Which excerpt from Silent Spring best appeals to readers' pathos?
So it had been from the days many years ago when the first settlers raised their houses, sank their wells, and built their
barns.
The town lay in the midst of a checkerboard of prosperous farms, with fields of grain and hillsides of orchards where, in
spring, white clouds of bloom drifted above the green fields. In autumn, oak and maple and birch set up a blaze of color
that flamed and flickered across a backdrop of pines.
The countryside was, in fact, famous for the abundance and variety of its bird life, and when the flood of migrants was
pouring through in spring and fall people traveled from great distances to observe them.
Yet every one of these disasters has actually happened somewhere, and many real communities have already suffered
a substantial number of them. A grim specter has crept upon us almost unnoticed, and this imagined tragedy may easily
become a stark reality we all shall know.

Yet every one of these disasters has actually happened somewhere, and many real communities have already suffered a substantial number of them. A grim specter has crept upon us almost unnoticed, and this imagined tragedy may easily become a stark reality we all shall know.

Explanation:

This statement is the one that best appeals to the readers' pathos. Pathos refers to a strategy in which the author appeals to the readers' emotions and sensibilities in order to persuade them to take a particular position. In this case, the author talks about the disasters in a way that is frightening and dark. Her goal is to create negative feelings in the readers so that they support the idea of putting an end to these disasters.

"Yet every one of these disasters has actually happened somewhere, and many real communities have already suffered a substantial number of them. A grim specter has crept upon us almost unnoticed, and this imagined tragedy may easily become a stark reality we all shall know. "

Explanation:

Pathos is the device that allows a speech to make a strong appeal to the audience's emotions, because pathos is literally, the emotional appeal of the target audience.

The paragraph shown above is a strong example of pathos being used in a speech, because the speaker allows the audience to develop a feeling and express a bad and apprehensive emotion about something that has happened and that can accompany society.