Long Passage Paired Practice Question No. 1 of 1
Passage 1
We?'ve all been through Biology class, so we?re
familiar with Punic squares and the likelihood that
two brown-eyed parents will have brown-eyed
children. And we also know that genetics has
something to do with our hair color, height, and
build. But what about our personality? Nature vs.
nurture is an age-old controversy. It is one argument
that has yet to be won, and theories abound. One
thing is clear, however: there is definitely more to it
than nature. A family with multiple children makes
this obvious because each child has his or her own
distinct personality. Rarely is there a family, even
one with twins, where each child exhibits identical
personality traits to that of his siblings; rather, each
child develops his own personality through nurture.
Anyone who has a mother, a father, or a sibling can
attest to the fact that there is a lot more to it than
nature.
Passage 2
Whether a person is shy or extroverted,
conservative or adventurous, that person inherited
these traits from his parents. Although personality is
not completely dependent upon genetics, heredity
lays the foundation for a person?s personality traits
and tendencies. After the foundation has been laid,
nurture then steps in and works to develop what
nature has presented. For example, through nurture a
shy person can learn to become more outgoing;
however, this manifestation of personality will never
be completely natural for this person because
extroversion is not the foundation nature built for
him. Equally, a child who does not seem to have
natural musical talent may, through nurture, learn to
play the piano; however, he will likely have to work
twice as hard to become musically fluent as another
child who is an inherently talented musician.
Clearly, nature and nurture both play a very
important role in the development of personality, but
it is nature that initially forms a personality, and it is
nature that ultimately shines through no matter how
much nurturing takes place.
Question
Which of the following would weaken the
argument presented by the author in Passage 1?
- A mother and daughter who exhibit some of the same personality traits.
- An adopted child who exhibits many of the same personality traits as his adopted parents.
- Two brothers: one is an introvert, and one is an extrovert.
- Twins separated at birth who exhibit many of the same personality traits.
- A mother and daughter who have different personality traits.