A question about how one author would respond to another tests whether you can connect their views and reasons. Use the question to find who answers whom and which claim they are answering when part of a text is highlighted. Put each author’s claim and reason in a few words. Then name how they respond: reject means disagree, qualify means accept with limits, and extend means take further. Their response also needs that author’s own reason.
Hints
- Hint 1
The question points to the highlighted sentence, not all of Text 1. Separate what it recommends from the reasons it gives.
- Hint 2
Look in Text 2 for who the author is worried about and what could happen to them.
- Hint 3
Compare Text 2’s final recommendation with the time limit in the highlighted claim. Ask whether those plans can both be followed.
Step-by-step
Follow the claim and the response
Step 1Identify the claim being answered
Text 1 says that physical cash should be fully phased out within the next five years, which is the claim Text 2’s author must answer. Why does Text 1 want that change? It says digital payments are faster, cleaner, and easier to track, which are its reasons for a complete switch within five years.
- Step 2
Find Text 2’s concern
What does Text 2 accept, and who might be harmed? It agrees that digital payments offer convenience, but says millions of people still depend on cash for daily transactions. Removing cash could push these individuals out of the marketplace before they have reliable broadband or smartphones. The problem is losing a way to pay for daily needs.
- Step 3
Decide what the author rejects
Does accepting convenience mean accepting the five-year deadline? No: Text 2’s plan is to maintain cash for the foreseeable future while making digital payments available to everyone. That leaves cash in use rather than fully ending it on Text 1’s schedule. The author wants to reject the deadline, not reject digital payments, because access must improve first.
- Step 4
Match the reason and the timing
The phrase unfairly burden people who rely on it describes the risk of losing access to everyday buying and selling. And the timeline should be longer allows more time without inventing a new date or claiming that cash must stay forever. Choice D.