The 1973 Endangered Species Act made into legal policy the concept tha

Question

The 1973 Endangered Species Act made into legal policy the concept that endangered species of wildlife are precious as part of a natural ecosystem. The nearly unanimous passage of this act in the United States Congress, reflecting the rising national popularity of environmentalism, masked a bitter debate. Affected industries clung to the former wildlife policy of valuing individual species according to their economic usefulness. They fought to minimize the law's impact by limiting definitions of key terms, but they lost on nearly every issue. The act defined  "wildlife"  as almost all kinds of animals—from large mammals to invertebrates—and plants.  "Taking"  wildlife was defined broadly as any action that threatened an endangered species; areas vital to a species' survival could be federally protected as  "critical habitats" . Though these definitions legislated strong environmentalist goals, political compromises made in the enforcement of the act were to determine just what economic interests would be set aside for the sake of ecological stabilization.  
 1 
 C 
 1. According to the passage, which of the following does the Endangered Species Act define as a “critical habitat”?

(A) A natural ecosystem that is threatened by imminent development

(B) An industrial or urban area in which wildlife species have almost ceased to live among humans

(C) A natural area that is crucial to the survival of a species and thus eligible for federal protection

(D) A wilderness area in which the “taking” of wildlife species is permitted rarely and only under strict federal regulation

(E) A natural environment that is protected under law because its wildlife has a high economic value

2 
 A  
 2. According to the passage, which of the following is an explanation for the degree of support that the Endangered Species Act received in Congress?
 
(A) Concern for the environment had gained increasing national popularity.

(B) Ecological research had created new economic opportunities dependent on the survival of certain species.

(C) Congress had long wanted to change the existing wildlife policy.

(D) The growth of industry had endangered increasing numbers of wildlife species.

(E) Legislators did not anticipate that the act could be effectively enforced.

3 
 B 
 3. It can be inferred from the passage that if business interests had won the debate on provisions of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, which of the following would have resulted?

(A) Environmentalist concepts would not have become widely popular.

(B) The definitions of key terms of the act would have been more restricted.

(C) Enforcement of the act would have been more difficult.

(D) The act would have had stronger support from Congressional leaders.

(E) The public would have boycotted the industries that had the greatest impact in defining the act.

4 
 C 
 4. The author refers to the terms “wildlife” (line 11), “taking” (line 13), and “critical habitats” (line 16) most likely in order to

(A) illustrate the misuse of scientific language and concepts in political processes

(B) emphasize the importance of selecting precise language in transforming scientific concepts into law

(C) represent terminology whose definition was crucial in writing environmentalist goals into law

(D) demonstrate the triviality of the issues debated by industries before Congress passed the Endangered Species Act

(E) show that broad definitions of key terms in many types of laws resulted in ambiguity and thus left room for disagreement about how the law should be enforced

gaurav2m · Answer

I am not agreeing with the OA provided for q3,according to the passage, Business are fighting to get some relaxation from the stiff regulation. 
According to me, if business would have won then answer should be there will be some relaxation in regulations or more difficult to enforce law(Option C)

kindly provide OA or correct me if i understood it wrong

suminha · Answer

OA is B.

Question 3. It can be inferred from the passage that if  business interests had won the debate  on provisions of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, which of the following  would have resulted ?

->here, “businesse interests” indicates the “Affected industries clung to the former wildlife policy of valuing individual species according to their economic usefulness.” (Paraphrase industry = business, economic usefulness = interests)

-> « They fought to minimize the law's impact by limiting definitions of key terms, but they lost on nearly every issue.». So the business interests lost to limiting definitions of key terms. If they won, definitions of key terms would have limited.

-> paraphrase limited = restricted

I see what confuses you here.

« Affected industries clung to the former wildlife policy of valuing individual species according to their economic usefulness. They fought to minimize the law's impact by limiting definitions of key terms, but they lost on nearly every issue.»

First, they fought to minimize something’s IMPACT. Not that they fought for relaxation from a regulation.
In RC, you should be careful when you paraphrase words such as impact, change, effectm consequence, influence...etc... because they give causality. And causality is very important in RC.

Second, in RC, even in CR, goal-way sign is important. 
In this sentence, goal is to minimize something’s impact, and way is by limiting definitions of key terms.

Third, it is important to find what is the key point of this passage, and what is Main idea and Supporting idea.
In this passage, MI is « The nearly unanimous passage of this act in the United States Congress, reflecting the rising national popularity of environmentalism, masked a bitter debate.». Because it raises a problem, which is debate.
Debate means that there is disagreement, contradiction, rejection, conflict, controversy, disputation, question, refutation, etc.. thus it is problematic.
So, what is the point of the debate? The whole sentences after the MI is supporting idea (in this passage), explanation about the debate.
The key point of SI is definitions of key terms. And the “stiff regulation” that you mention is also explained in the passage « The  act   defined  "wildlife" as almost all kinds of animals—from large mammals to invertebrates—and plants. "Taking" wildlife was  defined  broadly as any action that threatened an endangered species; areas vital to a species' survival could be federally protected as "critical habitats" . Though  these definitions   legislated  strong environmentalist goals, political compromises made in the enforcement of the act were to determine just what economic interests would be set aside for the sake of ecological stabilization» 
 here the author clearly indicates that the act = these definitions.

Sum up, even though you failed to recognize “by limiting definitions~”, you could see what the “regutation”, or the act, indicates and find the answer is B. They want “some relaxation from the stiff regulation”, so if they won, it shall be. The definitions of key terms have been more restricted, thus bring economic benefits to them.

They prefer former policy (before broaden the definitions) for their economic usefulness.

And for why (C) is wrong,
This option suggests that the enforcement of the act would have been (more) difficult, if they won the debate.
Then the enforcement of the act would have been (less or) not difficult when they lost the debate? We don’t know.

When you face Infer question on RC,
Never use your experience or knowledge to solve the question.
Be mindfulness about MI, Causality, concordant-discordant.

Hope it helps ?

Posted from my mobile device

sharmashruti2896 · Answer

Can somebody please help me with Q2. How the answer in that question is A.
I got E as my answer.

suminha · Answer

Hi sharmashruti2896, happy to help

Step 1. The question is “Which of the following is an explanation for the degree of support that Endangered Species Act received in Congress?”. When we paraphrase this question to simpler sentence, it would be “Why Congress supports the Act?”. Step 2. Check out second sentence “ The nearly unanimous passage of this act in the United States Congress, reflecting the rising national popularity of environmentalism , masked a bitter debate.” Congress supports(=unanimous) the act because popularity of environmentalism is rising. The modifier “, reflecting~,” explains the reason for the support. Step 3. Check the answer A. (A) Concern for the environment (=environmentalism) had gained increasing national popularity. - correct! Why (E) is wrong; Congress supports the Act not because it could be effectively enforced. Actually this choice is far from what we were asked. Paraphrasing the question in order to clarify what we were asked is as important as paraphrasing the passage. Hope it helps:) Posted from my mobile device

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The 1973 Endangered Species Act made into legal policy the concept tha

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The 1973 Endangered Species Act made into legal policy the concept tha

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