The recovery of a 1,000-year-old Chinese shipwreck in the Java Sea near present-day Indonesia has yielded a treasure trove of...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
The recovery of a 1,000-year-old Chinese shipwreck in the Java Sea near present-day Indonesia has yielded a treasure trove of artifacts, including thousands of small ceramic bowls. Using a portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer tool, Lisa Niziolek and her team were able to detect the chemical composition of these bowls without damaging them. By comparing the chemical signatures of the bowls with those of the materials still at old Chinese kiln sites, Niziolek and her team can pinpoint which Chinese kilns likely produced the ceramic bowls.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Because of a new technology, researchers can locate and recover more shipwrecks than they could in the past.
Researchers have been able to identify the location of a number of Chinese kilns in operation 1,000 years ago.
With the help of a special tool, researchers have determined the likely origin of bowls recovered from a shipwreck.
Before the invention of portable X-ray fluorescence, researchers needed to take a small piece out of an artifact to analyze its components.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'The recovery of a 1,000-year-old Chinese shipwreck in the Java Sea near present-day Indonesia has yielded a treasure trove of artifacts, including thousands of small ceramic bowls.' |
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| 'Using a portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer tool, Lisa Niziolek and her team were able to detect the chemical composition of these bowls without damaging them.' |
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| 'By comparing the chemical signatures of the bowls with those of the materials still at old Chinese kiln sites, Niziolek and her team can pinpoint which Chinese kilns likely produced the ceramic bowls.' |
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Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Researchers used a special X-ray tool to determine which Chinese kilns originally made ceramic bowls recovered from an ancient shipwreck.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
- What's being asked? The main idea of the entire text
- What type of answer do we need? A statement that captures the central message or primary focus of the passage
- Any limiting keywords? N/A
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The passage is fundamentally about using technology to solve a research problem
- The correct answer should include: (1) researchers used a special analytical tool, (2) they analyzed bowls from a shipwreck, and (3) they were able to determine where the bowls originally came from
Because of a new technology, researchers can locate and recover more shipwrecks than they could in the past.
- This focuses on locating and recovering more shipwrecks, but our passage is about analyzing artifacts that were already recovered
Researchers have been able to identify the location of a number of Chinese kilns in operation 1,000 years ago.
- This claims researchers identified the locations of Chinese kilns, but the passage says they used materials still at old Chinese kiln sites, meaning the kiln locations were already known
With the help of a special tool, researchers have determined the likely origin of bowls recovered from a shipwreck.
- Perfectly matches our prethinking: researchers used a special tool (X-ray fluorescence analyzer) to analyze bowls recovered from a shipwreck and determined their likely origin
Before the invention of portable X-ray fluorescence, researchers needed to take a small piece out of an artifact to analyze its components.
- This discusses what researchers had to do before portable X-ray fluorescence was invented, but the passage never mentions historical methods or comparisons