PrepTest 111, Section 1, Question 26
Kim: The rapidly growing world population is increasing(74 more words not shown)
Kim's and Hampton's statements most(16 more words not shown)
- AEfforts should be(19 more words not shown)
- BContinued research into(17 more words not shown)
- CAgricultural and wilderness(16 more words not shown)
- DIn the next(14 more words not shown)
- EThe human diet(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Growing more food takes land, unless we find a way to get more from the land we already use. That's where Hampton challenges Kim's concern.
Kim points to a competition for space: farms and cities need more land, leaving less for forests and wildlife. Hampton puts faith in improved agriculture. I would want to see what those improvements can accomplish before treating that confidence as a guarantee. Also, avoiding a large increase in agricultural land wouldn't, by itself, show that the current amount causes no problem.
But the question asks where the two speakers would agree. We should separate that common ground from their different expectations. My first thought is that protecting land could appeal to both, but we shouldn't turn that into agreement on a particular policy neither has endorsed.
What we’re looking for
Kim sees pressure to produce more food without losing natural areas. Hampton thinks agricultural improvements can meet the food demand without a significant expansion in farmland. Those positions give us a place to look for a shared benefit, even though one speaker is worried and the other is optimistic.
Working the answers
- A
Neither speaker recommends slowing population growth. Hampton also doesn't recommend increasing the amount of agricultural land; his point is that a significant increase may be avoidable. A adds two policy commitments that we cannot attribute to both speakers.
- BCorrect
Research that helps produce more food on less land would address Kim's concern about food production consuming space needed for forests and wildlife. It would also develop the agricultural improvements Hampton expects to help feed the larger population.
They don't have to share the same prediction about whether technology will solve the problem to agree that this research would be beneficial. B identifies a useful direction for improvement without making Kim endorse Hampton's confidence or making Hampton accept Kim's forecast.
- C
Kim does mention urban areas, so cities aren't a new topic. But neither speaker proposes greater urban population density as the solution, and Hampton discusses agricultural improvements rather than how cities should grow. Concern about land use doesn't establish agreement on this particular urban policy.
- D
Kim's warning fits this forecast, but Hampton doesn't endorse it. He expects improvements to limit the need for more farmland. That doesn't prove all forests and habitats will be safe from every source of pressure, including cities. It does mean we lack support for attributing D's definite forecast to both speakers.
- E
Neither speaker says people's diets need to change. Producing food more efficiently is different from changing what people eat. We could imagine a policy involving diet, but we cannot import it into the speakers' shared position.
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