Hi everyone,
Got 5/6 correct in 14:20 minutes, including 5:30 minutes to read and 8:50 minutes to answer the questions.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------P1In paragraph one the author presents the current situation about electrical facilities siting and claims that also the government should play a part in choosing the site. Then the author describes one of the 2 strategies that can be used to achieve the goal.
Purpose: To present the current situation about EFS, advocate a different approach and present a strategy that can be used for such purpose.
P2In this paragraph the author presents the frontier strategy and mentions a couple of differences with respect to the metropolitan strategy.
Purpose: To present the frontier strategy.
P3In this paragraph the author describes the history of America with respect to the selection of sites.
Purpose: To present past criteria for the selection of a site in America
P4In this paragraph the author describes the importance of an energy park. She compares such park to the natural resources that once were the basis to select a site.
Purpose: to present the importance and impact of an energy park these days.
P5The author here stresses the importance of a more comprehensive planning.
Purpose: to claim that a more comprehensive planning is needed
Main pointTo advocate a change in the current situation of electrical facilities siting, presenting 2 strategies and contrasting the current situation with the past situation
1. Which of the following statements best describes the main point of the passage?
Pre-thinking
Main point question
To advocate a change in the current situation of electrical facilities siting, presenting 2 strategies and contrasting the current situation with the past situation
(A) Government regulatory authorities should participate in electric facility site selection to further social goals.
Correct and broad enough(B) Energy parks will have a significant influence on the demographic features of the American population.
This is not the ultimate goal of the author(C) Urban growth in the United States was largely the result of economic forces rather than conscientious planning.
detail(D) Under the frontier siting strategy for energy parks, siting decisions are influenced by the natural features of the land.
detail(E) America needs larger power-producing facilities in urban and rural areas to meet the increased demand for energy.
detail
2. All of the following are mentioned in the passage as characteristics of energy parks EXCEPT
Pre-thinking
Detail question
We need to evaluate each option.
(A) energy parks will be built on previously undeveloped sites Yes now this is a possibility
(B) energy parks will be built in areas remote from major population centers same as A
(C) energy parks will produce considerably more thermal energy than existing facilities The smallest energy parks will concentrate five times the thermal energy represented by the Four Corners plant.
(D) energy parks will be built at sites that are near fuel sources such as coal The all passage states that nowadays the need to build an energy pack close to a "natural advantage" is not necessary anymore. As a matter of fact: An energy park, then, would seem every bit as formidable as the natural harbor conditions or coal deposits
(E) energy parks may have considerable effects on population distribution Mentioned
3. According to the passage, which of the following is the most important feature of the traditional process of siting decisions for electric facilities?
Pre-thinking
Detail question
From P1: An assumption that underlies most discussions of electric facility siting is that the initial selection of a site is the responsibility of the utility concerned—subject to governmental review and approval only after the site has been chosen.
(A) Sites were selected for the ability to advance social history.
The sites are located where the users want and we don't know whether the users want to advance social history or not. Plus even if so, this option does not represent the most important feature of the process(B) Siting was viewed as a tool for achieving economic goals.
not the most important feature(C) The primary responsibility for siting resided with the utility.
(D) Decisions were made jointly by utilities and government.
incorrect(E) Groups of affected citizens participated on advisory panels.
incorrect4. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the author’s position?
Pre-thinking
Weaken question
We need to evaluate the options.
(A) The first settlements in America were established in order to provide trading posts with Native Americans.
no impact(B) The cost of constructing an electric power plant in an urban area is not significantly greater than that for a rural area.
irrelevant(C) An energy park will be so large that it will be impossible to predict the demographic consequences of its construction.
From P2: Under the frontier strategy, the energy park may be taken as an independent variable, subject to manipulation by policymakers as a means of achieving desired demographic or social goals, e.g., rural-town-city mix.
The logic here is: if the goal of an energy part is to achieve a desired demographic goal, then building an energy park that will not allow to achieve such goal will be illogical.(D) Cities in European countries grew up in response to political pressures during the feudal period rather than economic pressures.
This option is out of scope as it talks about European countries(E) The United States is presently in a period of population migration that will change the rural-town-city mix.
irrelevant5. With which one of the following statements would the author most likely agree?
Pre-thinking
Inference question
We need to evaluate the options.
(A) Decisions about the locations for power plant construction should be left in the hands of the utilities.
opposite(B) Government leaders in the nineteenth century were irresponsible in not supervising urban growth more closely.
We do not have elements to infer this option.(C) Natural features of a region such as cultivatable land and water supply are no longer important to urban growth.
This option seems a little bit too extreme. Such natural resources may not be an important factor in choosing where to build a town but it is too extreme to claim that we could leave without water and arable land(D) Modern society is so complex that governments must take greater responsibility for decisions such as power plant siting.
But the problems of modern society, with or without energy parks, require ever more comprehensive planning.
(E) The electric power plant at Four Corners should not have been built because of its mammoth size.
Cannot be inferred6. According to the passage, the most important difference between the natural advantages of early cities and the features of an energy park is
Pre-thinking
Detail question
From the second last paragraph: An energy park, then, would seem every bit as formidable as the natural harbor conditions or coal deposits that underwrote the growth of the great cities of the past—with a crucial difference. The founders of past settlements could not choose the geographic locations of their natural advantages.
[b]rishit924 Look here:
with a crucial difference and then
The founders of past settlements could not choose the geographic locations of their natural advantages.Then it is easy to infer that now they can choose the site. POE is not needed.
[/b]
(A) the features of an energy park will be located where the builders choose
(B) natural advantages are no longer as important as they once were
(C) natural features cannot be observed from outer space but energy parks can
(D) early cities grew up close to agricultural areas, but energy parks will be located in mountains
(E) policy planners have learned to minimize the effects of energy parks on nature
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