#21 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below! Thank you!

[fendrick]

I eliminated the correct answer choice A because I read it to mean that small teeth and jaws CAUSED a limitation in the ability of humans to utilize raw food, when, as I understood from the reading, small teeth and jaws evolved because humans started eating cooked food.

I ended up choosing D but now see why it is wrong (attributing the evolution of digestive anatomy PRIMARILY to a high meat diet is faulty). But can someone please explain to me why A is the winner?

Thanks

[Robert Carroll]

fendrick,

The second paragraph opens with a mystery about what limits the ability of humans to utilize raw food. The rest of the paragraph explains that cooking caused a reduction in tooth and jaw size. This discussion cannot be unrelated to the first sentence. So, the paragraph is saying that cooking caused the reduction, a discussion which is intended to shed some light on the limitations on utilizing raw food. So the adaptations caused by cooking can reasonably be inferred to cause themselves a limitation on raw food utilization.

Robert Carroll

[fendrick]

thank you!

[BWACHS]

I understand why A is the correct answer choice. Thank you for the explanation.

Is D wrong because the language is too strong?

I chose D on the practice test because I thought the author agreed that the hypothesis was valid and worth testing that the human digestive system evolved because of raw meat. Upon review, I see that the author states that it could also equally be caused by cooking foods and needs testing making D too strong.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi BWACHS,

Absolutely. There's a huge difference between saying something is worth investigating and that thing is the explanation.

In this case, the author gives the traditional view as the view that our digestive system differences have been explained traditionally by the adaption to a high raw meat diet. The author is challenging that view by stating that maybe it has to do with cooking. The author would agree with uncertainty here, not a certain clear statement that the traditional view is right.

Hope that helps.

[ashpine17]

I still don't get why D is incorrect. It seems to be supported by the passage even if it's not perfect support. I found evidence for it in lines 48-50.

[Adam Tyson]

There are at least two problems with answer D that you may be missing. First, that answer is about a "high meat" diet, but this passage is not about that. It's about cooked food vs. raw food, not meat vs. non-meat. This author is arguing that cooking may be the more important evolutionary factor, and against the claim in the lines you cited! If we are looking for something the author would agree with, we shouldn't pick something the author is saying may be incorrect.

Second, I take issue with the word "primarily" in this answer. We can infer that the author believes cooking has had some evolutionary impact, but that doesn't make it the primary cause of all properties of the human digestive system. There could be many other more important factors that led to human digestive systems being built the way they are, and cooking, or meat-eating, may just be one of many such factors.