The correct answer is (D).
(D) Principle (Identify/Strengthen)
Step 1: Identify the Question Type
The correct answer will be a principle that "helps to justify" the argument, making this an Identify the Principle question that acts like a Strengthen question.
Step 2: Untangle the Stimulus
The author concludes ([t]hus) that even the most skillful translation of a book will be flawed. The evidence is that a translation cannot stay entirely faithful to both the meaning of the original text and the original author's style. Some compromise must be made.
Step 3: Make a Prediction
The author assumes that the compromise made automatically results in a "flawed approximation." The correct answer will be a general rule that validates that assumption.
Step 4: Evaluate the Answer Choices
(D) is correct, confirming the author's assumption that the compromise between meaning and style automatically results in a flawed approximation.
(A) is a Distortion. The author never argues that the meaning or the style should be compromised, just that something inevitably is. Besides, this offers no justification for the characterization of translations as "flawed approximations."
(B) raises the question of whether a compromise is successful, a concept about which the author makes no claim.
(C) is irrelevant. The balance between faithfulness to meaning and faithfulness to style does nothing to justify calling any translations a "flawed approximation."
(E) is a Faulty Use of Detail. It is consistent with the opening claim that any translation (even the most skillful) cannot be faithful to both meaning and style. However, it does nothing to justify the conclusion that such translations are "flawed approximations."
