Read the following paragraph. keeping my mind on my writing is not easy when i stay at my grandmother's ocean-side cottage. just about the time that i am going along pretty well, i glance out the window and see two huge bald eagles swooping and tumbling in a spectacular aerial display. naturally, i have to leave my desk and rush to the doorway to watch the performance as long as it lasts. then, as if a conspiracy were trying to keep me from working, two otters poke their shiny heads out of the water and hang there motionless. they watch to see what i am doing. as soon as i return to my desk, seagulls wheel into my window view and screech as they search for scraps of food. within minutes this confusion of sounds stirs my aging st. bernard out of a deep sleep, and he hauls his massive, lumbering body over to be petted. mickey, my cat, can't stand to see any partiality so he is soon pacing back and forth across my ankles. as i wiggle my bare toes to tease mickey, i realize that my legs have become stiff. i remember that i have not had my daily ride. so, i slip on my sandals, step out the door, spring onto my bike and pedal off down the beach. meanwhile the composition in my typewriter sits and grows colder. does the paragraph support the topic sentence? that is, do all of the following sentences develop the idea of the topic sentence? yes no

Read this passage from alan weisman's "the city without us": he props his running shoe against the whitish bark of a chinese amur cork tree, growing among the last of the hemlocks. "this may sound blasphemous, but maintaining biodiversity is less important than maintaining a functioning ecosystem. what matters is that soil is protected, that water gets cleaned, that trees filter the air, that a canopy regenerates new seedlings to keep nutrients from draining away into the bronx river." now read this passage from jared diamond's "the ends of the world as we know them": both the shoguns and the japanese peasants took a long-term view: the former expected to pass on their power to their children, and the latter expected to pass on their land. . today, despite having the highest human population density of any large developed country, japan is more than 70 percent forested. what common theme of green literature is most strongly evident in both passages? a. in order to thrive in coming centuries, people must find viable alternatives to fossil fuels, such as coal. b. with careful and intelligent management, ecosystems can still thrive after human beings have changed them. c. in order meet their goals, environmentalists must people develop a personal desire to protect nature. d. there is no excuse for damaging the natural world, and anyone who does so will pay a steep price.