Globalization and the Information Age: Postmodernism into the Twenty-First Century — Test
Question 22 • TPS EdX English Language Arts 11
Read the excerpt from Freakonomics . It’s worth thinking about the incentive a wrestler might have to throw a match. Maybe he accepts a bribe (which would obviously not be recorded in the data). Or perhaps some other arrangement is made between the two wrestlers. Keep in mind that the pool of elite sumo wrestlers is extraordinarily tight-knit. Each of the sixty-six elite wrestlers fights fifteen of the others in a tournament every two months. Furthermore, each wrestler belongs to a stable that is typically managed by a former sumo champion, so even the rival stables have close ties. Which of the following claims is best supported by the evidence in this excerpt?
Answer
A
Because sumo wrestlers have strong social ties, it is a dishonor to throw a match in a tournament.
B
There is great pressure for sumo wrestlers to cheat in order to beat wrestlers from rival stables.
C
The offering of a bribe is a guaranteed enticement for a champion sumo wrestler to purposely lose a match in a tournament.
D
The close relationship between sumo wrestlers could be an incentive for an elite wrestler to throw a match he doesn’t need to win.
Explanation
The excerpt emphasizes that elite wrestlers compete repeatedly and that even rival stables have close ties. These relationships could make it possible for wrestlers to arrange favors, such as one wrestler throwing a match he does not need to win. The passage does not say that social ties make cheating dishonorable, that wrestlers are pressured to defeat rivals, or that a bribe is guaranteed to work.
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