L2 HW Passage #1 question #6

[lbayliyeva@unm.edu]

When the question says: "In the passage, the author cites which one of the following claims?"
Is it asking what points did the author mention in the passage?

If that is the case, why is D the correct answer? The answer at the back of the question set points to lines 18-22, but they mention nothing about "that harvests limits are needed to save one area from environmental damage." The passage seems to be talking about the general need to limit harvesting but does not establish that the reason why harvest limits are needed is to save one particular area.

What am I misreading?

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hello!

Great question. This is a case where you have to infer the claim the author is discussing from the language in lines 18-22. Particularly, look at where the passage says, "It can also happen that communities seeking to increase their prosperity as measured strictly in (20) monetary terms may damage their quality of life and their environment." The author then goes on to use the example of a lack of timber harvest limits in the rural community; "The situation of one rural community illustrates this point." Taken together, it becomes clear that the author is talking about the environmental damage that could result from a focus on increasing prosperity (that is, failing to impose timber harvest limits).

I hope that helps!

[pennyhh1]

Hello:

Can you please tell me why "C" is a wrong answer.

[Francis O'Rourke]

Hi Penny,

Choice (C) is rather close in wording to a few claims that the author cited. At the beginning of the passage, the author discusses the economists' view that prosperity can be understood as gauging total monetary value of goods and services produced. This is reinforced later on when the author states that economists demand value to be put into easily quantifiable terms. What was never mentioned here was using income alone to gauge the value of an area. While income may be one part of the calculation that economists make to gauge the value of an area, no one in this passage claims that we should value a environment by the income of the people living near it.

It is true that income could be the primary method that the residents use to value the timber industry (line 22-24), but according to lines 34-37 the residents recognize that there is value to the environment that is not connected to their incomes.