The Heat Island Passage: Inference and Figurative Cue
Amina is practising a comprehension passage for JAMB. The passage describes a city council's response to rising temperatures. It states that the council planted 400 saplings last year but approved the felling of 2,300 mature trees for road widening. Officials claim the new asphalt reflects 18% more sunlight than the old surface. Yet residents living beside the depot report that afternoon temperatures are now 4.2°C higher. The writer comments: 'The council's tree-planting drive is a drop in the ocean, and the claim that greening is underway is, at best, generous.' Amina must choose the writer's attitude from four options: cautiously optimistic, openly hostile, sceptical but measured, or indifferent. She leans toward cautiously optimistic because of the 18% reflection figure. She also has to identify the figure of speech in 'a drop in the ocean' and explain why the option 'openly hostile' is too strong.
1. Which attitude option is best supported, and which two words or phrases in the passage carry the strongest evidence? Explain how the 18% figure affects your choice.
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Best option: sceptical but measured.
Reasoning:
- The writer reports the council's 18% reflection figure with 'officials claim' and then contrasts it with 'yet residents report ... 4.2°C higher'. That contrast does not endorse the claim; it places the official figure under pressure.
- 'At best, generous' is an evaluative judgement, but it is qualified: the writer says the claim is generous, not that the council is lying.
- 'A drop in the ocean' implies the 400 saplings are inadequate against the 2,300 trees felled, which supports scepticism.
- 'Cautiously optimistic' would require the writer to accept that greening is underway; the passage instead undercuts that claim. 'Openly hostile' would need direct attack or sarcasm, while 'indifferent' would lack evaluative language. The correct option must combine doubt with restraint.
2. Identify the figure of speech in 'a drop in the ocean' and explain its function in the sentence.
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The expression is a metaphor, and it also functions as an idiom. It compares the council's tree-planting effort to a single drop of water in an ocean, without using 'like' or 'as'.
Its function is evaluative: it makes the 400 saplings sound tiny and ineffective when set against the 2,300 mature trees that were felled. The image also prepares the reader for the writer's conclusion that 'greening is underway' is 'at best, generous'. If the phrase were a simile, it would be worded with 'like a drop in the ocean'; the direct comparison is what makes it metaphorical.
3. Explain why 'openly hostile' is too strong, and state what a correct option must include.
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'Openly hostile' is too strong because the writer does not insult the council, call it dishonest, or use sarcasm. The strongest judgement is 'at best, generous', which is a qualified criticism: it allows that the claim may be generous rather than false. The writer also reports the council's 18% figure before countering it with residents' experience, which is the structure of measured doubt rather than open attack.
A correct option must therefore include two elements: doubt about the council's claim and restraint in expressing that doubt. 'Sceptical but measured' captures both. 'Cautiously optimistic' fails because it ignores the contrast between 400 saplings and 2,300 felled trees; 'indifferent' fails because the writer clearly evaluates the claim.