The assault on the purity of the environment is the price that we pay for many…
2024
The assault on the purity of the environment is the price that we pay for many of the benefits of modern technology. For the advantage of automotive transportation we pay a price in smog-induced diseases; for the powerful effects of new insecticides, we pay a price in dwindling wildlife and disturbances in the relation of living things and their surroundings; for nuclear power, we risk the biological hazards of radiation. By increasing agricultural production with fertilizers, we worsen water pollution. The highly developed nations of the world are not only the immediate beneficiaries of the good that technology can do, but are also the first victims of environmental diseases that technology breeds. In the past, the environmental effects which accompanied technological progress were restricted to a small area and a relatively short time.
The new hazards are neither local nor brief. Modern air pollution covers vast areas of continents: Radioactive fallout from the nuclear explosion is worldwide. Radioactive pollutants now on the earth's surface will be found there for generations, and in the case of Carbon-14, for thousands of years.
The passage essentially says that modern technology has?
- A.
Caused severe threats to the life of everyone
- B.
Produced influential chemicals
- C.
Provided ways to save our society
- D.
None of the above
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
A question asking what a passage “essentially says” is asking for the single statement that best captures the passage's dominant, recurring message — not a detail mentioned only once, not the opposite of the passage's point, and not a claim absent from the text. The correct choice must be supported by the passage as a whole, not just one line.
Across both paragraphs, every example — automobile-linked smog disease, insecticide-driven wildlife loss, nuclear radiation risk, and fertilizer-driven water pollution — shows modern technology damaging the environment and human life, and the second paragraph adds that these harms are now widespread, covering whole continents, and long-lasting, persisting for generations and, for Carbon-14, for thousands of years. The passage's central, repeated message is that modern technology has created severe and far-reaching threats to life.
“Caused severe threats to the life of everyone” matches the passage's recurring theme of widespread, serious harm from technology.
“Produced influential chemicals” is too narrow — it covers only insecticides and fertilizers, ignores automobiles and nuclear power, and misses the harm the passage emphasizes.
“Provided ways to save our society” contradicts the passage, which describes harm being caused throughout, not solutions being offered.
“None of the above” is inapplicable, since one of the other statements does match the passage's message.
So the passage essentially says that modern technology has caused severe threats to the life of everyone.