Question 25·Easy·Inferences
In a magazine article, urban planner Maria Lopez discusses two mid-sized cities that recently launched electric scooter-sharing programs. In City Riverton, the scooters saw little use beyond the first few weeks, leading officials to end the program after one year. In contrast, City Lakeside experienced steadily rising ridership, prompting the city council to triple the number of available scooters within six months.
Based on the information in the passage, electric scooter-sharing programs may ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
For “complete the text” inference questions, first restate in your own words what the passage clearly shows, especially any contrasts or cause-and-effect relationships. Then scan the answer choices and eliminate any that (1) introduce new topics or details not in the passage, (2) use extreme language like “all,” “always,” or “exclusively,” or (3) contradict what actually happens in the text. The correct choice will be a moderate, general statement that fits all the given facts without assuming anything extra.
Hints
Focus on the contrast
Look closely at what happens in City Riverton versus City Lakeside. How does the outcome of the scooter program differ between the two places?
Think about what you can safely generalize
From only these two examples, can you reasonably say something that must be true about scooter-sharing programs in general? Be careful not to add information that isn’t mentioned.
Watch out for extreme or extra claims
Check each answer choice for words like “all,” “exclusively,” or claims about things the passage never mentions (like weather or public transit). Do the details in the passage really support those strong claims?
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand what the question is asking
The question asks what electric scooter-sharing programs may do, based on the short passage. That means you should look for a general conclusion that is supported by the contrasting examples of the two cities, without adding extra details not mentioned in the text.
Identify the key facts about each city
Summarize what happens in each city:
- City Riverton: Scooters saw little use after the first few weeks, and officials ended the program after one year.
- City Lakeside: Ridership rose steadily, and the city council tripled the number of scooters within six months. These facts show opposite outcomes for the same type of program in two similar-sized cities.
Infer what is generally true from the contrast
Because the same kind of scooter program was tried in two mid-sized cities with very different results (one ended, one expanded), you can infer that outcomes for these programs are not guaranteed to be the same everywhere. The passage supports the idea that results can differ from city to city.
Match the supported idea to the answer choices
Now compare each option to the idea that outcomes vary by city and check whether it stays within what the passage supports:
- Choices A, B, and D either add new, unsupported details (public transit, weather) or claim uniform patterns across cities.
- Only choice C, “succeed in certain cities while failing to gain traction in others,” matches the contrasting outcomes in Riverton and Lakeside and makes a cautious generalization that fits the evidence.
So the correct answer is: succeed in certain cities while failing to gain traction in others.