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Information and IdeasHardInference from a contrast in skill

Information and Ideas practice question

In the cave paintings, the animals are drawn in profile with astonishing accuracy — the weight of a bison, the gait of a horse. The human figures, when they appear at all, are crude stick shapes. Since the same hands evidently could draw well, the difference most likely reflects ____

Which choice most logically completes the text?

  1. A. a choice about what mattered to the painters rather than a limit on their skill.Correct
  2. B. the painters' inability to draw people.
  3. C. the absence of other humans from the region at the time.
  4. D. damage to the human figures over the centuries.

Answer: A. a choice about what mattered to the painters rather than a limit on their skill.

'The same hands evidently could draw well' rules out lack of skill, leaving intention: the painters cared about the animals.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. the painters' inability to draw people.
The text explicitly says the hands could draw well.
C. the absence of other humans from the region at the time.
Human figures DO appear, so humans weren't absent.
D. damage to the human figures over the centuries.
Nothing suggests the human figures were damaged rather than drawn crudely.

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