Question

Difficulty: MediumEvaluating Whole-Essay Goals and Purpose

The following passage is an essay about the ancient city of Petra.

[1]
Deep within the desert canyons of modern-day Jordan lies the ancient city of Petra, famous for its grand, red-sandstone facades carved directly into the cliff faces. Established as the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom as early as the fourth century BCE, Petra thrived as a major trading hub. However, its survival and prosperity in an arid environment depended not on its trade routes, but on the Nabataeans’ remarkable engineering: a sophisticated water management system.

[2]
The Nabataeans engineered a system that harnessed the region's rare but torrential flash floods. They constructed dams to redirect floodwaters away from the city center, preventing destruction, and routed the water into a network of cisterns and reservoirs carved into the rock. Aqueducts and ceramic pipes, pressurized to control flow rates, carried fresh spring water from miles away directly into the heart of the city. This engineering feat ensured a reliable year-round water supply for a population of over twenty thousand.

[3]
This mastery of water resource engineering transformed Petra from a barren outpost into a lush, oasis-like metropolis, complete with public gardens and fountains. By controlling the water supply, the Nabataeans not only secured their survival but also solidified their political and economic power in the region, demonstrating that human ingenuity could conquer one of nature's harshest landscapes.

Suppose the writer's goal had been to write an essay detailing how the Nabataeans engineered a water management system to sustain their desert capital. Is the statement that the essay successfully achieves this goal true or false?

Answer: Answer

Answer

True
The statement is true because the passage consistently focuses on the engineering, construction, and impact of Petra's water management system, which directly fulfills the writer's goal.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the hypothetical goal specified in the prompt: to write an essay detailing how the Nabataeans engineered a water management system to sustain their capital.
Hypothetical goal identified.
Establishing the target goal allows comparison with the actual text.
2
Analyze the passage to determine the primary topic and focus.
The passage discusses Petra's arid environment and describes the specific engineering components (dams, cisterns, aqueducts, and pipes) of the Nabataeans' water system.
Determining the actual content is necessary to evaluate if the goal is met.
3
Compare the actual content to the hypothetical goal.
The actual content directly aligns with the goal of detailing the engineering of the water management system, meaning the essay successfully achieves the goal.
Comparing actual focus to the goal yields the final evaluation of true or false.

Key Concept

Evaluating Whole-Essay Goals and Purpose
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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