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Specific Skills Exercise:
Drawing Conclusions
Copyright 2004 Laraine Flemming.
Copyright is granted exclusively to instructors and students using textbooks written by Laraine Flemming.
General distribution and redistribution are strictly prohibited.
Directions: Which conclusion is best supported by the reading? Select the letter of the correct
response.
1. Most environmental groups work to protect our planet and its inhabitants by circulating
petitions, organizing protest marches, and lobbying Congressional representatives for
environmentally-friendly laws. However, since it was formed in 1971, the Greenpeace
environmental organization prefers to use more extreme tactics, engaging in what it calls
"non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems and force
solutions." The group has often sent its shipsespecially its flagship, the Rainbow
Warriorto areas where nuclear testing was taking place, sometimes even succeeding
in stopping the tests. In 1992, France agreed to halt nuclear tests following the Rainbow
Warrior's visit to the test zone. To protest commercial whaling, Greenpeace ships have
confronted whaling vessels on the high seas, and in 1982, a Greenpeace activist
chained himself to a harpoon gun aboard a whaling ship in order to stop a hunt. In 1976,
two Greenpeace activists protested the seal hunt in Newfoundland by shielding a baby
seal with their bodies. To expose and protest illegal logging in Brazil, activists painted in
huge letters the word CRIME atop a barge filled with logs. Greenpeace members have
also exposed numerous cases of the dumping of toxic or radioactive waste. The
organization has staged dramatic publicity stunts and demonstrations, too, in an effort to
call attention to environmental issues. In 2003, for example, dozens of activists laid 12
tons of sod on the road in front of the U.S. Department of Agriculture building to call for
the protection of national forests. (Source of information: Greenpeace,
www.greenpeace.org.)
From this passage, a reader might logically draw which conclusion?
a. Members of Greenpeace would be likely to agree that sometimes you have to break
a law in an effort to improve the world.
b. Members of Greenpeace would say that the media is not an essential element in the
environmentalist movement.
c. The Greenpeace organization would advocate the bombing of ships that refused to
stop slaughtering endangered species of animals.
d. Members of Greenpeace would probably agree that people who harm the
environment for profit will change their ways and stop causing damage when they
hear reasoned, logical arguments against their activities.
2. In 1998, figure skating champion Katarina Witt, a gold medalist in the 1984 and 1988
Olympic Games, caused a stir when she posed nude for Playboy magazine. Right
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before the 2000 Olympic Games, swimmer Jenny Thompson, too, generated controversy
when she appeared in Sports Illustrated magazine with only her hands covering her
breasts. Just a few years later, in 2004, however, hardly anyone even raised an eyebrow
when several unapologetic Olympic athletes appeared nude for Playboy and other men's
magazines while they were actually competing. Even the United States Olympic
Committee did not object to the athletes' actions. But they should object. In fact, we
should all be appalled that these women decided to become centerfolds. They claim that
modern women have earned the right to decide how they want to be portrayed in the
media. But the fact is that these nude photographs degrade the women who pose for
them. Even worse, these women diminish the accomplishments of female athletes and
encourage the public to view them as sex objects. When even a few athletes choose to
pose nude, they severely undermine women's quest to be respected for their
achievements rather than for the way they look. (Source of information: Joe Drape,
"Olympians Strike Pinup Pose, and Avoid Setting Off a Fuss," The New York Times,
August 12, 2004, www.nytimes.com)
From this passage, a reader might logically draw which conclusion?
a. The author would probably say that it's acceptable for Hollywood actresses to appear
nude in films.
b. The author would probably not object to male athletes posing nude for magazines.
c. The author would agree that Katarina Witt and Jenny Thompson are good role
models for young girls who aspire to become Olympic athletes one day.
d. The author would probably disapprove of a calendar featuring photographs of
Olympic athletes in skimpy lingerie.
3. In Colonial America, the hands and feet of rule-breakers and criminals were locked into
wooden devices called stocks, while members of the community were encouraged to
taunt and pelt them with rotten food to shame them for their transgressions. Another kind
of shaming punishment is illustrated in The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850
novel, which concerns an adulteress who is forced by community officials to wear a
scarlet A on her clothes as penance for her crime. Surprisingly, these kinds of Puritan
"shaming" punishments have come back into vogue. In Maryland, Texas, Georgia, and
California, for example, judges have ordered shoplifters to stand outside stores with
signs that announce the crime they committed. In 2003, a San Francisco judge ordered a
mail thief to stand for eight hours outside a post office wearing a two-sided "sandwich
board" that bore the message: "I stole mail. This is my punishment." In parts of Florida
and Ohio, people who have been convicted of driving while intoxicated are issued
special license plates that identify them as drunk drivers. In parts of Texas, convicted sex
offenders have been ordered to put signs in their yards warning children to stay away.
The U.S. Justice Department defends these kinds of shaming sentences, claiming that
they are effective for punishment as well as rehabilitation. But some defense attorneys
disagree, arguing that this kind of public humiliation amounts to "cruel and unusual
punishment," which is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. (Source of information: Richard
Willing, "Thief Challenges Dose of Shame as Punishment," USA Today, August 18,
2004, p. 3A.)
From this passage, a reader might logically draw which conclusion?
a. The U.S. Justice Department would agree that the way to rehabilitate wrongdoers is
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to use logic and appeal to their intellect rather than their emotions.
b. The U.S. Justice Department would probably support a judge's decision to require a
convicted criminal to appear in public in a T-shirt imprinted with the words "I broke the
law."
c. Those who object to shaming sentences would be likely to support a judge's order
requiring a convicted wife-beater to apologize to his victim on the evening news.
d. A judge who believed in shaming punishment would never require a drunk driver to
identify his or her crime with a special bumper sticker announcing, "I drove under the
influence."
4. The notion that sunlight is bad and that people who tan are recklessly risking their lives
has become conventional wisdom. However, in 2004, Michael Holick, M.D., a professor
of medicine and physiology at Boston University School of Medicine, published a book
entitled The UV Advantage. In his book, Holick challenges the idea that the sun is always
bad, arguing that sunlight is actually necessary for good health. Not that Holick believes
in being a sun worshipper; on the contrary, he began his book with the statement, "I do
not advocate tanning." Yet, wrote Holick, because humans obtain 90 to 95 percent of
their vitamin D from the sun and because this essential vitamin helps to strengthen bones
and protect against illnesses like diabetes and multiple sclerosis, people should expose
themselves to sunlightwithout sun blockfor 5 to 10 minutes every day. Holick also
pointed out that sun awareness campaigns have always focused on the possibility of
getting malignant melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer. Yet that form of skin cancer
accounts for only 10 percent of all skin cancers, so 90 percent of them are still easily
treated.
Not everyone, though, appreciated Holick's reasoned arguments in favor of short doses
of sunlight. The month before the book came out, the sunscreen industry bought
advertisements in newspapers to attack Holick's reputation. Plus, he was asked to
resign his dermatology professorship at Boston University School of Medicine because
his views did not match those of his colleagues in the dermatology department. Holick,
who remains at Boston University as a professor of medicine and physiology, has
pointed out that the dermatology community, especially the American Academy of
Dermatology, received major funding from the sunscreen industry. (Source of
information: Brendan O'Neill, "`They Have Vilified the Sunand Me,'" Spiked, July 23,
2004, www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA616.htm)
From this passage, a reader might logically draw which conclusion?
a. Michael Holick would probably argue that it's not necessary to pack sunscreen for a
day at the beach.
b. Michael Holick would agree that spending a lot of time in a tanning bed is a lot better
for your health than lying in the sun.
c. Michael Holick would say that warnings about the risk of skin cancer have been
accurate.
d. Michael Holick would encourage anyone who wants a deep tan to get it from a bottle
or tube rather than a day spent lying in the sun.
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Last change made to this page: December 1, 2004
Answer key
Reading for Thinking: Additional Material