Reading Comprehension · Social Science
PrepTest 135 · Section 3 · Passage 2
Questions 8–13
Before you start
Open PrepTest 135, Section 3 in your official copy from LSAC and read the passage for Questions 8–13, using the structure guide below. The passage is not reprinted here.
Structure guide
- P1: raises a problem, reports an expert's view of it, and gives contrasting examples of older and newer cases
- P2: offers an apparent solution, then shows its weaknesses and ends with time pressure
- P3: says decisions must come fast even if a fix arrives, gives historical examples of how things survive, and concludes with the author's view of the real danger
Step 2 · The kid passage
The Seed Room Race
Our garden club has saved more kinds of seeds lately than ever, yet the chance of losing them has never been bigger. That worries the seed keepers, who must keep good seeds alive for years. Grandpa, our oldest keeper, says the pile grows fast while containers get weaker just as fast. Seeds in old clay jars still sprout after a hundred years. Cloth sacks last about fifty. Paper envelopes last about eight years, plastic bags about six.
The science room freezer seems like the answer. Any seed fits in tiny trays. But freezers change fast too. Two springs ago, the club stored seeds in what was then the newest freezer. It broke, its parts are no longer made, and those seeds may be stuck for good. Even the newest freezer trays are only trusted for about five years. Some keepers do not want to rely on freezers, yet the clock is ticking.
Even if a better freezer arrives (one is being tested), the club must decide fast what to keep, since envelopes keep going bad. Ideally, those choices would rest on each seed's value. Grandpa's tomato seeds lived on because everyone loved them and many neighbors saved some. A rare bean vanished until a jar turned up in Aunt Rosa's attic. Surely some are gone forever. What truly worries me is not one great seed going missing for a while. It is a pile so huge that nobody can sort the best from the rest before they die.
Step 4 · The courtroom tale
The Case of the Overflowing Barn
"Your Honor," said the town's lawyer, Ms. Brandt, "our lost-and-found barn holds more items than ever, and the boxes are falling apart faster than ever." Judge Amari raised an eyebrow. "Why not just put everything in the new plastic bins?" "We tried. The bins from three years ago cracked, and the company stopped making lids." Mr. Whitfield, for the neighbors, stood. "So sort it! Keep the valuable things." "That is the problem," Ms. Brandt sighed. "A famous trophy survived only because ten families kept copies of its photo. A rare map turned up by luck in a closet. We cannot sort a mountain in time." The judge nodded. "So the danger is not one lost treasure. It is a pile too big to sort before the rain comes."