A question about two texts tests how one author would respond to the other’s view. Read the question so you know who answers whom and which recommendation is the target. Put each text’s claim and reason in a few words, then predict the response. Would the responding author reject the recommendation, add limits to it, or apply it to a new case? The reason must come from that author’s text, not from what sounds sensible to you.
Hints
- Hint 1
Find the policy Kuiper recommends at the end of Text 1. Molina is being asked to respond to that recommendation, rather than to every claim in the text.
- Hint 2
Separate what Molina agrees with from what he cautions about in the opening sentence of Text 2. What does each part concern?
- Hint 3
Read the examples of sidewalk repair and street lighting alongside Molina’s final sentence. Ask how those examples support the approach he recommends.
Step-by-step
Find the target, then the reason
Step 1Pin down the recommendation
Kuiper uses higher property values and health benefits to argue that cities should require developers to plant and maintain trees on every new residential block. What part of this must Molina answer? The question targets Kuiper’s policy recommendation, so Molina is answering the proposed rule, not making a new judgment about the benefits.
- Step 2
Follow Molina’s concern
Molina agrees that trees can benefit city residents, but his caution concerns neighborhood differences. Why do those differences matter? Where housing costs are high or public-works money is limited, mandatory planting can divert resources from more urgent needs, such as sidewalk repair or street lighting. A tree requirement can compete with work a neighborhood needs more urgently, even though trees can help.
- Step 3
Name Molina’s response
What would Molina put in place of Kuiper’s rule? He says cities should allow individual communities to decide how to balance green space with other priorities. That gives neighborhoods a choice Kuiper’s requirement doesn’t allow, so Molina rejects the same mandate for every neighborhood, even while accepting that trees can help.
- Step 4
Check the choice’s reason
Does budgets and priorities give Molina’s own reason? Budgets points to limited public-works funding, and priorities points to urgent repairs and lighting. The requirement on every new residential block also supports calling the policy one-size-fits-all, so this choice rejects the rule for Molina’s own reason. Choice D.