CAT 2024 Slot 2 — VARC Question 20
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
[S]pices were a global commodity centuries before European voyages. There was a complex chain of relations, yet consumers had little knowledge of producers and vice versa. Desire for spices helped fuel European colonial empires to create political, military and commercial networks under a single power.
Historians know a fair amount about the supply of spices in Europe during the medieval period – the origins, methods of transportation, the prices – but less about demand. Why go to such extraordinary efforts to procure expensive products from exotic lands? Still, demand was great enough to inspire the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Vasco Da Gama, launching the first fateful wave of European colonialism. . . .
So, why were spices so highly prized in Europe in the centuries from about 1000 to 1500? One widely disseminated explanation for medieval demand for spices was that they covered the taste of spoiled meat. . . . Medieval purchasers consumed meat much fresher than what the average city-dweller in the developed world of today has at hand. However, refrigeration was not available, and some hot spices have been shown to serve as an anti-bacterial agent. Salting, smoking or drying meat were other means of preservation. Most spices used in cooking began as medical ingredients, and throughout the Middle Ages spices were used as both medicines and condiments. Above all, medieval recipes involve the combination of medical and culinary lore in order to balance food's humeral properties and prevent disease. Most spices were hot and dry and so appropriate in sauces to counteract the moist and wet properties supposedly possessed by most meat and fish. . . .
Where spices came from was known in a vague sense centuries before the voyages of Columbus. Just how vague may be judged by looking at medieval world maps . . . To the medieval European imagination, the East was exotic and alluring. Medieval maps often placed India close to the so-called Earthly Paradise, the Garden of Eden described in the Bible.
Geographical knowledge has a lot to do with the perceptions of spices’ relative scarcity and the reasons for their high prices. An example of the varying notions of scarcity is the conflicting information about how pepper is harvested. As far back as the 7th century Europeans thought that pepper in India grew on trees "guarded" by serpents that would bite and poison anyone who attempted to gather the fruit. The only way to harvest pepper was to burn the trees, which would drive the snakes underground. Of course, this bit of lore would explain the shriveled black peppercorns, but not white, pink or other colors.
Spices never had the enduring allure or power of gold and silver or the commercial potential of new products such as tobacco, indigo or sugar. But the taste for spices did continue for a while beyond the Middle Ages. As late as the 17th century, the English and the Dutch were struggling for control of the Spice Islands: Dutch New Amsterdam, or New York, was exchanged by the British for one of the Moluccan Islands where nutmeg was grown.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Recent important scientific findings have emerged from crossing the boundaries of scientific fields. They stem from physicists collaborating with biologists, sociologists and others, to answer questions about our world. But physicists and their potential collaborators often find their cultures out of sync. For one, physicists often discard a lot of information while extracting broad patterns; for other scientists, information is not readily disposed. Further, many non-physicists are uncomfortable with mathematical models. Still, the desire to work on something new and different is real, and there are clear benefits from the collision of views.
Answer & solution
- A
Large data sets and mathematical models in physics research combined with the research methods of non-physicist collaborators have yielded important scientific findings.
- B
The desire to diversify their research and answer important questions has led to several collaborations between physicists and other social scientists.
- C
Physicists have successfully buried their differences on research methods applied in other fields in their desire to find answers to baffling scientific questions.
Despite differences in their research styles, physicists’ research collaborations with scholars from other disciplines have yielded important research findings.
Easy
Capture the essence: cross-disciplinary collaboration involving physicists has produced important findings DESPITE cultural/methodological differences (physicists discard info and use math models; others don't). The best summary keeps both the differences AND the productive outcome.
Wrong. Says the findings came from COMBINING physics' large data/math with others' methods - the passage stresses a clash of cultures, not a fusion of methods, and notes non-physicists are uncomfortable with the math. Misrepresents the mechanism.
Wrong. Focuses on the DESIRE/motivation for collaborations and limits partners to "social scientists," dropping the central tension (differing styles) and the key outcome (important findings). Incomplete.
Wrong. "Have successfully buried their differences" overstates - the passage says cultures are "out of sync" yet benefits emerge; it does not claim the differences were resolved/buried.
Correct. "Despite differences in their research styles, physicists' collaborations with scholars from other disciplines have yielded important findings" preserves both the contrast (out-of-sync cultures) and the result (important findings, clear benefits). Best essence.
Option D - despite differing research styles, physicists' cross-disciplinary collaborations have produced important findings.