【官方】SAT语法每日一题附答案和解析(2018年1月23日)

每日一题

One of the primary shortcomings of the Homestead Act of 1862, a program through which the federal government offered free plots of land to US citizens willing to establish farms in the American West, was that the plots were too small to sustain a farm. Plots in the Great Plains were best left half unplanted each growing season to conserve water. The Great Plains region received twenty or fewer inches of rain per year and was considered semiarid. With farms consisting of a mere 160 acres, however, this practice would not have produced sufficient harvests. Moreover, raising cattle was impossible because the tiny homesteads would quickly become overgrazed. According to geologist and explorer John Wesley Powell, sustainable homesteads on the Great Plains actually needed to be a staggering 2,560 acres.

Think about the logical relationship between the two underlined sentences.

Select an Answer

Which choice most effectively combines the underlined sentences?

Answer

A

Receiving twenty or fewer inches of rain per year, land in the Great Plains was best left half unplanted each growing season; the reason for this was to conserve water in this semiarid region.

Answer

B

To conserve water, land in the semiarid Great Plains region was best left half unplanted each growing season; consequently, this region received twenty or fewer inches of rain per year.

Answer

C

Land in the Great Plains region, being semiarid, was best left half unplanted each growing season to conserve water, and it received twenty or fewer inches of rain per year.

Answer

D

Land in the semiarid Great Plains region received twenty or fewer inches of rain per year, so plots there were best left half unplanted each growing season to conserve water.

答案及解析：

A EXPLANATION

Choice A is incorrect because, although it does generally capture the cause-effect relationship between the two sentences, it results in an awkward and wordy construction.

B EXPLANATION

Choice B is incorrect because it results in an illogical combination of the two sentences. It doesn’t make sense to indicate that the practice of leaving land unplanted was the cause of the region’s limited annual rainfall.

C EXPLANATION

Choice C is incorrect because it results in a weak logical relationship between the two sentences. The coordinating conjunction “and” joins the sentences as though one is an addition to the other; in fact, there’s a cause-effect relationship between them.

Correct

Answer

D EXPLANATION

Choice D is the best answer because it most effectively combines the sentences in a logical and efficient way. The coordinating conjunction “so” indicates the cause-effect relationship between the sentences.

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