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Difficulty: MediumDrawing Inferences and Deductions from Unseen Passages

Read the unseen prose extract below carefully:

'The village elder stood silently beside the cracked, dusty bed where the river once flowed. For three consecutive seasons, dark clouds had gathered at the horizon only to scatter without dropping a single bead of rain. He stared at the hollow silos near the compound, then turned toward the distant ridges where columns of white smoke rose from neighboring altars.'

Based on the extract above, evaluate whether the following statement is TRUE or FALSE:

The community is experiencing a severe drought that has resulted in a critical food shortage.

Answer: Answer

Answer

The statement is TRUE.
The passage provides cumulative textual evidence supporting the statement: a dry riverbed, three seasons without rainfall, and empty grain silos directly point to a drought-induced food crisis.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze environmental clues in the text.
The phrases 'cracked, dusty bed where the river once flowed' and 'three consecutive seasons... without dropping a single bead of rain' indicate prolonged lack of rainfall (drought).
Establishing the physical condition of the environment is the first step in drawing an inference about climate.
2
Analyze economic/sustenance clues in the text.
The phrase 'hollow silos' indicates that stored food supplies have been completely exhausted.
Silos are agricultural structures used to store grain; being 'hollow' directly implies empty food reserves.
3
Synthesize clues to deduce the overarching condition.
Combining environmental drought with empty food stores confirms that a severe drought leading to food shortage is occurring.
Valid deductions require connecting multiple implicit details from the passage into a logical conclusion.

Key Concept

Drawing Logical Deductions from Unseen Prose Extracts
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Topics

Drawing Inferences and Deductions from Unseen Passages

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