A century in certain ways is like a life, and as the end of a century approaches, people behave toward that century much as someone who is nearing the end of life does toward that life. So just as people in their last years spend much time looking back on the events of their life, people at a century’s end _______.
Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?
(A) reminisce about their own lives
(B) fear that their own lives are about to end
(C) focus on what the next century will bring
(D) become very interested in the history of the century just ending
(E) reflect on how certain unfortunate events of the century could have been avoided
A. This focuses on individual lives, but to properly complete the analogy, the subject should be centuries. The comparison misses the mark.
B. Same issue as A. The analogy must center on what people reflect on at the end of a century, not individual lives.
C. In the original example, people reflect on their past at the end of their lives. To match the structure, this should involve looking back at a century’s events—not projecting into the future.
D. Correct. This is the best match. Just as people reflect on the events of their lives, this choice involves reflecting on a century’s history. “History” here functions as a parallel to “life events.”
E. This misrepresents the original argument. The life analogy didn’t involve regret or imagining how things could have gone differently, so adding that here breaks the structural match.
