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Difficulty: MediumDetermining Speaker Purpose and Audience

An urban historian and civil planner delivers the following oral presentation during an urban sustainability conference in Mendoza, Argentina:

«Members of the provincial planning board and municipal delegates: When we analyze our city's historic network of acequias—the open irrigation canals that flank our tree-lined avenues—we must stop treating them merely as picturesque colonial relics. Today, rapid commercial paving and uncoordinated urban expansion threaten to disconnect these channels from the Andean meltwater runoffs, raising urban temperatures and depleting our groundwater reserves. While tourism campaigns celebrate their aesthetic charm, our municipal priority must be legally safeguarding water flow rights and mandating permeable surfaces in newly zoned commercial sectors. Without enforceable municipal protections, we risk dismantling the living hydraulic infrastructure that sustains our desert oasis.»

What is the primary purpose of the speaker's presentation?

  1. A
    To highlight the historical evolution of colonial architecture and expand international tourism in desert oases
  2. To urge municipal officials to adopt legal and structural zoning regulations that protect the urban canal systemAnswer
  3. C
    To criticize the ecological inefficiency of traditional open canals compared to enclosed drainage systems
  4. D
    To propose replacing the regional irrigation channels with automated municipal water treatment plants

Answer

To urge municipal officials to adopt legal and structural zoning regulations that protect the urban canal system
The presentation is aimed at municipal and provincial planners, calling directly for enforceable zoning updates, water rights protections, and permeable paving mandates to safeguard the city's essential canal infrastructure.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the target audience and rhetorical opening of the presentation.
The speaker explicitly addresses 'Members of the provincial planning board and municipal delegates,' indicating a policy and decision-making context.
Recognizing the intended audience frames the speaker's core communicative intent.
2
Analyze the main call to action and central thesis.
The speaker argues that municipal priorities must focus on safeguarding water rights and mandating permeable surfaces in zoning codes to save the vital acequia network.
The central call to action defines the speaker's overarching purpose in an oral presentation.

Key Concept

Determining Speaker Purpose in an Oral Presentation
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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Topics

Determining Speaker Purpose and Audience

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