PrepTest 125, Section 2, Question 7
Environmentalist: The excessive atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide,(80 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(5 more words not shown)
- Aall nations become(12 more words not shown)
- Bmultinational corporations agree(5 more words not shown)
- Cinternational agreements produce(3 more words not shown)
- Ddistrust among nations(2 more words not shown)
- Ea world government(2 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why would one country pay the bill for everyone? That's the obstacle the environmentalist describes. Cutting fossil-fuel burning requires strict industrial emission standards, and imposing those standards carries an economic cost. The benefit, however, goes to everyone. If each country refuses to bear that cost alone, we can't just expect one to step forward and solve the problem.
The way out is to share the commitment. Countries could agree to impose standards together, so the action isn't left to a single country while everyone else benefits. That doesn't require us to invent a new technology or deny the economic cost. It addresses the particular reason the passage gives for inaction.
What we’re looking for
The unfinished conclusion says the consequences are unavoidable 'unless' something happens. I'd fill that gap with international cooperation. We need countries working together on the required reduction, rather than each waiting for someone else to take the loss.
Working the answers
- A
This moves in the wrong direction. Becoming more concerned about the economic burdens than about pollution would reinforce the reluctance to act. The blank calls for a way to overcome the obstacle, not a reason countries would keep refusing to reduce emissions.
- B
The argument concerns what countries will impose and whether any country will bear the cost alone. Voluntary action by multinational corporations introduces a different set of decision-makers. B doesn't establish the shared national commitment that the argument leads us to expect.
- CCorrect
International agreements producing industrial emission standards are a concrete form of the cooperation we predicted. Countries can coordinate the required action rather than leaving its cost to one country. This ties the proposed response directly to both parts of the problem: emission standards are needed, and no nation will impose the costs singlehandedly.
- D
Trust alone doesn't give us action. I might trust another country completely when it says it has no intention of reducing emissions. That would leave the problem intact. The passage calls for cooperation on standards, not the elimination of every source of distrust between countries.
- E
Countries needn't become one government to cooperate. They could enter an agreement while retaining their separate governments. A world government adds a sweeping requirement that the argument never establishes. C gives the relevant cooperation without that extra step.
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