Farm animals have certain behavioral tendencies that result from the

Confused between D and E but went with D
as the statement talks about the overall efficiency of the practices and not about means to improve them I went with D.
Still not sure about the response.

Not D because the argument does not talk anything about the most efficnent practices. So D Ruled out.

+E.

Between D and E ,Reason to eliminate D is:

D. Farm Management Practices that cause the least amount of pain and distress to farm animals are also the most efficient management practices.

It is nowhere stated in the argument that such kind of practices that are least painful are the most efficient. Look out of the word most. Its too strong. Hence a reason to eliminate this choice.

E. Some changes in farm management practices that lessen the pain and distress experienced by farm animals can result in gains in efficiency.
Perfect.

It says that by making some changes in the practice and making it less painful for the animals can result in the gains that is what written in the argument'd conclusion.

[quote="broall"]Farm animals have certain behavorial tendencies that result from the evolutionary history of these species. By imposing on these animals a type of organization that conflicts with their behavorial tendencies,current farm management practices cause the animals more pain and distress than do practices that more closely conform to the animals behavorial tendencies. Because the animals tend to resist this type of organization, current practices can also be less efficient than those other farm management practices.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following can be properly inferred from them?

A. Some of the behavorial tendencies of farm animals can be altered by efficient farm management practices

B. In order to implement efficient farm management practices,it is necessary to be familiar wit the evolutionary history of farm animals.

C. In order to create farm management practices that cause less pain and distress to farm animals ,a significant loss of efficiency will be required.

D. Farm Management Practices that cause the least amount of pain and distress to farm animals are also the most efficient management practices.

E. Some changes in farm management practices that lessen the pain and distress experienced by farm animals can result in gains in efficiency.

Source: LSA
why B option is not correct?

B talks about necessary
Whereas in the last line of the passage it is already mentioned that current management practice can be less efficieny
It is a possibility not necessity
Hope it helps

you can not be sure about that only the practices that cause least amount of paint and distress can increase efficiency. Some other things may also required.


Some changes that lessen the pain and distress will improve the efficiency. this is for that there will be some improvement.

answer is E

What's the difference between (B) and (E)? Ended up taking (B)

B says it is a necessary condition that the farmers know an animals “evolutionary history.”

The evolutionary history is the reason why the animals conform to certain practices and resist others. All the farmer (according to the passage) would need to do is observe these animals behaviors.

Knowing the animals evolutionary history and WHY it behaves the way it does is not a necessary condition to apply a certain practice that an animal will resist or conform too.

We are not told, but presumably they could view the animals’ responses and test different practices out. Again, we don’t know, but this possibility is left open.

Because animals resist certain practices and we are told that this resisting lead to inefficiency, it can be inferred that a farmer COULD possibly increase efficiency by tailoring the methods to the behavior of the animal. Which is effectively what E says.


Thinking about something in the real world:

You are baby sitting someone else’s baby. You see that when you let him use a toy he stops crying, but when you take that toy away from him he resists and cries.

The reason why he does this is because his parents have spoiled him (maybe?) by letting him play with his toys all the time. In order to get him to stop crying (a more “efficient practice”), it wouldn’t be a necessary condition that you know his whole history of being spoiled and how he evolved to be a brat.

I don’t know if that’s a good analogy, but it’s the best I can come up with based on what the facts in the passage are lol


Posted from my mobile device

A straightforward inference based question. Let us examine the answer options:

A. Some of the behavorial tendencies of farm animals can be altered by efficient farm management practices We do not know if the behavioral tendencies can be altered or not. The passage seems to suggest the opposite. Eliminate.

B. In order to implement efficient farm management practices, it is necessary to be familiar with the evolutionary history of farm animals. We do not know that the "other" farm management practices are as a result of knowing the evolutionary history of farm animals. Those who implement those may not be aware of such history. Eliminate.

C. In order to create farm management practices that cause less pain and distress to farm animals ,a significant loss of efficiency will be required. The opposite is suggested by the passage. Eliminate.

D. Farm Management Practices that cause the least amount of pain and distress to farm animals are also the most efficient management practices. Here, the problem is with the words "least" and "most". While the passage does suggest that less distress is correlated with more efficiency, we do not know if it holds true at the extremes as well. At this stage, given that the correct relationship is specified, we can hold on to this option.

E. Some changes in farm management practices that lessen the pain and distress experienced by farm animals can result in gains in efficiency. Correct answer - gives the correct relationship between distress and efficiency without being absolute in either direction. Since this option is so much better, we can now eliminate option (D).

Hope this helps.

Definitely E. Inference questions are all about the softness in the language.

I think the main reason B is wrong is because it equates knowing behavioural tendencies with knowing the evolutionary history of the animals. We can't infer this. One may implement efficient farming practices without knowing the history of why the animals behave the way they do. Farmers simply need to understand the animals' behavioural characteristics/traits. Slight shift in language but it changes everything.

Is this the right line of logic? Let me know, friends!

Posted from my mobile device

I had a tough time with A), are there others who can chime in?

A is out because the passage states that behavioural tendencies are a result of evolutionary history of the species. No where in the passage is it implied that these tendencies can be altered through farming practices. In fact, we are told that if we change farming practices to better suit these tendencies, farming efficiency will improve.

So for those reasons, we cannot infer A. Hope this makes sense.

A. Some of the behavorial tendencies of farm animals can be altered by efficient farm management practices -- The argument does not suggest that. The argument states that techniques that "closely conform" to the behavioural tendency of farm animals are more efficient than those that conflict with such tendencies. Eliminate. This answer choice is not brought out by the argument.

B. In order to implement efficient farm management practices,it is necessary to be familiar with the evolutionary history of farm animals. -- Eliminate. What "may be" necessary is familiarity with behavioural tendencies of farm animals and not evolutionary history per se.

C. In order to create farm management practices that cause less pain and distress to farm animals ,a significant loss of efficiency will be required. -- Eliminate. Strong tone. "significant loss of efficiency". No where does the passage say that transitioning to techniques that cause less pain will involve loss of efficiency. On the contrary, the passage says that farming techniques that conform to behavioural tendency of farm animals are less painful and are more efficient.

D. Farm Management Practices that cause the least amount of pain and distress to farm animals are also the most efficient management practices. -- Eliminate. Again too strong a tone (least amount of pain; most efficient) that isn't suggested by the passage, which is more comparative (and not superlative in nature).

E. Some changes in farm management practices that lessen the pain and distress experienced by farm animals can result in gains in efficiency. -- True. The passage says that by switching to techniques conforming to behavioural tendency, gains in efficiency are likely to emerge.

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