Reading Comprehension

Historical documents of the eighteenth century Abelam people of Papua New Guinea are not structured according to Western-based calendar time markers of months or years, a fact which has led some modern historians to conclude that time markers played a minimal role in Abelam society. Indeed, the Abelam conception of "cyclical" time, unlike Western "linear" time, does not require that one year (or cycle) be distinguished from the next; rather, in the Abelam view, time is purely cyclical, and a cycle does not necessarily have markers that distinguish it from others. The unfamiliarity of modern historians with such a cyclical timeline may result in an underestimation of the importance of non-linear time markers to the social organization of the Abelam.

An anthropological exploration of Abelam culture suggests that it would be a major oversight to discount the place of time in Abelam society. The daily life of members of Abelam society depends on time markers; for example, tradition forbids the Abelam from conceiving children during the yam-growing season (equivalent to about three months of calendar time), and as a result, most children are born within a few weeks of one another at the end of the ritual season (the remaining nine months of the calendar year). These children are then organized into groups alongside their "tembu" ('garden section'); in this way, the linear concept of "age" is preserved in a cyclical time structure. These age-sets are important throughout the lifetimes of the Abelam; Abelam children are trained to be aware of their age-set even in daily actions such as eating, due to the belief that an older person may become blind if he eats from the bowl of a younger person; people of the same age group, however, are allowed to eat from the same bowl interchangeably.

Furthermore, many Abelam legal, martial, and subsistence patterns were based around the time markers of the yam cycle. Since social discord was thought to damage yam growth, methods and recommendations for conflict-management differed depending on the time of year: during yam-season, quick reconciliation was encouraged, whereas during the ritual season the Abelam engaged in long, intense disputes. If intertribal warfare was in progress, hostilities would pause until the yams were harvested at the end of the season. The yam season even brought about a brief lull in hunting, due to prohibitions against eating meat at this time, which had the effect of allowing wildlife game to become sufficiently replenished before hunting was resumed in the ritual season. The social habits derived from an attention to cyclical time thus lay the foundation for the development of a number of the governing structures of Abelam society.

The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the documents mentioned in the first sentence of the passage?

(A) They contain misleading information about the kinds of social structures that existed in Abelam society.
(B) They do not accurately represent the role that linear time plays in Abelam warfare and conflict resolution.
(C) They provide useful information about how the Abelam society viewed time.
(D) They are of limited value because they were heavily influenced by the bias of those who recorded them.
(E) They contain information that is generally misinterpreted by modern-day readers.


[spoiler]The OA is E . However doesn't E take a broader stance than that suggested in passage??
Firstly E speaks about modern day readers and passage only gives an idea about modern historians and not readers in general .Also passage says some historians misinterpret ... How does the word generally fit in the situation...I guess there is a huge gap between some misinterpreting the information and generally the information being misinterpreted..[/spoiler]

Hi kaulnikhil,

What is the source of the passage please? I only use official questions in my practice (OGs, GMATPrep) because although many 3rd party questions are fine, some are not and learning their logic can actually do more harm than good (if the logic is not similar to that employed by GMAT writers)

-Patrick

Patrick_GMATFix wrote:Hi kaulnikhil,

What is the source of the passage please? I only use official questions in my practice (OGs, GMATPrep) because although many 3rd party questions are fine, some are not and learning their logic can actually do more harm than good (if the logic is not similar to that employed by GMAT writers)

-Patrick

Hi Patrick
The Source is Knewton practice test .

I don't love answer E because I think there is an important distinction between E's "information generally misinterpreted by modern-day readers" and the passage's "some historians make false conclusions" and "some historians may underestimate the importance of time markers". There is a pretty large gap between "general modern-day readers" and "some historians"

E is the best answer, but I don't think it fits the standard of a right GMAT answer. Just my opinion; maybe I overlooked something.

-Patrick

Patrick_GMATFix wrote:I don't love answer E because I think there is an important distinction between E's "information generally misinterpreted by modern-day readers" and the passage's "some historians make false conclusions" and "some historians may underestimate the importance of time markers". There is a pretty large gap between "general modern-day readers" and "some historians"

E is the best answer, but I don't think it fits the standard of a right GMAT answer. Just my opinion; maybe I overlooked something.

-Patrick

Thanks Patrick