Question

is survival selfish? by lisa williams
1 which sentence best states the authors question or main claim of the argument?
(a) in moments of mortal danger, most people choose to flee; a few become heroes.
(b) in extreme cases, people either hold it together or fall apart, and there is no middle ground.
(c) morals are adjusted when they clash with survival; when survival is at stake, it makes more sense for people to save their own lives.
(d) people who demonstrate selfishness by putting their own lives before the lives of others in an emergency are often criticized publicly and in the press.
2 read this sentence from paragraph 2 of the selection. the women and children first protocol of the titanic may not be as strong a social convention as it was a century ago.
which word is a synonym for protocol as the author uses it in this sentence?
(a) structure
(b) rule
(c) law
(d) finesse
3 in paragraph 3, the author states that every survival situation is different. if this is true, it follows that —
(a) each survivor is heroic in their own way
(b) it is impossible to generalize about survivors
(c) only a few survivors are selfish and uncivilized
(d) it is impossible to be smart and unselfish

Explanation:

1. Analyze the main - idea of the passage to answer the first question. For the second question, consider the context of the word "protocol" in the sentence about the Titanic. For the third question, understand the logical consequence of the statement that every survival situation is different.

• In the first question, we need to find the statement that represents the author's main point about survival.
• In the second question, "protocol" in the context of the Titanic's "women and children first" refers to a rule.
• In the third question, if every survival situation is different, it's hard to make general statements about survivors.

Answer:

1. (No text provided to determine the correct option for the first question)
2. B. Rule
3. B. It is impossible to generalize about survivors