Read the following passage carefully before answering the question.
The rain had ceased, but the valley of Llanwellyn remained shrouded in a thick, slate-colored mist that clung to the crowns of the oaks. Arthur spread the linen map across the trestle table, weighting its corners with smooth river stones. Across from him, Mr. Sterling stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze fixed not on the ink lines representing the proposed reservoir, but on the window overlooking the village below.
'You have drawn the boundary line directly through the old chapel yard, Arthur,' Sterling said, his voice flat, stripped of its usual magisterial resonance.
'The topography dictates it, sir,' Arthur replied, tracing the contour lines with a cautious finger. 'To raise the dam to the level required for the lower township’s supply, the waters must rise to the seventy-foot mark. There is no engineering alternative that does not compromise the stability of the entire weir.'
Sterling turned slowly. His face, weathered by decades of managing the estate’s fortunes, showed a strange, uncharacteristic softness. 'My mother is buried beneath the yew tree by the east wall, Arthur. When I commissioned you to survey this basin, I believed—perhaps foolishly—that science might find a way to spare the dead while serving the living.'
'Science is indifferent to the dead, Mr. Sterling,' Arthur said quietly, though he felt a sudden constriction in his throat. He had spent months in the rain measuring these slopes, driven by the desire to prove his competence to the district board. 'My report must reflect the terrain as it exists, not as we wish it to be. If I alter the line, the board will reject the proposal, and the town will face another summer of cholera.'
Sterling sighed, the sound lost in the crackle of the hearth. 'And if you do not alter it, you secure your appointment as Chief Engineer. A convenient alignment of public necessity and private ambition, is it not?'
In the final exchange of the passage, Mr. Sterling’s observation that Arthur’s survey represents a 'convenient alignment of public necessity and private ambition' is best understood as an attempt to highlight which of the following aspects of Arthur's perspective?
- AArthur’s absolute alignment with the author’s critique of technological progress at the expense of historical memory.
- BArthur’s straightforward desire to protect the townspeople, ignoring any personal professional benefit.
- Arthur’s reliance on objective scientific rationale to justify a choice that also serves his career advancement.Answer
- DArthur’s focus on the survey as a simple administrative task, overlooking the emotional weight of the chapel yard.
- EArthur's role as a moral foil to Sterling, representing modern, unselfish public interest against Sterling's selfish, aristocratic focus on his family plot.