2points
read this passage from "the city without us" by alan weisman:
once, manhattan was 27 square miles of porous ground
interlaced with living roots that siphoned the 47.2 inches
of average annual rainfall up trees and into meadow
grasses, which drank their fill and exhaled the rest back
into the atmosphere. whatever the roots didn't take settled
into the island's water table. in places, it surfaced in lakes
and marshes, with the excess draining off to the ocean via
those 40 streams-which now lie trapped beneath
concrete and asphalt.
what does weisman's word choice most clearly suggest about his feelings
on manhattan's ecology?
o
a. he describes the city as "concrete," "asphalt," and "trapped to
criticize the eradication of manhattan's natural landscape.
o
b. he uses the word "siphoned' to describe the process by which the
vegetation absorbed the rainwater.
o
c. he uses the words "drank' and 'exhaled to attribute human
characteristics to the trees and grasses.
o
d. he expresses regret that 40 of the city's streams lie trapped
beneath the surface
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