Question 81·Hard·Cross-Text Connections
Text 1 Like the timber temples of Japan, architect Lina Reyes’s late civic buildings extend broad eaves and continuous bands of windows, so that, for stretches, the plans trade monumental symmetry for hovering horizontality. Given other echoes of East Asian design in her work, including enclosed gardens and modular proportions, these features suggest direct Japanese influence on Reyes’s mature style.
Text 2 In the way their long eaves seem to detach roof from wall, Reyes’s late buildings do recall certain East Asian precedents. Yet the capacities of postwar steel to support deep cantilevers, building codes in arid cities that reward shade, and an international modernist preference for seamless interior planes all push designers toward similar solutions. Reyes’s choices reflect a convergence of technical, regional, and stylistic pressures as much as, if not more than, imitation of Japanese models.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely characterize the underlined claim in Text 1?
For cross-text connections, restate the targeted claim from Text 1 in your own words, then identify whether Text 2 agrees, disagrees, or qualifies it (look for pivots like “yet/however” and comparison phrases like “as much as, if not more than”). Choose the option that captures Text 2’s stance without adding claims Text 2 never makes or using overly absolute language.
Hints
Locate the key claim in Text 1
Reread the underlined sentence in Text 1. What cause does it propose for Reyes’s design features?
Use the pivot in Text 2
In Text 2, focus on the word “Yet.” What new idea does the author introduce after it?
List Text 2’s alternative causes
Write down each non-Japanese factor Text 2 gives (technology/materials, climate/codes, broader style movements).
Decide the relationship between the texts
Does Text 2 fully agree with Text 1, fully disagree, or say Text 1 is partly right but missing key explanations?
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the underlined claim in Text 1
Focus on the underlined part in Text 1: “these features suggest direct Japanese influence on Reyes’s mature style.”
Text 1 argues that the similarities it lists point to direct Japanese influence on Reyes’s later work.
Summarize Text 2’s position
Text 2 concedes the resemblance: Reyes’s late buildings “do recall certain East Asian precedents.”
But after “Yet,” Text 2 adds other reasons similar design features might appear:
- postwar steel enabling deep cantilevers
- arid-city building codes rewarding shade
- an international modernist preference for seamless interior planes
It concludes these pressures matter “as much as, if not more than” imitation of Japanese models.
Decide how Text 2 responds to Text 1
Text 2 would likely say Text 1 is too single-cause: it moves from “they look similar” to “there must be direct Japanese influence” without accounting for other plausible forces that can lead to the same architectural choices.
Match to the best answer choice
The correct choice is:
As overlooking other pressures—technology, climate, and modernism—that could also produce the same features.