Q16

[jackie8848]

I narrowed it down to (A) and (C), and I chose (A) because I wasn't sure if "rule of behavior" is the rephrase of "socialpolitical issues". Is (A) incorrect because it fails to admit that contemporary societies still rely heavily on knowledge of the experts?

[XEVIAN_ZONG]

I think A) is wrong because of the phrase "rely far less...than did the ancient societies." Line 43-45 only said that people today still rely heavily on experts but there is NO comparision was drawn between people today and people in ancient societies.

[maryadkins]

I'd say you're both right regarding why (A) is wrong. The passage doesn't say we rely less, just that we rely for different things, so it misconstrues. It's also missing an acknowledgement that we still do rely in some sense.

However, access to the popular literature (as stated in C) makes us less dependent on experts for rules of behavior information (line 57). So (C) is correct.

(B) doesn't suggest any disparity between the past and present. We know the author is trying to say they are different, so this can't be right.

(D) "to become members of such an elite?" The author never says anything like that.

(E) is the opposite of what we're looking for.