at the end of the century i.e. people looks at the history of the century -->this should fill in the blank: parallel analogy

(A) reminisce about their own lives --> this one related to one single life
(B) fear that their own lives are about to end --> same as A
(C) focus on what the next century will bring --> need a parallel relation w/ single life i.e. need to be parallel as look back, not look forward
(D) become very interested in the history of the century just ending --> correct
(E) reflect on how certain unfortunate events of the century could have been avoided --> need a parallel relation w/ single life i.e. need to be parallel as look back all the events, not just look back unfortunate events

ann1111 · Answer

Although this question doesn't seem GMAT-like, you can apply analogy to get to the answer.
A is a very generic statement and not specific. The answer must contain 'looking back at the events of the  century ' rather than life. Hence D is right.

unraveled · Answer

A century in certain ways is like a life, and as the end of a century approaches, people behave toward that century much as someone who is nearing the end of life does toward that life. So just as people in their last years spend much time looking back on the events of their life, people at a century’s end __________.

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

(A) reminisce about  their own lives  - WRONG. No, that's what they already do, parallel to which how century is looked is what we need to identify. 
(B)  fear  that their own lives are about to end - WRONG. Life is already ending but what they do during that time must parallel to what they do considering century that is about to end.
(C) focus on what the  next century will bring  - WRONG. Absolutely irrelevant.
(D) become very  interested in the history of the century  just ending - CORRECT. A reflection of that century that parallels to looking back on the events of their life. 
(E) reflect on  how certain unfortunate events of the century could have been avoided  - WRONG. No not at all.

Answer D.

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A century in certain ways is like a life

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