- Mon Nov 14, 2022 8:57 pm
#98225
Hi salman!
I can definitely address answer choices (B) and (E).
To begin, the question stem directs us to a specific line reference: "Although systematic empirical studies are lacking, experience shows that harmful pollutants constantly cross most international borders, and that nations have only rarely attempted to remedy this situation" (lines 28-32). The question specifically asks about the function of "harmful pollutants" in this context.
Answer choice (B) states that it functions primarily as "a means of suggesting that stronger enforcement of existing international environmental laws is needed." One problem with this answer choice is its mention of "enforcement." Enforcement is not mentioned if one looks at the sentences before and after the given line reference in order to look at it within its broader context. Another problem with this answer choice is that it describes the function in terms of what the author believes "is needed," i.e., the author's recommendations about what should be the case. That aspect of what the author concludes should be the case, however, is generally is in the fourth paragraph of the passage, so (B) referring to what "is needed" doesn't seem accurate as a description of material in the second paragraph.
By contrast, the correct answer choice, (E), describes its function as "support for the author’s claim that certain international environmental principles do not meet a criterion for being considered norms of customary international law." We're asked about the function of "harmful pollutants," and in the second paragraph, they are presented as an example of how norms like the duty to prevent transboundary harms do not reflect the "actual behavior of many nations" (line 28). In addition, we are told earlier in the second paragraph that "principles are norms only if nations customarily abide by the principles in actual practice rather than merely affirming them as desirable standards" (lines 21-24). So harmful pollutants function as an example, and more specifically they exemplify how the actual behavior of nations suggests that supposed norms like the duty to prevent transboundary harm are not norms after all under this definition.
