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- Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:00 am
#34990
Complete Question Explanation
Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (D)
In this stimulus, the author discusses the surprising location of pumpkin production in the United
States. Although there are many places in North America where pumpkins can be grown well into
autumn without risking frost, North American pumpkin production is concentrated in less suitable
growing areas, where long, cold winters and a delayed growing season mean that the pumpkin crops
could be damaged or destroyed by early frost.
It should come as no surprise that this is a Resolve the Paradox question. Our prephrase is that the
correct answer choice will tell us what causes pumpkin production in North America to be located in
what appears to be such inappropriate regions.
Answer choice (A): This answer choice is incorrect because it only tells us about when pumpkins are
grown, not why they are grown where they are grown.
Answer choice (B): Here, the answer choice deepens the paradox, because it suggests that the
pumpkins really should be grown in regions where there is more warm weather, rather than long,
cold winters.
Answer choice (C): As with answer choice (B), this choice adds to the confusion expressed in the
stimulus, since apparently many pumpkins that are grown in areas with long, cold winters will have
to be transported to other regions in order to be sold.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice, because it explains why the pumpkins are
grown in areas with long, cold winters. The purpose in doing so is to kill the fungi and other sources
of disease that would kill or seriously damage the pumpkins. Since the threat to pumpkins is so
severe, growers are willing to risk the shorter, colder growing season in order to prevent the fungi
and diseases from taking hold.
Answer choice (E): Yet again, this answer choice expands the list of reasons why it seems strange
that North American pumpkin production is concentrated in regions with long, cold winters. Here,
the answer choice tells us that they ship the seeds away from what appears to be regions better suited
to growing pumpkins in order to grow them in seemingly less suitable regions.
Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (D)
In this stimulus, the author discusses the surprising location of pumpkin production in the United
States. Although there are many places in North America where pumpkins can be grown well into
autumn without risking frost, North American pumpkin production is concentrated in less suitable
growing areas, where long, cold winters and a delayed growing season mean that the pumpkin crops
could be damaged or destroyed by early frost.
It should come as no surprise that this is a Resolve the Paradox question. Our prephrase is that the
correct answer choice will tell us what causes pumpkin production in North America to be located in
what appears to be such inappropriate regions.
Answer choice (A): This answer choice is incorrect because it only tells us about when pumpkins are
grown, not why they are grown where they are grown.
Answer choice (B): Here, the answer choice deepens the paradox, because it suggests that the
pumpkins really should be grown in regions where there is more warm weather, rather than long,
cold winters.
Answer choice (C): As with answer choice (B), this choice adds to the confusion expressed in the
stimulus, since apparently many pumpkins that are grown in areas with long, cold winters will have
to be transported to other regions in order to be sold.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice, because it explains why the pumpkins are
grown in areas with long, cold winters. The purpose in doing so is to kill the fungi and other sources
of disease that would kill or seriously damage the pumpkins. Since the threat to pumpkins is so
severe, growers are willing to risk the shorter, colder growing season in order to prevent the fungi
and diseases from taking hold.
Answer choice (E): Yet again, this answer choice expands the list of reasons why it seems strange
that North American pumpkin production is concentrated in regions with long, cold winters. Here,
the answer choice tells us that they ship the seeds away from what appears to be regions better suited
to growing pumpkins in order to grow them in seemingly less suitable regions.