Urban noise pollution has become a significant health concern in many metropolitan areas, causing sleep disruption and stress-related illnesses among...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Urban noise pollution has become a significant health concern in many metropolitan areas, causing sleep disruption and stress-related illnesses among residents. Traditional noise barriers often prove inadequate because sound waves can travel around and over physical obstacles. Community gardens established in vacant lots throughout affected neighborhoods appear to offer an unexpected benefit: the varied plant heights and dense foliage create acoustic barriers that absorb and deflect sound waves in multiple directions. Research conducted in 2019 by the Urban Health Institute confirmed that residential areas adjacent to community gardens experienced measurably lower noise levels than comparable areas without such green spaces.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
It addresses how community gardens help reduce noise pollution in urban neighborhoods.
It outlines the process by which sound waves travel around physical barriers.
It identifies the reason communities establish gardens in vacant urban lots.
It describes the health effects that noise pollution creates for city residents.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Urban noise pollution has become a significant health concern in many metropolitan areas, causing sleep disruption and stress-related illnesses among residents.' |
|
| 'Traditional noise barriers often prove inadequate because sound waves can travel around and over physical obstacles.' |
|
| 'Community gardens established in vacant lots throughout affected neighborhoods appear to offer an unexpected benefit:' |
|
| 'the varied plant heights and dense foliage create acoustic barriers that absorb and deflect sound waves in multiple directions.' |
|
| 'Research conducted in 2019 by the Urban Health Institute confirmed that residential areas adjacent to community gardens experienced measurably lower noise levels than comparable areas without such green spaces.' |
|
Part B: Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Community gardens provide an effective solution to urban noise pollution by creating natural acoustic barriers through varied plant structures.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes urban noise as a health problem, explains why traditional solutions fail, then presents community gardens as an unexpected but scientifically proven alternative that works through the natural acoustic properties of varied plant heights and foliage.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The underlined portion comes right after we learn that community gardens offer an 'unexpected benefit' for noise reduction
- This sentence is doing the crucial work of explaining HOW gardens actually reduce noise - it's the mechanism that makes the solution work
- Without this explanation, we'd know that gardens help but not understand why they're effective where traditional barriers fail
- The right answer should explain that this sentence describes the specific way community gardens function as a noise reduction solution
It addresses how community gardens help reduce noise pollution in urban neighborhoods.
✓ Correct
- Correctly identifies that the underlined portion explains how community gardens reduce noise pollution
- This directly matches what the sentence does - provides the mechanism behind the solution
It outlines the process by which sound waves travel around physical barriers.
✗ Incorrect
- Incorrectly focuses on how sound waves travel around barriers, but the underlined portion is about how plants deflect and absorb sound waves
- The passage mentions sound traveling around obstacles when discussing why traditional barriers fail, not in the underlined portion
It identifies the reason communities establish gardens in vacant urban lots.
✗ Incorrect
- Incorrectly suggests the portion explains why communities establish gardens, but it actually explains how gardens work acoustically
- The reason for establishing gardens was mentioned earlier, not in this sentence
It describes the health effects that noise pollution creates for city residents.
✗ Incorrect
- Incorrectly claims the portion describes health effects, but health effects were described in the opening sentence
- The underlined portion focuses on the acoustic mechanism, not health impacts