A question about how one author would respond to a claim tests whether you can connect two writers’ views. Start with the question to find who answers whom and the exact claim being answered. Put that claim and its reason in a few words, then find the responding writer’s evidence and limits. A writer may reject a claim, add a limit to it, or apply it to a new case. The reason decides, because sharing a topic doesn’t mean sharing a view.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with Navarro’s reason for doubting tree-ring records. What does she say makes temperature hard to separate from other influences?
- Hint 2
Compare Navarro’s concern with Lee’s reasoning in Text 2. Does his evidence lead him to accept Navarro’s claim, limit it, or reject it?
Step-by-step
Connect the claim to Lee’s evidence
Step 1Find the target and its reason
The question asks Text 2’s author to respond to Navarro’s claim about the unreliability of tree-ring data, so Lee is judging Navarro’s view. Why does Navarro doubt the records? Rainfall and soil nutrients can also affect ring width, which she says makes it impossible to isolate temperature’s role. Her claim is that other influences make tree-ring records unreliable.
- Step 2
Connect Lee’s evidence to Navarro’s concern
What does Lee offer against that reasoning? He describes studies comparing modern ring growth with measured temperatures and finding a strong, region-specific correlation, meaning wider rings tend to go with warmer growing seasons within a region. That calibration checks ring growth against temperatures researchers already know, giving them evidence for using rings to estimate temperatures from the past. Lee also says statistical methods can separate those influences, directly answering Navarro’s worry about rainfall and nutrients. His point is that temperature’s effect can be found despite other influences.
- Step 3
Name Lee’s stance and match his reason
Does Lee accept Navarro’s conclusion because rainfall affects ring width? No: he calls tree-ring series a reliable proxy, a dependable stand-in for past temperatures, so he would reject her claim of unreliability. The choice beginning Calibration with modern temperature records gives his evidence, while when analyzed correctly shows his point about statistical methods. Its word can leaves room for the regional limits Lee describes. Choice A.