The average literate person today spends significantly less time reading than the average literate person did 50 years ago, yet many more books are sold per year now than were sold 50 years ago.
Why are more books sold per year now compared to 50 years ago, even though the average literate person spent significant more time reading 50 years ago? To resolve this discrepancy, we're looking for a difference compared to 50 years ago that increases the number of books sold, despite lower average reading time.
But wait—this is also an Except question. So we want to eliminate any answer choice that helps resolve the discrepancy, leaving us with the correct answer which will not resolve the discrepancy. And incorrect answer choices don't have to totally resolve the discrepancy. They just have to help a little.
Each of the following, if █████ █████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████████ █████ ███████
The population of ████████ ██████ ██ █████████████ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██ █████ ████
Even if literate people spent more time reading 50 years ago, there are just way more literate people now. Lower average reading time multiplied by many more literate people reasonably means a higher overall reading time, which then explains why more books are sold per year.
People who read █████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██████
50 years ago people spent a ton of time at the library, but now everyone reads their own personal books. That means more copies are needed of each book, explaining how it is that more books are sold per year now than 50 years ago.
The average scholar ██ █████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██████████████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████████ ██ █████ ████
(C) deals with a subset of literate people: scholars and professionals. And members of this subset own and use way more books than they did 50 years ago. This gives us a source of book sales growth, helping to resolve the discrepancy.
People of 50 █████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██ █ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ██████
50 years ago, people wanted to own more books than they do now. But that goes in the opposite direction from what we want. (D) not only doesn't resolve the discrepancy, it makes it more confusing—making (D) the correct answer.
Books sold now ████ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ████
Although literate people now spend less time reading on average, the books they're reading are quicker than the books people read 50 years ago. So people now might be able to get through more books in less time, which helps to resolve the discrepancy.
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