PrepTest 149, Section 1, Question 3
Enrique: The city's transit authority does not have(92 more words not shown)
The dialogue most strongly supports(9 more words not shown)
- Athe transit authority(15 more words not shown)
- Bthe federal government(8 more words not shown)
- Cit would be(15 more words not shown)
- Dthe federal government(11 more words not shown)
- Ethe transit authority(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if the rescue never comes?
Enrique wants the transit authority to keep running as usual until its money is gone. The bet is that a full-blown funding crisis will finally persuade the federal government to step in. That's a risky reason to postpone changes such as higher bus fares or cutting little-used routes. The government hasn't supplied the extra money so far; why be sure it will do so when the authority runs out?
What we’re looking for
Cynthia challenges that bet. She expects the government to let the authority fail and says the authority cannot take that risk. So they differ both about the likely rescue and about whether to follow this plan. For the disagreement question, either of those would be a sensible place to look.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Enrique explicitly recommends continuing without cuts or fare increases until the money is exhausted. Cynthia says the authority cannot risk that maneuver. Enrique supports the proposed course of action, while Cynthia opposes it because she expects a different response from the government.
- B
Whether the government should provide money is different from whether it will. Both speakers might think support would be a good idea while disagreeing about its likelihood. Neither gives us the opposing judgments about the government's duty that this answer requires.
- C
They don't compare cutting service with increasing fares. Cynthia could oppose running out of money while favoring either option, or a combination of them. We can't turn her objection to Enrique's plan into a preference between two alternatives she never ranks.
- D
Their clear disagreement concerns what the government will do after the funds are exhausted. Enrique says additional funding hasn't arrived so far, but Cynthia doesn't state an opposing view about the government's present willingness. Don't move the disagreement from a future crisis to now.
- E
Cynthia doesn't dispute Enrique's budget estimate or claim the authority can last twelve months without changes. Also, this answer rules out service cuts but leaves fare increases open. Enrique's premise says the authority needs service cuts or higher fares without new funding; it doesn't establish that higher fares couldn't let it continue without cuts. We don't have opposite positions on E.
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