Self-paced
The frozen, well-preserved body of a man was recently discovered in a glacier as the glacier melted. █████████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ █████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ██ ██████████
Stimulus Breakdown
The stimulus gives us a bunch of facts about a man's body frozen in a glacier. Here's what we learn:
(1) the body was well-preserved in the glacier;
(2) based on artifacts on the body, the man lived at least 4,000 years ago;
(3) based on the nature of the glacier, the man died in the same place his body was found; and
(4) for the body to be preserved, it is necessary that the body was frozen shortly after the man died and that it did not thaw in the time since then.
We can combine some of these facts to make up-front inferences. Specifically, facts (1) and (4) let us infer that the body was, in fact, frozen shortly after the man' death and hasn't thawed since. Adding in fact (2) lets us further infer that the body must have been frozen for at least 4,000 years. We can look for one of these inferences in the answer choices, and if necessary, revert to POE.
6.
Which one of the following ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ███ █████
a
None of the █████████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████ █████ █████ ████
The artifacts found on the body suggest that the body was at least 4,000 years old. That leaves open the possibility that the body (and presumably the artifacts) were even older. The stimulus doesn't support a maximum age of 4,000 years.
b
The man whose ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ██████
We don't know how exactly the man died, only that his body must have been frozen within a short time after his death. It's entirely possible that that happened because he froze to death. The stimulus doesn't support eliminating any particular cause of death.
c
The glacier that ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ██ █████ █████ █████ ████
We know that the body is at least 4,000 years old, and that it must have been frozen for that entire 4,000 years in order to stay well-preserved. Even if this may not guarantee that the body was frozen in the same glacier that whole time, it definitely strongly supports that claim.
d
The artifacts found ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███████
We know that the body needed to be frozen to preserve it, but we don't know if that's also true of the artifacts. Maybe they were stone artifacts that could have survived in a warmer setting as well. The stimulus doesn't support any particular judgment about the nature of the artifacts.
e
The global climate ███ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████
The glacier melted recently after staying frozen for 4,000 years, but that doesn't tell us anything about the global climate. It's also possible this particular area got warmer, while the global climate didn't change at all. The stimulus doesn't support such a broad claim.