Q24

[geverett]

Would like to hear explanation of why C is right and A is wrong.

[noah]

This question is asking us to infer what the author would probably think.

(A) is unsupported. We learn that there was a lack of studies of wine, but not that we shouldn't study the effects of beer and other spirits.

(B) is reversed. The author states in line 17 that alcohol does affect the body's processing of lipids.

(C) is correct. In line 59 we learn that the key to the healthful aspects of wine are due to compounds found in grapes (and they're not present in other alcoholic beverages).

(D) is reversed. Lines 32-33 say that red and white wine have the same effect.

(E) is unsupported - the passage never discusses benefits of other alcoholic beverages.

[geverett]

I was in the middle of typing a rebuttal and realized how right you are. Thank you sir! It important to remember the details of what they are asking you in the question stems. It can be inferred from the passage that the author author author would most likely agree . . .

(A) saying they should not attempt to study is too strong.
(B) When I looked at this I was thinking "well maybe the health benefits of the grapes in wine might mitigate alcohols affect on lipid processing" It could be true that it does, but this answer choice speaks only of alcohol as a stand-alone substance, and alcohol by itself has been conclusively proven to affect lipid processing - see lines 15-22
(C) All the other choices seem so bad now compared to this one, but I still don't know how we can prove this. I guess the use of unlikely might make this a softer answer choice as compared to the definitive language that was employed in A, but man it just still seems a bit strong.

[noah]

I was in the middle of typing a rebuttal and realized how right you are. Thank you sir! It important to remember the details of what they are asking you in the question stems. It can be inferred from the passage that the author author author would most likely agree . . .

(A) saying they should not attempt to study is too strong.
(B) When I looked at this I was thinking "well maybe the health benefits of the grapes in wine might mitigate alcohols affect on lipid processing" It could be true that it does, but this answer choice speaks only of alcohol as a stand-alone substance, and alcohol by itself has been conclusively proven to affect lipid processing - see lines 15-22
(C) All the other choices seem so bad now compared to this one, but I still don't know how we can prove this. I guess the use of unlikely might make this a softer answer choice as compared to the definitive language that was employed in A, but man it just still seems a bit strong.

Glad you figured it out. Nice work.

[bearknowsthetrooth]

I'm still confused about this one. The end of the passage states "the potentially healthful effects of moderate wine intake may derive from the concentration of certain natural compounds found in grapes." That seems more like a hypothesis than anything, and the fact that this study was the "first step" suggests that there nothing definitive has been proven about grapes and heart disease. In addition, even if something about grapes definitely reduced the risk of heart disease, it doesn't mean that apples or plums might not have the same effect. In this context, "unlikely" seems way too strong; the effects of apples and wines are merely "unknown" or "unexplored."

I chose A because paragraph 1 states "scientists...have assumed that wine, like beer or distiller spirits, is a drink whose only active ingredient is alcohol." I took this to mean that although beer and spirits have alcohol as the exclusive active ingredient, wine is different. The next paragraph talks about alcohol having conclusively negative effects, so if beer and spirits only have alcohol, why bother studying their potential healthful effects?

[noah]

I'm still confused about this one. The end of the passage states "the potentially healthful effects of moderate wine intake may derive from the concentration of certain natural compounds found in grapes." That seems more like a hypothesis than anything, and the fact that this study was the "first step" suggests that there nothing definitive has been proven about grapes and heart disease. In addition, even if something about grapes definitely reduced the risk of heart disease, it doesn't mean that apples or plums might not have the same effect. In this context, "unlikely" seems way too strong; the effects of apples and wines are merely "unknown" or "unexplored."

Good question. Since we're looking for the answer the author is most likely to agree with, that wiggle room is acceptable.

I chose A because paragraph 1 states "scientists...have assumed that wine, like beer or distiller spirits, is a drink whose only active ingredient is alcohol." I took this to mean that although beer and spirits have alcohol as the exclusive active ingredient, wine is different. The next paragraph talks about alcohol having conclusively negative effects, so if beer and spirits only have alcohol, why bother studying their potential healthful effects?

The text you're referring to suggests that the apparently incorrect assumption led those scientists to feel there's no reason to study the effect of wine as separate from other alcoholic beverages, which is different than saying that we shouldn't study the effects of any of the beverages. Instead, it's saying that we shouldn't lump them together.

As for your savvy point about the second paragraph suggesting there's no positive effects of alcohol, here we'd want to see a more soft point from the author -- there's little chance that other types of alcohol... -- and instead we get a very firm statement that we should never study these things. Just because something is believed doesn't mean we shouldn't study it.

[deedubbew]

I dont' understand. The likeliness of grapes reducing risk of heart disease does not make it unlikely that plum or apple wine will reduce risk of heart disease.

[wesleysolmon]

I too was really struggling with this one. Working wrong to right I successfully eliminated all the answer choices because none of them came close to a "logical leap" from the passage.

The key point for why C is right (after reviewing) is in the last 3 lines "certain natural compounds found in grapes and not present in other alcoholic beverages". Thus the LSAT authors want us to infer from this that wine (an alcoholic beverage) made by apples or plums would be unlikely to reduce risk of premature heart disease.

The one thing I disagree with about this answer choice is that unlikely seems too extreme. We have no evidence about the likelihood of apple wine or plum wine, so I would be inclined to agree with a neutral statemen but not this one.

All in all, I think this was one of those "most correct" answer choices because none of the other answers were close to inferences.

[513852276]

Choice C is subtle since author report a finding in paragraph 2 "One preliminary research linked this effect to red wine, but subsequent research has shown identical results whether the wine is white or red" (Line 30). The author put no comments on this result. I used to think author agree with it, hence, "other alcoholic beverages" in Line 59 adress becerages except wine, rather than except red wine. Now I realize "no comments" can include a tone of disagreement ..

[DavidS899]

I struggled with this.

The author is saying scientists have disregarded the other active ingredients in wine. He says wine has health benefits because of "certain natural compounds" found in grapes. Ok well there are a lot of other active ingredients that are common to fruits that are not in beer or distilled spirts. It seems befitting the main point of the passage that wine got disregarded for what makes it different. So it seems unrealistic for the author to deny or think it is unlikely.

First paragraph he is saying, "Hey all these scientists are assuming that wine is as useless as all these other singular active ingredient drinks, but unlike those, people think wine has health benefits". Then he goes on to say it actually does. It seems to me if you asked him about studying beer or distilled spirits he would say, "Didn't I just tell you they only have one active ingredient? They are no wine!"