A Person Reading a New Book for Pleasure is Like a Tourist Traveling to a New Place.

Question: A person reading a new book for pleasure is like a tourist traveling to a new place. The reader reads, just as the tourist travels, to enlarge understanding rather than simply to acquire information. Thus, it is better to read fewer books and spend more time on each rather than to quickly read as many as one can, just as it is better to travel to fewer places and spend more time in each rather than to spend a small amount of time in many different places.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

(A) Tourists generally learn something about the places they visit even when they are there only to relax.
(B) Tourists gain much more understanding of a place once they have spent several days at that place than they do in their first few days there.
(C) Many people report that they can learn far more about a place by visiting it than they can by reading about it.
(D) Tourists who have read about a place beforehand tend to stay longer in that place.
(E) Some tourists are unconcerned about gaining information about a place other than what is necessary for their immediate enjoyment.

Answer: B
Explanation: This is a GMAT critical reasoning type question. We have to select the option that logically completes the above passage.

Let’s go through each option individually and find the one that fits the best to the passage.

Hypothesis: The reader reads, to enlarge understanding rather than simply to acquire information.

Conclusion: it is better to read fewer books and spend more time on each rather than to quickly read as many as one can. Well, traveling to fewer places or reading fewer books are not filling the gaps.

(A) Incorrect.
Option A is ambiguous. It states about gaining information rather than understanding. It is not explained whether traveling to fewer places or reading fewer books are somewhere related.

(B) Correct.
Option B explains that in case travelers spend a few more days, for better understanding. So, according to this statement, spending a few more days would be equivalent to traveling to fewer places.

(C) Irrelevant
The comparison between reading and touring are not correlated. Hence option C is incorrect.

(D) Incorrect
In option D there is nothing mentioned about understanding the books and relating it to travel.

(E) Irrelevant.
Option E is incorrect as it does not mention any required information.

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