A question about two texts tests whether you can use one writer’s view to predict a response to the other’s plan. Read the question to find who answers whom, then put each writer’s claim and reason in a few words. Ask whether the answering writer would reject the plan as wrong, accept it with limits, or apply it to a new case. The reason decides the response, because writers can share a goal yet disagree about how to reach it.
Hints
- Hint 1
The question has Santos responding to Das. Find Santos’s test for whether an environmental reform will last.
- Hint 2
Look at Santos’s warning about ambitious legislation. What reason does she give for being cautious about such laws?
- Hint 3
Compare the scale and timetable of Das’s proposals with Santos’s warning. How would her warning apply to what he wants governments to do?
Step-by-step
Predict the response from Santos’s warning
Step 1Find Santos’s view
Santos praises household rewards for reducing waste because they gradually shift cultural attitudes, linking economic incentives to long-term goals. Since the question asks how would Santos most likely respond to Das’s proposed strategy?, we’ll judge his plan by her view. What makes her cautious about other reforms? She warns that overly ambitious legislation often collapses under its own complexity, so an environmental goal isn’t enough if the reform can’t last.
- Step 2
Apply her view to Das’s plan
How does Das’s plan compare with that warning? He wants governments to enact sweeping carbon taxes and prohibit the sale of gasoline vehicles within the decade, so the changes would be broad and rapid. He also concedes the political obstacles, meaning he accepts that getting governments to act will be difficult. Santos would question whether the plan can gain lasting support, since she favors gradual changes in attitudes and warns about laws that damage public trust. That gives us a concern about how the reform would work, not about its environmental goal.
- Step 3
Let her reason decide
Which response gives that concern for Santos’s own reason? Economic incentives drive change leaves out her warning about whether the whole plan will endure. The response well intentioned but risk failure recognizes the shared goal, while political and public willingness to comply connects Das’s political obstacles with Santos’s warning about undermining public trust in future initiatives. It gives a risk of failure, not a certain outcome. Choice B.