ETS OG 4th Edition Mixed Practice Set RC

GRE Verbal Problem Solving
1

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Hi all,

This passage was very difficult for me to decipher. In the first sentence, it says that “…the time of the paintings’ production is not necessarily the same as that of the death of the organism.” So I parsed it as: “The organism could have have died either before or after the painting was created”. But I am unable to comprehend the line “…renders the radiocarbon date as merely a maximum-age estimate.”. Does this then mean that the organism that the charcoal pigment originated from died after the painting had been created? The line after confuses me even more “..wood deteriorates rapidly…” I don’t understand what this “deterioration” has to do with when the organism died. Not understanding any of this, I obviously got question 8 wrong.

Can anyone point me in the right direction here? And if you could answer what skill/strategy would I need to work on to get better at these types of passages, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!

2

Some critical thinking is needed here. The tree used to make charcoal (it’s a charcoal painting) is logically either the same age as that painting or older than the painting, since the tree used to make charcoal could have died many years before that charcoal was used.

3

So, because the effect is called “old wood”, I should conclude the charcoal pigments are “older” than the painting? Which in turn would mean that the tree died earlier than when the paintings were created? In this context, from the last sentence we can come to the conclusion that the painters would not have chosen to paint on “deteriorated” charcoal which is why this effect is “negligible”? If not, why is this effect “negligible” in this case?

4

yes and yes. the deterioration thing is just presented as an exception to the general rule about old wood (i.e. a concession).