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Information and IdeasMediumInference from tree rings

Information and Ideas practice question

The oak's rings are wide for its first sixty years and then narrow sharply, staying narrow until the tree was felled a century later. Trees nearby show no such change. It is reasonable to infer that ____

Which choice most logically completes the text?

  1. A. something particular to this tree, rather than the climate, slowed its growth after sixty years.Correct
  2. B. the whole forest suffered a drought.
  3. C. the tree grew faster in its later years.
  4. D. the tree was felled at sixty.

Answer: A. something particular to this tree, rather than the climate, slowed its growth after sixty years.

Only this tree changed, so the cause was local to it.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. the whole forest suffered a drought.
Nearby trees show no change.
C. the tree grew faster in its later years.
Narrow rings mean slower growth.
D. the tree was felled at sixty.
It lived a century longer.

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