A
Residents of prairie towns have been setting off loud firecrackers near kites’ roosting spots because of the birds’ habit of diving at people and frightening them.
B
Towns on the prairies tend to be small, with a low density of human population and large numbers of wild birds and animals.
C
Since the international migratory bird protection treaty of 1972, it has been illegal to shoot kites, and the treaty has been effectively enforced.
D
Wildlife such as pigeons and raccoons had already adapted successfully to towns and cities long before there were towns on the North American prairies.
E
Trees are denser in towns than elsewhere on the prairie, and these denser trees provide greater protection from hail and windstorms for kites’ nests and eggs.
A
It is the only conclusion that the argument attempts to establish.
B
It is one of two unrelated conclusions, each of which the same premises are used to support.
C
It is a general principle from which the argument’s conclusion follows as a specific instance.
D
It describes a phenomenon for which the rest of the argument offers an explanation.
E
Premises are used to support it, and it is used to support the main conclusion.
Commentator: Recently, articles criticizing the environmental movement have been appearing regularly in newspapers. According to Winslow, this is due not so much to an antienvironmental bias among the media as to a preference on the part of newspaper editors for articles that seem “daring” in that they seem to challenge prevailing political positions. It is true that editors like to run antienvironmental pieces mainly because they seem to challenge the political orthodoxy. But serious environmentalism is by no means politically orthodox, and antienvironmentalists can hardly claim to be dissidents, however much they may have succeeded in selling themselves as renegades.
Summary
Winslow believes that articles criticizing the environmental movement have been appearing in newspapers due to the desire of newspaper editors for articles that seem to challenge prevailing political positions. The commentator concedes that editors like to run antienvironmental pieces primarily because they like to challenge prevailing positions. But the commentator asserts that, despite what news editors might think, environmentalism isn’t actually the prevailing position.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Newspaper editors are selecting some stories on the basis of an inaccurate understanding of what is a prevailing position.
At least some people have an inaccurate understanding about the prevalence of serious environmentalism.
A
Winslow is correct about the preference of newspaper editors for controversial articles.
Strongly supported. The commentator acknowledges that editors like to run antienvironmental pieces because they like to challenge what they perceive to be prevailing positions. This preference can be characterized as a preference for “controversial” pieces.
B
Critics of environmentalism have not successfully promoted themselves as renegades.
Unsupported. The commentator asserts that antienvironmentalists are not actually dissidents, “however much they may have succeeded” in selling themselves as renegades. This acknowledges the critics may have succeeded in portraying themselves as renegades.
C
Winslow’s explanation is not consonant with the frequency with which critiques of environmentalism are published.
Unsupported. The commentator supports Winslow’s explanation about why newspaper editors have regularly published antienvironmentalist pieces. So, the stimulus doesn’t support a claim that the explanation is inconsistent with anything.
D
The position attacked by critics of environmentalism is actually the prevailing political position.
Antisupported. The commentator says that serious environmentalism is not the prevailing position. So, the position attacked by critics of environmentalism is not the prevailing position.
E
Serious environmentalism will eventually become a prevailing political position.
Unsupported. The commentator doesn’t say anything about the future of serious environmentalism.