CAT 2023 Question Paper | VARC Slot 1

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Question 18 : There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: The discovery helps to explain archeological similarities between the Paleolithic peoples of China, Japan, and the Americas.

Paragraph: The researchers also uncovered an unexpected genetic link between Native Americans and Japanese people. ___(1)___. During the deglaciation period, another group branched out from northern coastal China and travelled to Japan. ___(2)___. "We were surprised to find that this ancestral source also contributed to the Japanese gene pool, especially the indigenous Ainus," says Li. ___(3)___. They shared similarities in how they crafted stemmed projectile points for arrowheads and spears. ___(4)___. "This suggests that the Pleistocene connection among the Americas, China, and Japan was not confined to culture but also to genetics," says senior author Qing-Peng Kong, an evolutionary geneticist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Explanatory Answer

Option 3 is the best choice to fit in the given sentence. The given sentence talks of a 'discovery'. The sentence before option 3 mentions the discovery: researchers found ancestral source that contributed to the Japanese gene pool. The given sentence also talks about 'archeological similarities' between the Paleolithic peoples of China, Japan, and the Americas. The sentence following option 3 relates to this. So, option 3 is the correct choice.

The answer is 'Option 3'

Choice D is the correct answer.