Self-study
Alex: Conclusion Shrimp farming results in damage to the environment, because Support investors make quick profits from such farming and then abandon the farms.
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Stimulus Summary
Alex argues that shrimp farming damages the environment. His theory of the case: investors swoop in, make quick profits, then bail on the farms.
Jolene disagrees. She concedes that some shrimp farms prove unsustainable and get abandoned quickly. But she argues that properly built shrimp farms take a long time to construct and are costly to operate, and that most owners try to keep their farms productive for many years.
Quick Profits vs. Long Haul
Alex's entire argument rests on a specific picture of the shrimp farming business: quick money, then walk away. Jolene paints the opposite picture: long construction times, high operating costs, and owners who are in it for the long haul. That's where the real disagreement lives.
Going into the answers, test each one by asking whether Alex would say yes and Jolene would say no (or vice versa). If either speaker hasn't committed to a view, the answer is out.
23.
Their dialogue provides the most ███████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███████
a
most owners of ██████ █████ ██████████ ███████ █████ █████
Do most owners of shrimp farms eventually abandon their farms?
Alex: ✅Jolene: ❓
This is the trap answer. You might think Jolene clearly rejects (A) because she says most owners try to keep their farms productive for years. But read her carefully: she says most owners try. Trying isn't succeeding. An owner can try to keep a farm running for years and still end up abandoning it. Jolene never actually commits to how many owners eventually abandon their farms, so this isn't a clean point of disagreement.
b
shrimp farming often ██████ █ ██████ ████ ██████
Does shrimp farming often yield a quick, easy profit?
Alex: ✅Jolene: ❌
Alex believes that investors make quick profits from shrimp farming and then bail. Jolene disagrees: properly built shrimp farms take a long time to construct and are costly to operate. That's the opposite of quick and easy.
c
shrimp farming hardly ████ ███████ ███ ███████████
Does shrimp farming hardly ever damage the environment?
Alex: ❌Jolene: ❓
Alex would reject (C), since his whole argument is that shrimp farming does damage the environment. But Jolene never takes a position on how often shrimp farming damages the environment. She only pushes back on Alex's reasoning about abandonment. She could still believe shrimp farming damages the environment for completely different reasons. Without a clear view from Jolene, there's no disagreement to identify.
d
abandonment of a ██████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████
Does abandonment of a shrimp farm result in damage to the environment?
Alex: ✅Jolene: ❓
Alex accepts this, since his argument connects abandonment to environmental damage. But Jolene never addresses what happens when a shrimp farm is abandoned. Her argument is that most farms aren't abandoned, not that abandonment itself is harmless. She could fully agree with Alex that abandonment causes damage and still reject his argument because she thinks the abandonment premise is wrong.
e
some shrimp farmers ███ ███████████████ █████████████
Are some shrimp farmers environmentally irresponsible?
Alex: ✅Jolene: ❓
Alex would agree. Jolene might also agree, since she concedes that some shrimp farms have proved unsustainable and were quickly abandoned, which is consistent with some farmers being environmentally irresponsible. Nothing in the dialogue shows Jolene taking the opposite position, so this isn't a point of disagreement.