As symbols of the freedom of the wilderness, bald eagles have the uniq

Question

As symbols of the freedom of the wilderness, bald eagles have the unique capacity to inspire people and foster in them a sympathetic attitude toward the needs of other threatened species. Clearly, without that sympathy and the political will it engenders, the needs of more obscure species will go unmet. The conservation needs of many obscure species can only be met by beginning with the conservation of this symbolic species, the bald eagle.

Which one of the following is the conclusion of the passage as a whole?

(A) Because bald eagles symbolize freedom, conservation efforts should be concentrated on them rather than on other, more obscure species.

(B) The conservation of bald eagles is the first necessary step in conserving other endangered species.

(C) Without increased public sympathy for conservation, the needs of many symbolic species will go unmet.

(D) People's love of the wilderness can be used to engender political support for conservation efforts.

(E) Other threatened species do not inspire people or foster sympathy as much as do bald eagles.

garcmillan · Answer

We should firstly be able to identify the conclusion in the passage

Intermediate conclusion:  without that sympathy and the political will it engenders, the needs of more obscure species will go unmet
 Conclusion:  The conservation needs of many obscure species can only be met by beginning with the conservation of this symbolic species, the bald eagle

Let's break down the conclusion

1. conservation of many obscure species
2. met
3. beginning
4. conservation of bald eagle

Let's analyze each option to see how many fragments they fulfill:

(A) Because bald eagles symbolize freedom, conservation efforts should be concentrated on them rather than on other, more obscure species.

symbolize freedom? Conclusion states symbolic species

(B) The conservation of bald eagles is the first necessary step in conserving other endangered species.

Looks good. Let's analyze each fragment
1. conservation of many obscure species. YES because endangeres species means obscure species
2. met. necessary step is the same is met
3. beginning. first step. synonyms
4. conservation of bald eagle. exactly as it appears at the beginning of the sentence

LOOKS GOOD!

(C) Without increased public sympathy for conservation, the needs of many symbolic species will go unmet.

Does't include bald eagle and talks about public sympathy which is not related

(D) People's love of the wilderness can be used to engender political support for conservation efforts.

Does't include bald eagle

(E) Other threatened species do not inspire people or foster sympathy as much as do bald eagles.

threatened species or bad eagles about inspiring people? not related

OPTION B

himanshurajawat · Answer

Can someone help me in understanding this passage?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

This author pounds home the main point with each sentence.

First:  bald eagles have the unique capacity to foster a sympathetic attitude toward other threatened species. 
 Second:  without that sympathy, the needs of those other species will be unmet. Third: the needs of other species can only be met by beginning with the conservation of the bald eagle. Clearly, the author’s point is that it is first necessary to see to the conservation of the bald eagle if we hope to be able to conserve any other threatened species; or, as (B) has it, the conservation of the bald eagle is the necessary first step toward conserving other threatened species.

(A)  The author doesn’t say conservation efforts should concentrate on bald eagles instead of other species; she says they should concentrate on bald eagles because that’s the only way other obscure endangered species can be saved.

(C)  is a distortion of the author’s point; it makes only a vague reference to the bald eagle (an important symbolic species), although never mentions it by name, and also ignores entirely the conservation needs of the more obscure endangered species.

(D)  is too vague—like  (C) , it doesn’t even mention the bald eagle, which was clearly the focus of the argument.

(E)  While  (E)  is technically correct in saying that the author gives special importance to the bald eagle, this is not the author’s main point. It is, in fact evidence for her main point: that because of the unique importance of the bald eagle, conservation of the bald eagle is a necessary first step toward conserving other species.

Use your Reading Comp. skills on the Critical Reasoning sections whenever possible. You can think of this as a Main Point question for a mini RC passage. In RC, you learn that the answer to a Main Point question must be broad enough to cover the entire passage without leaving out the main elements of the passage. In this case, choices that don’t contain the bald eagle (choices (C) and (D)) can be eliminated immediately.

The main point of the passage is not just some statement with which the author would agree. Ask yourself: why is the author making an argument? What is he or she trying to convince me of? That’s the main point.

In Main Point questions, often there will be words or phrases in the correct choice that paraphrase those used in the argument. Here, saying that the needs of X “can only be met . . .” by Y is the same as saying that Y is “necessary” for X.

Answer: B

Hope it helps

As symbols of the freedom of the wilderness, bald eagles have the uniq

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

As symbols of the freedom of the wilderness, bald eagles have the uniq

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

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My Rewards