Digital PSAT Reading and Writing Practice Question 80: Answer and Explanation

Question: 80

Text 1

Since coming to a head in 2004, the high fructose corn syrup crisis and its role in the emergent obesity epidemic has faced unwavering denial from the food industry; yet the efforts to defend the additive on scientific grounds have been dubious at best. We are all familiar with the pitiful syllogism: corn syrup comes from corn, and corn is natural; corn syrup, therefore, is natural. However true this may be, it provides no proof whatsoever as to corn syrup's safety for human consumption.

Text 2

Despite ongoing proof that genetically modified crops not only are perfectly safe for consumption but also have in fact saved an estimated 600 million people from starvation over the past two decades, fears and skepticism toward them persist simply because they are popularly perceived as unnatural, and thus, somehow, unhealthy.

It can most reasonably be inferred that the two authors would disagree with those who declared a food to be healthy simply because it is

• A. engineered.
• B. genetically modified.
• C. natural.
• D. metabolized.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

(C) Both authors debunk the connection between natural and healthy, so (C) is correct. Only Text 2 explicitly considers (B), and implicitly considers (A), since engineered would be similar to genetic modification. Finally, since metabolism is the name for how our bodies function, (D) is an imprecise choice.