PT121.S3.P1.Q4

PrepTest 121 - Section 3 - Passage 1 - Question 4

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P1

One of the intriguing questions considered by anthropologists concerns the purpose our early ancestors had in first creating images of the world around them. █████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████████████ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ █████████████ █ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ████████████████ ████ ███

Phenomenon · Aurignacian cave paintings
Question: What was the purpose of the cave paintings?
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OP Hypothesis 1 · It was art; it was luxury meant for enjoyment
Evidence: paintings are astonishingly well-executed; suggests creators were professional artists; suggests that Aurignacian culture was wealthy enough to support an artistic class.
P2

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Counter Evidence · Paintings' location too inconvenient if purpose was truly for aesthetic enjoyment
If it really was for aesthetic enjoyment, why hide the paintings deep in hard to get to caves? Doesn't make sense.
P3

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OP Hypothesis 2 · It was religious; intended to secure prey for hunting
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Argument for Hypothesis 2 · Superstitious beliefs were common; paintings outline vital organs in red; evidence of ceremonies around the paintings
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
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4.

The author mentions the relative ███████████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ █████████ █████████ ██

a

stress the importance ██ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ██

The author doesn’t emphasize the difficulties involved in making the paintings. The inaccessibility is used to question whether aesthetic enjoyment is the only purpose served by the paintings. Because the paintings were hard to access, it would be difficult for people to look at the paintings and gain aesthetic enjoyment from them.

3%
b

lay the groundwork ███ █ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████

This is the best answer. As explained below the question stem, the author mentions the inaccessibility to show that the hypothesis in P1 doesn’t fully explain the paintings, which sets the stage for the different hypothesis in P3.

94%
c

suggest that only █ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ █████████

The author doesn’t suggest that “only” certain people could view the paintings. There’s no evidence of restriction on viewing based on one’s identity in the community.

2%
d

help explain why ███ █████████ ███ █████ ████ █████████

There’s no evidence this is the purpose. The inaccessibility is used to question whether aesthetic enjoyment is the only purpose served by the paintings. Because the paintings were hard to access, it would be difficult for people to look at the paintings and gain aesthetic enjoyment from them.

0%
e

support the argument ████ ███████████ ███████ ████ █ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ █████

There’s no evidence the reference to inaccessibility supports anything in the hypothesis in P1. The inaccessibility is used to question whether aesthetic enjoyment is the only purpose served by the paintings. Because the paintings were hard to access, it would be difficult for people to look at the paintings and gain aesthetic enjoyment from them.

1%

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