patto
Would you please explain the correct answer in 5? Thank you
Question 5 asks us which statement can be inferred, so let's go through the answer choices and refer back to the passage as needed:
Quote:
(A) Information stored electronically is more vulnerable than information stored on paper to unauthorized use or theft.
The passage does not mention "unauthorized use or theft" of information, regardless of how it is stored. (A) is out.
Quote:
(B) Much of the information stored on optical computer disks in the 1980s was subsequently transferred to digital storage tape.
The passage states that "many documents and images transferred in the 1980s to optical computer disks—then the cutting edge of technology—may not now be retrievable because they depend on computer software and hardware that are no longer available." It goes on to say that "recent generations of digital storage tape are considered safe from deterioration for only ten years." The passage
does not imply that the information stored on the optical computer disks was transferred to digital storage tapes -- it merely lists the two types of storage as examples of ever-changing computer technology. Eliminate (B).
Quote:
(C) The high cost of new electronic data storage systems is prohibiting many archivists from transferring their archives to computer disks and tape.
The passage does not discuss the
cost of new electronic data storage systems at all, so this statement cannot be inferred. (C) is out.
Quote:
(D) Media used recently to store information electronically may ultimately be less durable than older, conventional media such as photographs and videotapes.
About
"older, conventional media," the passage says that "books printed on acidic paper as recently as the 1980s are already unreadable. Black-and-white photographs will last for
a couple of centuries, but most color photographs become unstable
within 40 years, and videotapes last only
about 20 years."
This is compared to
"media used recently to store information electronically": "recent generations of digital storage tape are considered safe from deterioration for
only ten years." Thus, electronic media used recently to store data will likely be less durable than older, more conventional media. Answer choice (D) is looking good.
Quote:
(E) The percentage of information considered essential by archivists has increased proportionally as the amount of information stored has increased.
The last sentence of the passage is the most relevant to this answer choice: "The danger now is not so much that some recent masterpiece will be lost for an extended period of time, but rather that
the sheer volume of accumulated records stored on nondurable media will make it virtually impossible for archivists to sort the essential from the dispensable in time to save it." This shows that the "amount of information stored has increased," but it
does not support the idea that "the percentage of information considered essential... has increased proportionally" with the increase in overall information. If anything, the passage implies that archivists will be challenged to sift through a massive amount of non-essential information to find a small amount of essential information.
Because the passage does not imply that the percentage of essential information has increased, we cannot infer this answer choice. (E) is out, and (D) is the answer to question 5.
I hope that helps!