Several ancient Greek texts provide accounts of people being poisoned

Question

Several ancient Greek texts provide accounts of people being poisoned by honey that texts suggest was made from the nectar of rhododendron or oleander plants. Honey made from such nectar can cause the effects the texts describe, but only if eaten fresh, since the honey loses its toxicity within a few weeks of being made. In Greece, rhododendrons and oleander bloom only in springtime, when they are the predominant sources of nectar.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly support the accounts of Greek texts?

(A) There are no plants that Greece in ancient times that produce more nectar than rhododendrons or oleanders does.

(B) In areas where neither rhododendrons nor oleanders grow, honey is never poisonous

(C) A beehive's honeycomb cannot have some sections that contain toxic honey and other sections that contain nontoxic honey.

(D) The incidents of honey poisoning that are related in the ancient texts occurred in the springtime or in the early summer.

(E) Whether the honey in a beehive is toxic depends solely on which plants were the source of that was used to make the honey.

cssk · Accepted Answer

We are supposed to strengthen the accounts of Greek texts that  people were poisoned by honey that was made from the nectar of rhododendron or oleander plants.

Possible gap in the reasoning:  Honey made from such nectar can cause the effects the texts describe, but only if eaten fresh, since the honey loses its toxicity within a few weeks of being made.

Support:  The honey must be eaten fresh in order to see the effects of consuming it. Hence in order to support the conclusion, it must be true that the incidents of honey poisoning occurred when rhododendrons and oleander matured.

D. The incidents of honey poisoning that are related in the ancient texts occurred in the springtime or in the early summer

Choice D does its job and hence is the best answer.

chesstitans · Answer

The question is the assumption. The question alone does not offer any type, but the stem tells that the first sentence is the conclusion. Surely, boiled down to B, and D.
Test takers should know that both B and D are two common patterns in gmat.
B is wrong b/c it talks about the non-poison, and B just shows a correlation.
D is the gap between the premise and the conclusion.

monk123 · Answer

Several ancient Greek texts provide accounts of people being poisoned by honey that texts suggest was made from the nectar of rhododendron or oleander plants. Honey made from such nectar can cause the effects the texts describe, but only if eaten fresh, since the honey loses its toxicity within a few weeks of being made. In Greece, rhododendrons and oleander bloom only in springtime, when they are the predominant sources of nectar.
 
Conclusion: people being poisoned by honey that texts suggest was made from the nectar of rhododendron or oleander plants.
Solution: We need to find the statement which shows that people being poisoned by rhododendron or oleander plants.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly support the accounts of Greek texts?

(A) There are no plants that Greece in ancient times  that produce more nectar than  rhododendrons or oleanders does. -   OUT OF SCOPE

(B) In areas where neither rhododendrons nor oleanders grow,  honey is never poisonous  -   WEAKEN

(C)  beebive’s honeycomb  cannot have some sections that contain toxic honey and other sections that contain nontoxic honey. -   OUT OF SCOPE

(D) The incidents of honey poisoning that are related in the ancient texts  occurred in the springtime or in the early summer.  -   CORRECT; IT SHOWS INCIDENCES HAPPEN IN SPRING ANS SUMMER WHEN PLANTS GROW. HENCE, IT STRENGTHENS THE CONCLUSION.

(E) Whether the honey in a  beehive  is toxic depends solely on which plants were the source of that was used to make the honey. -   OUT OF SCOPE

boybread5 · Answer

I didn't see this question analyzed well, so I thought I'd provide why I circled D.

Conclusion:  Several ancient Greek texts provide accounts of i.) people being poisoned by honey and, then, ii.) suggesting that the honey was made from the nectar of rhododendron or oleander plants.

We need to look for an answer that, if true, provides additional support for these accounts. I personally thought the toughest part of this question was understanding the root question asked for supporting the Greek texts' overall account (so both people's being poisoned by honey and the honey likely deriving from rhododendron or oleander plants.

A. Even if there are other plants that produce more nectar, it's not clear from A that those other plants' nectar is poisonous. Thus, we can safely Eliminate.
B. I struggled with this one, so I left it on my answer choices. I disagree with the commenter above. This isn't a Weaken choice. This basically shows if a factor (
C. To me, this is a classic "can be interpreted in two different ways," which often reduces the likelihood of an answer being right. Let's say the honeycomb is 100% toxic, this would weaken the force of evidence that the honey is from these two plants vs. these plants' nectar. Let's say this answer choice suggests, conversely, that it can be implied that honeycombs are 100% non-toxic more often than not. This would strengthen the argument. Because it's unclear which direction this answer choice is taking us, we can safely eliminate C.
D. I left this answer. My biggest gripe here is it does say that, to be toxic, the honey must be eaten fresh as honey loses its toxicity within "a few weeks of being made." Notice how it says few weeks of "being made" vs. a few weeks of the plant bloom. This really bugged me, but I did have an intuitive feeling that this choice does fill a gap in the support. For now, I left that answer choice in the mix.
E. This provides a generalization on the fact that the plant itself provides the source of toxicity. This answer does not provide assurances though that it is the rhododendron or oleander plants themselves that cause the toxicity.

I then had it narrowed to B or D. For me personally, in reviewing the question, there also need to be additional evidence on the fact that it was honey that poisoned the people. B basically says honey is never poisonous in those areas but it doesn't add additional strength that people were poisoned from honey. Though I don't love that part I highlighted above in D, in thinking about the path of least resistance, this answer I thought likely got to the heart of what the author was trying to point out which is that honey is likely made around springtime from these nectars and, consequently, poisonings occurred around springtime (if not springtime, then early summer).

agrasan · Answer

We are given that several ancient Greek tests say that some people got honey poisoning that was made from the nectar of rhododendron or oleander plants. The author adds that honey can cause those effects (described by the Greek texts) when it is eaten fresh  only  because the honey loses its toxicity within a few weeks of being made. The author further adds that rhododendrons and oleander bloom only in springtime in Greece, when they are the predominant sources of nectar which implies that honey should be fresh in springtime.

We have to find an option that increases our confidence in the conclusion    "Honey made from such nectar can cause the effects the texts describe, but only if eaten fresh".

(A) There are no plants that Greece in ancient times that produce more nectar than rhododendrons or oleanders does.  
 Incorrect , it compares rhododendrons or oleanders with other plants. It doesn't provide us more evidence that eating  fresh  honey can cause poisoning.

(B) In areas where neither rhododendrons nor oleanders grow, honey is never poisonous  
 Incorrect , the conclusion is not about whether rhododendrons or oleanders cause poisoning, (B) would have been correct if that was the conclusion. Instead, the conclusion is about fresh honey leading to poisoning.

(C) A beehive's honeycomb cannot have some sections that contain toxic honey and other sections that contain nontoxic honey.  
 Incorrect , it doesn't matter how beehives store the honey.

(D) The incidents of honey poisoning that are related in the ancient texts occurred in the springtime or in the early summer.  
 Correct , this strengthens my confidence in the conclusion that fresh honey does cause poisoning because springtime or early summer is the time when rhododendrons and oleander bloom i.e., honey is quite fresh.

(E) Whether the honey in a beehive is toxic depends solely on which plants were the source of that was used to make the honey.  
 Incorrect , it presents an alternate reason that honey toxicity could be due to some other reason, not its freshness.

Several ancient Greek texts provide accounts of people being poisoned

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Several ancient Greek texts provide accounts of people being poisoned

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