The strongest opinion language, and therefore the most useful language in the prompt, is the non-bold phrase text right between the two bold sections. "We most certainly are" is the author's conclusion.
This conclusion is directly followed by the very useful phrase 'as is indicated by'. This phrase tells us that what follows is evidence. So the second bold bit is evidence for the author's conclusion. This eliminates answer choices C and D.
i think the most useful phrases to keep in mind for the first bold bit are the conclusion again ("we most certainly are") and the the phrase "
some have questioned' which indicates a non-author opinion (in this case skeptical questioning).
The author's conclusion on its own doesn't really mean anything. "We most certainly are" is clearly a strong claim but we have no idea what it means. We most certainly are...
are what? In other words the phrase on its own does not give the
content of the conclusion. The content is given in the first bold section. We most certainly are 'providing equal service per dollar....'. This matches answer B.
The phrase that precedes the first bold bit can be helpful in eliminating tempting wrong answers. "
Some have questioned..." indicates that what follows is not necessarily the author's opinion. Indeed, we know from the author's conclusion that the author confidently answers 'no' to the question posed by 'some'
So the first bold bit is a question posed by somebody else (a question that the author's conclusion answers 'no' to). In other words, the first bold bit is definitely not evidence for the author's conclusion. So E can't be correct.
Comparing verbs in answer choices can be a good way to find answers that get the opinion wrong. Answer A) starts "the first
questions..." Answer B) starts "the first
gives" One big difference is that 'question' is opinionated and 'gives' is not. Even though A repeats a word from the prompt, A suggests that the author is doing the questioning; answer A suggests that the author is skeptical of her own conclusion. In contrast, answer B doesn't give the author any opinion that isn't hers.