PrepTest 153, Section 4, Question 5
Forests are among the world's most valuable resources,(432 more words not shown)
The author is primarily concerned(1 more words not shown)
- Amaking policy proposals(7 more words not shown)
- Bidentifying and describing(6 more words not shown)
- Csuggesting new ways(8 more words not shown)
- Dmobilizing public support(8 more words not shown)
- Ecounterbalancing different points(11 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
This is another way of asking about the author's overall purpose. Return to our main-point prediction: policymakers should understand and evaluate the competing arguments before deciding how much forest to preserve or use.
What we’re looking for
Notice the stage we're at. The author is improving the information that will guide a decision, not presenting a detailed forest-management plan or campaigning for a particular restriction.
Working the answers
- A
We don't receive a proposal identifying which forests to protect or how to regulate their use. The recommendation is about how to reach a sound decision: examine the arguments first. A moves past that step to proposals the author never makes.
- B
Photosynthesis and medical potential appear as considerations in the discussion. The author doesn't identify scientific solutions to environmental problems. Explaining a process isn't the same as proposing a technological fix.
- C
Wood, wood pulp, and possible medicines illustrate existing value or uses. The author isn't suggesting new ways to exploit forests. The question is how those considerations should inform policy.
- D
The opening recognizes reasons to value forests, but the discussion isn't simply a campaign to rally public support for preservation. It also challenges common preservation arguments and explains a benefit of plantations.
- ECorrect
The author weighs and qualifies different views that matter to forest policy: the oxygen argument overstates a benefit, biodiversity has useful and intrinsic value, and plantations can ease pressure on natural forests. That is the counterbalancing of viewpoints described here.
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