Craft and StructureEasy–MediumTwo views on reintroducing beavers
Craft and Structure practice question
Text 1
Since beavers returned to the valley, their dams have slowed the creek, recharged the water table, and created ponds where herons and trout now thrive.
Text 2
The new ponds are beautiful — from a distance. It is the farmers whose pastures now flood each spring, and the county crews unclogging culverts, who are quietly paying for everyone else's scenery.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the texts?
- A. Text 2 argues that the benefits Text 1 describes outweigh the costs Text 1 omits.
- B. Text 1 celebrates an outcome that Text 2 says has real costs for some residents.Correct
- C. Both texts conclude the beavers should be removed.
- D. Text 2 denies that beaver dams store water.
Answer: B. Text 1 celebrates an outcome that Text 2 says has real costs for some residents.
Text 1 praises the beavers' effects; Text 2 does not deny them but points to flooded pastures and culverts — costs borne by particular landowners.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Text 2 argues that the benefits Text 1 describes outweigh the costs Text 1 omits.
- The cost-benefit weighing in this choice reverses the two texts' roles.
- C. Both texts conclude the beavers should be removed.
- Neither text calls for removal; Text 2 asks who pays, not whether beavers stay.
- D. Text 2 denies that beaver dams store water.
- Text 2 accepts the ponds exist — its complaint is where the water goes.
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