V30-03

Question

The existence of West Berlin, a conspicuously capitalist city deep within communist East Germany, "stuck like a bone in the Soviet throat," as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev put it! The Russians began maneuvering to drive the United States, Britain and France out of the city for good. In 1948, a Soviet blockade of West Berlin aimed to starve the western Allies out of the city. Instead of retreating, however, the United States and its allies supplied their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the Berlin Airlift, lasted for more than a year and delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and other goods to West Berlin. The Soviets called off the blockade in 1949.
 
 After a decade of relative calm, tensions flared again in 1958. For the next three years, the Soviets emboldened by the successful launch of the Sputnik satellite the year before and embarrassed by the seemingly endless flow of refugees from east to west (nearly 3 million in the decade since 1948, many of them young skilled workers such as doctors, teachers and engineers) blustered and made threats, while the Allies resisted. Summits, conferences and other negotiations came and went without resolution. Meanwhile, the flood of refugees continued. In June 1961, some 19,000 people left the GDR through Berlin. The following month, 30,000 fled. In the first 11 days of August, 16,000 East Germans crossed the border into West Berlin, and on August 12 some 2,400 followed the largest number of defectors ever to leave East Germany in a single day.

The author would most likely agree with which of the following?

A. The Berlin Airlift ensured a decade of relative calm from 1949 to 1958
B. The Soviets were embarrassed because despite their technological successes, people were fleeting in large numbers
C. East Germans were emboldened to leave for the West in large numbers because there were no significant blockades
D. The decade following the blockade was calm because of technological innovations by the Soviets
E. The majority of defectors who left East Germany in the decade after the blockade were young skilled workers

souvik101990 · Answer

Official Solution:

The existence of West Berlin, a conspicuously capitalist city deep within communist East Germany, "stuck like a bone in the Soviet throat," as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev put it! The Russians began maneuvering to drive the United States, Britain and France out of the city for good. In 1948, a Soviet blockade of West Berlin aimed to starve the western Allies out of the city. Instead of retreating, however, the United States and its allies supplied their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the Berlin Airlift, lasted for more than a year and delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and other goods to West Berlin. The Soviets called off the blockade in 1949.
 
 After a decade of relative calm, tensions flared again in 1958. For the next three years, the Soviets emboldened by the successful launch of the Sputnik satellite the year before and embarrassed by the seemingly endless flow of refugees from east to west (nearly 3 million in the decade since 1948, many of them young skilled workers such as doctors, teachers and engineers) blustered and made threats, while the Allies resisted. Summits, conferences and other negotiations came and went without resolution. Meanwhile, the flood of refugees continued. In June 1961, some 19,000 people left the GDR through Berlin. The following month, 30,000 fled. In the first 11 days of August, 16,000 East Germans crossed the border into West Berlin, and on August 12 some 2,400 followed the largest number of defectors ever to leave East Germany in a single day.
 
 The author would most likely agree with which of the following?

A. The Berlin Airlift ensured a decade of relative calm from 1949 to 1958
B. The Soviets were embarrassed because despite their technological successes, people were fleeting in large numbers
C. East Germans were emboldened to leave for the West in large numbers because there were no significant blockades
D. The decade following the blockade was calm because of technological innovations by the Soviets
E. The majority of defectors who left East Germany in the decade after the blockade were young skilled workers

(A) Incorrect; while the Berlin Airlift did help maintain an Allied presence in West Berlin, the passage does not imply it "ensured" calm, merely that there was a period of relative calm that followed; there is no proof of cause and effect.
 
 (B) Correct ; this option is supported by the passage, which states the Soviets were embarrassed by the massive exodus of East Germans to the West despite their technological achievements, such as launching the Sputnik satellite.
 
(C) Incorrect; the passage does not suggest that the lack of significant blockades was the reason for the mass departures, only that the departures continued at a high rate.
 
(D) Incorrect; the passage indicates that there was calm after the blockade but does not link this calm to Soviet technological innovations.
 
(E) Incorrect; although it mentions many young skilled workers left, the passage does not claim they were the majority of defectors.

Answer: B

tsdk · Answer

I think this is a  poor-quality  question and the explanation isn't clear enough, please elaborate.

Masterscorp · Answer

I think this the explanation isn't clear enough, please elaborate. I was stuck between B and C. Just because a nation launches a satellite into space doesn't mean that people want to live in this country. Hence, I wasn't really sure whether the correlation mentioned in B makes sense.

C is not explicitly stated but the mention that three mio. people fled after the end of the blockage indicates that there weren't any major blockades anymore and that this might be a reason for the high number of refugees.

Can somebody please shed light on this issue?

imran1994 · Answer

I wish to know why E is incorrect

Helium · Answer

Paragraph uses the sentence -

"nearly 3 million in the decade since the end of the blockade,   many of them   young skilled workers such as doctors, teachers and engineers"

so many of the people moving to West Berlin were young skilled workers such as doctors, teachers and engineers but not the   majority   as mentioned in Choice E.

Hope this helps!!

psych77 · Answer

souvik101990  Why don't we select E. Isn't ''Many of them''=''Majority''??

Helium · Answer

psych77 Pl see reply above : https://gmatclub.com/forum/v30-263448.html#p2117150 Hope this helps!!

anupriyajain · Answer

Can anyone explain the causal relationship between technological success and people fleeing in large numbers? It is difficult to infer the causal relationship. However it can be correctly inferred that both these events happened and had an effect on the Soviets.

anusheel · Answer

I think this is a  poor-quality  question and I don't agree with the explanation. I think Many of them = Majority as both will mean more than 50%

MahmoudFawzy · Answer

I think the question is not good.

for example,
A is wrong because we can't assume a link between the Airlift and the following relative calm
E is wrong because we can't assume that "many" means more than 50% "majority.

Why B is right? Why, here, we are allowed to assume a link between the technological success and being embarrassed?
Why not because of something else such as the large number of fleeing people, or the failure although the decade of blockage?

milkybar · Answer

HI link does not show any answer about it. Could you kindly explain the difference bewteen the many and majority? Please !! Thank you.

bb · Answer

I am not sure what link does not show any answer about what. But you can see a few posts above your post, there is a specific explanation for why answer choice E is wrong: https://gmatclub.com/forum/v30-263448.html#p2117150

aloysiusgaul · Answer

This is a poor quality question and the explanation is flawed. The answer selections are all troubling. The "correct" answer B has a material typo that changes its meaning: fleeting means temporary; fleeing means escaping. It's also incorrect for logical reasons, as are all the choices. But if we are going for "most likely agree" the only possible choice is option C, as that is the only option that fits within what the author actually said (even if he did not provide for causality).

A is wrong  because we cannot infer that the calm following the Airlift was CAUSED by the airlift. 
 B is wrong  because 1) we cannot infer that there were any technological advances beyond Sputnik (they are never mentioned or alluded to) and, even if there were, 2) we cannot be sure that the Soviets were embarrassed despite the technological advancements -- perhaps Sputnik launch could have happened in year 1 and then in year 2 and 3 Western countries had even more aggressive technological advancements, meaning Soviets were embarrassed both due to technological successes and people fleeing. We have no way of knowing. 
 C is wrong  because we cannot infer that the reason East Germans moved was due to a lack of blockades; it could have merely been coincidental. In either case, we do know that East Germans moved most when there were no blockades.
 D is wrong  for similar reasons, except we cannot even be sure the Soviets had multiple innovations (see answer B)
 E is wrong  because we only know that "many" of them were such people, not that "the majority" were.

So we are left with no correct answers.

NikhilAdiga · Answer

Reply: 1. You are bringing outside knowledge into an RC passage that is totally wrong. This is a detail question and you just have to focus on the facts given in the passage and check for the authors opinion and think as if you're the author's friend.
2. Sputnik launch is a tech development and Russians were embarrassed by it all verifiable in the passage

NikhilAdiga · Answer

Many means >=3 while majority means >50%

shverma · Answer

I think this is a  poor-quality  question and the explanation isn't clear enough, please elaborate.

Lok2209 · Answer

I see what you are trying to establish.
what does many of them imply ? don't you think it is implying most of them?
and infact passage never mentions that they were embarrassed because they are unable to their tech to stop migrations.
passage mentions both embarrassment and emboldenment to explain why tensions flare again. I don't understand how can you link both of them?

please help me if I am wrong

Thanks

VineelSurya · Answer

In GMAT these are the subtle observations that we should do.

Consider the below examples,
1) The government was formed because of bagging the  majority  of the votes (which means the Govt. can only be created if they have the votes highest followed by the other party(which bagged a minority of votes)

2)The way the government is ruling the country is making  many   of the voters change their minds for the upcoming election. (Here, many doesn't mean that that whole/majority of the vote bank)

I hope it helps!

VineelSurya · Answer

The point is not about people leaving because of satellites. The passage explicitly states that despite the technological advances that Russians made as the first to do so back then, the people are leaving. This means Russians might have thought that these advances may hold them back in the east. Unfortunately, that isn't the case, thereby, embarrassing the Russians.

Whereas, option C is something not straightforwardly mentioned in the passage that the people started moving as they are not blockades. In that case, why didn't they move in 1949, the time when blockades were lifted off? Hence, the explanation is not that clear reg. this

So B weighs better than C

I hope this helps!

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