Nanotechnology may pose risks in the coming decades as we find it incr

Question

Nanotechnology may pose risks in the coming decades as we find it increasingly commonplace to introduce small robots into our bodies. But the fact that these robots might be invisible to the naked eye doesn't mean we are helpless against them. After all, since the initial development of germ theory, we have designed and continuously improved upon way to protect ourselves from a variety of germs.

In the passage, the author develops the argument by:

A. forming the hypothesis that best explains several apparently conflicting pieces of evidence

B. reinterpreting evidence that had been used to support an earlier theory

C. using an analogy with a known phenomenon to draw a conclusion about an unknown phenomenon.

D. speculating about how characteristics of small robots in the future might develop from characteristics of germs

E. pointing out difference between natural and human made microscopic threats

goforgmat · Answer

easy peasy...Staright C..
The auhtor is using an anology how we found ways to fight germs to how we can find ways to fight nano robots.

deeksha6 · Answer

Can anyone explain why option B is wrong?

goforgmat · Answer

Option B states that the evidence is reinterpreted while that is not the case. The author is merely using an example that we already know about to infer about something that hasn't happened yet.
Reinterpreting evidence means understanding the evidence in a different way than has been earlier.

Hope i am clear.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

Reading the question: the stem of this question is unusual, since it asks how "the author develops the argument." It's worth a glance at the answer choices to determine their format. The answer choices are somewhat generalized descriptions of how the author has formed his argument. We can create a filter by starting with the opinion in the prompt.

Creating a filter: The conclusion of the argument doesn't really appear until the second sentence, with the opinion, "doesn't mean we are helpless against them." The "development" of the argument is simply the final sentence. This is a comparison with germ theory. We'd call it either a comparison or an example and will look for "comparison or example" in the answer choices.

Applying the filter: Looking at the first couple words of each answer choice, we're left with (C). Indeed, an analogy is a comparison. The "known" phenomenon is germ theory and the "unknown" phenomenon is nanotech. We confirm that the author is not doing the other things.

The correct answer is (C).

AndrewN · Answer

I am not sure what the source of this question may be, but it is a thinly veiled effort to mimic the official question that can be found  here . The answer choices are almost identical—in fact, (A) through (C) are perfectly plagiarized, word for word. Compare the above answer choices to those from the  other  question:

I would advise students to steer clear of such copycat questions and to stick to their official counterparts instead.

- Andrew

IanStewart · Answer

Nice catch, and I fully agree that test takers should study the official versions of these questions, rather than these shoddy duplicates. I wonder if we can ever learn where these questions are from (a few prep companies have done this kind of thing, and it does test takers more harm than good, especially when the questions are copied from GMATPrep tests -- when test takers solve those copied questions, they'll know how to answer the originals, and can get artificially inflated diagnostic test scores).

Happy New Year, Andrew!

AndrewN · Answer

Thank you, Ian. Happy New Year to you, too. I did a little digging on this one. From what I can tell, the source is the site  GMAT Free . However, the OE posted above, specifically the reference to a "filter," made me think of Kaplan. That is, I thought I remembered some OEs to other questions that listed Kaplan as the source and, of course, used the same language. When I ran a search on this site, I came across  an old post by  daagh  in which he wrote the following:

When I scrolled down the homepage of the GMAT Free site, I read the following plug:

Now, I think the pieces fit into place. I do not suppose GMAT Free also boasts about ruining its members' fair chances at attempting certain official questions?

- Andrew

VerbalBot · Answer

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Nanotechnology may pose risks in the coming decades as we find it incr

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Nanotechnology may pose risks in the coming decades as we find it incr

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