Reading Comprehension

PT23 · S4 · P3 · Q14 Environmental Alarmists

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The debate over the environmental crisis is not new; anxiety about industry’s impact on the environment has existed for over a century.

https://assets.lsatlab.com/uploads/2022/04/pt23-p4.mp4

Topic

The changing attitudes toward the environmental crisis and how views on industry’s impact on nature have shifted and polarized over time.

Framework

Old / New

Main Point

The debate on environmental issues has become much more polarized compared to the past, largely due to a shift in the way people perceive nature and humanity's role in relation to it. (Most Valuable Sentence: P1, )

P1: Introduction – The Rise of Polarization

A century ago, there was concern about environmental damage, but today the debate is way more polarized, with environmentalists and industry at odds, making productive cooperation even harder.

P2: Contrast with the Past

Back in the day, people like George Marsh could harshly criticize environmental destruction and still be taken seriously—nobody felt the need to aggressively defend industry or deny environmental harms.

14.

Which one of the following most accurately states the main idea of the passage?

  1. Mounting evidence of humanity’s capacity

    Out of Scope: should motivate action

    This passage was complaining about how much of a mean, nasty bully the environmental movement has become, as we went from the good ol' days of Marsh to the new reality of Clements. This answer sounds like an environmentalist telling us that we should do something about the ecological problem, so it's a total mismatch for the passage.

    7% picked this

  2. The ecological mystique identified with

    Too Narrow

    This doesn't quite touch on the author's complain about how the environmental movement has evolved. For this answer to be better, it should at least convey some negativity about this turn of events: "the mystique identified with Clements has become a religious conviction among reformers, taking us into an sad new age of extreme polarization in the debate between environmentalists and industry."

    4% picked this

  3. George P. Marsh’s ideas about

    Contradicted, if anything

    George Marsh represented the Old style of environmentalism. Clements represents the New style. So it's basically an opposite to say that Marsh's.ideas have heavily influenced the present debate.

    7% picked this

  4. Correct

    The views of ecologists and

    Why this is right

    This is not a very satisfying correct answer, but it's the best summation of the New. The author is writing this passage to discuss the Problem surrounding how the environmental movement has started treating industry like a mortal enemy, rather than a cooperative partner. This answer aligns very well with the first two sentences of the passage, which frame the discussion that follows.

    Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    80% picked this

  5. General greed, rather than particular

    Out of Scope: should be blamed

    The author isn't trying to blame anyone for the environmental crisis in this passage. Environmentalists blame industry for the crisis, and the author's main point is about how the tone of environmentalists has gotten more harsh over the years..

    2% picked this

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