Read this passage from "the city without us" by alan weisman:

even before shakespeare garden, central park designers olmstead and vaux had brought in a half-million trees along with their half-million cubic yards of fill to complete their improved vision of nature, spicing up the island with exotica like persian ironwoods, asian katsuras, cedars of lebanon, and chinese royal paulownias and ginkgos.

which statement best describes how the author develops the tone in this passage?

a. he uses exaggeration to describe the number of trees and yards of soil that olmstead and vaux used to create central park.
b. he uses sarcasm to poke fun at the landscape architects' attempt to impose their vision on central park.
c. he uses descriptive names to identify the exotic trees that were imported, creating a detached tone.
d. he pokes fun at new yorkers' obsession with shakespeare by beginning the passage with a reference to the playwright.