Directions : Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that…
2017
Directions : Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow by selecting the most appropriate option.
Antarctica is an icy continent in the South Pole. It is covered by permanently frozen ground, is surrounded by water and is about 1.5 times longer than the United States. The world's largest desert is in Antarctica. 98% of the land is covered with a continental ice sheet; the remaining 2% of land is barren rock. Antarctica has about 87% of the world's ice. The South Pole is the coldest, windiest and driest place on Earth. The coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was at the South Pole; it reached as low as -128.6 degrees F or -88.0 degrees C. On an average most of the Antarctica gets less than 2 inches of snow each year. Although scientific expeditions visit Antarctica, there are no permanent human residents. This is because of the extreme weather, which includes freezing temperature, strong winds and blizzards. There are about 4000 seasonal visitors to Antarctica. Antarctica hasn't always been located at the South Pole. It has drifted, like the other continents and has ranged from the Equator during the Cambrian period, about 500 million years ago to the South Pole. During the time of the dinosaurs, Antarctica was more temperate and housed dinosaurs and many other life-forms. Now there is very little indigenous life.
Who are the earliest known inhabitants of Antarctica?
- A.
American scientists
- B.
Indian scientists
- C.
Dinosaurs
- D.
It has always been a desert
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: In a literal-comprehension question, the answer is the fact the passage states directly, but a question asking for the earliest or first occurrence of something requires you to separate the passage's account of the present (its current, everyday state) from its account of the past (its historical timeline), since the earliest point lies in the older narrative, not in whatever is described as happening now.
Application: Tracing Antarctica's own timeline as the passage lays it out:
The passage places Antarctica near the Equator during the Cambrian period, about 500 million years ago, before it drifted, like the other continents, to its present position at the South Pole.
It then states that during the time of the dinosaurs, Antarctica was more temperate and housed dinosaurs and many other life-forms; this is the earliest point at which the passage describes the continent as being inhabited.
The passage moves next to the present day: it says explicitly that there are no permanent human residents, only occasional scientific expeditions and roughly 4000 seasonal visitors, a modern, temporary presence, not an inhabitant population.
Since the question asks specifically for the earliest known inhabitants, and the only occupants the passage places in that ancient period are dinosaurs and other life-forms, that is the fact the text supports.
Cross-check: Re-reading the stem confirms it asks who inhabited Antarctica, not who visits it today, so any option built around present-day scientific expeditions is ruled out by the passage's own present/past distinction, and a claim about the landscape always being a desert answers a different question about the terrain and additionally contradicts the passage's account of the continent's drift over hundreds of millions of years.