What’s the correct answer? Read this excerpt from Alan Weisman's "The City Without Us":
"When this pump facility shuts down,' says [Paul] Schuber,
"in half an hour water reaches a level where trains can't
pass anymore."
Which claim does the excerpt most clearly support?
A. The human impact on the environment is permanent.
B. Cities provide ecosystems just like forests and deserts.
C. Natural disasters will ultimately lead to humanity's downfall.
D. Without humanity's presence, New York City would quickly
deteriorate.

two factors or characteristics of a chapter that might make it difficult to read would be words i don't understand, or if i don't fully understand what's going on in the chapter. strategies i can use to get through the difficult material would be a dictionary, and re-reading previous chapters to get a better grasp of what the author is trying to say.

a. both connotative and denotative.

the purpose of the heading in the passage is to identify who is telling the story.

this excerpt is part of the book sugar changed the world (2010) written by marc aronson and marina budhos. as the book has been written by two people, the heading "marc" indicates that this specific excerpt is being narrated by aronson. in the fragment, marc describes his grandfather's story after hearing it from his cousin. however, there are other excerpts where budhos is the one that tells the story of her family.

aronson and budhos, who are husband and wife in real life, decided to write sugar changed the world when they found out how sugar, which had an important role in slavery and economy, changed their ancestors' lives.