Read the following article from a website.
Courtenay council will vote this month on a bylaw that would ban single-use plastic straws in restaurants and cafés. Paper or reusable straws would be offered instead, and businesses that break the rule could be fined three hundred dollars. The idea gained support after volunteers at a beach cleanup in April collected more than two thousand straws in one morning. Several nearby towns passed similar rules last year, with mixed results.
Morwenna Halpenny, a marine educator who helped run the cleanup, supports the ban. “Most people sitting down with a cold drink can manage without one,” Halpenny said. “If staff offer paper first, most customers will never even ask for plastic. Habits change faster than people think. Five years ago, nobody brought a bag to the grocery store,” she added.
Tavish Jaskolski, an accessibility advocate who has a weak grip after a spinal injury, says the bylaw needs a clear exception. “Paper straws go soft within minutes for people like me, or for anyone who has trouble swallowing,” Jaskolski said. “Asking for plastic in front of a line of strangers feels like reading out my medical file.” He wants free plastic straws kept at every counter and handed over with no questions. Hedwig Huard, who owns a small café near the marina, says she is happy to cut waste but fears unfair fines. “If an inspector sees a box of plastic straws behind my counter, will I be fined for keeping them for the customers who need them?” Huard asked. “Nobody at city hall can tell me. I want to follow the rule, but first I need to understand it.”
Clodagh Ilic, a public health nurse, says the debate has left out people who live in care. “Care homes and children’s clinics use bendable plastic straws every day, often by the hundreds,” Ilic said. “For some patients, a straw is the only way to drink safely. Those places must be named in the bylaw as exempt, or someone will get hurt.”
Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.
Currently, Tavish Jaskolski has 2..
The author describes the plan as 3..
Most likely, Hedwig Huard wants 4..
This article would most likely be published in 5..
The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: a proposed ban on one kind of single-use item
Why this is correct: Council will vote on a bylaw that bans single-use plastic straws. Every speaker gives a view on that ban.
Passage Reference: a bylaw that would ban single-use plastic straws in restaurants and cafés
Tips: For each option, ask which of Halpenny, Jaskolski, Huard and Ilic speak to it. Drop the options the article mentions only in passing or not at all.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a plan to clean the city’s beaches every month: One beach cleanup is mentioned as background. No monthly plan is proposed.
- a new tax on takeout coffee cups: Coffee cups and taxes are not mentioned in the article.
- a program to recycle restaurant waste: Recycling is not part of the bylaw.
Correct Answer: trouble drinking with paper that goes soft
Passage Reference: who has a weak grip after a spinal injury ... Paper straws go soft within minutes for people like me
Why this is correct: Jaskolski has a weak grip after a spinal injury. He says paper straws go soft within minutes for people like him.
Tips: Read the sentences Jaskolski says and the line that introduces him. Pick the option those lines show is true for him today.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a job running beach cleanups: Halpenny helped run the beach cleanup. Jaskolski is an accessibility advocate.
- a small café near the marina: Huard owns the café near the marina, not Jaskolski.
- a nursing job in a care home: Ilic is the public health nurse. Jaskolski does not work in care.
Correct Answer: an idea that has worked unevenly elsewhere
Passage Reference: Several nearby towns passed similar rules last year, with mixed results.
Why this is correct: The reporter says several nearby towns passed similar rules last year, with mixed results. So the plan is shown as one that has not worked everywhere.
Tips: Ignore what the speakers say and read only the reporter’s own lines. Keep the option that those lines back up without adding any opinion.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a mistake that will hurt local cafés: Huard’s fear of fines is in her quotes. The reporter does not call the plan a mistake.
- the only way to protect the beach: The reporter gives the beach cleanup as background but never calls the ban the only answer.
- a rule that nobody in town supports: The reporter says the idea gained support after the cleanup.
Correct Answer: the city to explain what the rule allows
Passage Reference: Nobody at city hall can tell me. ... I want to follow the rule, but first I need to understand it.
Why this is correct: Huard wants to follow the rule, but she says nobody at city hall can tell her what it allows. So she most likely wants the city to explain it.
Tips: Read all of Huard’s quotes. Decide which option her own words support, and drop any that another speaker says or nobody says.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the vote put off until next year: Huard does not ask for a delay. She wants to follow the rule.
- the city to cover her extra costs: Huard says nothing about her costs. Her question is about the fines.
- customers to bring their own straws: Huard does not mention customers bringing straws. She keeps plastic for customers who need it.
Correct Answer: a newspaper for people in the area
Passage Reference: Courtenay council will vote this month on a bylaw
Why this is correct: The article reports a vote by Courtenay council. It quotes local people, so it suits a newspaper read in that town.
Tips: Think about each publication in the options and what it usually prints. Keep the one that would run this report just as it is.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a medical journal about swallowing problems: Swallowing comes up in Jaskolski’s and Ilic’s quotes, but no research is reported.
- a guide for tourists visiting the marina: The marina is only where Huard’s café is. The article gives no travel tips.
- a trade magazine for straw makers: No straw maker is quoted, and the article is about one town’s bylaw.
Correct Answer: three hundred dollars
Passage Reference: businesses that break the rule could be fined three hundred dollars
Why this is correct: Businesses that break the rule could be fined three hundred dollars.
Tips: The comment wants the penalty in the bylaw. Find what a business would pay.
Why the other options are wrong:
- one hundred dollars: One hundred dollars is not in the article.
- five hundred dollars: Five hundred dollars is not in the article.
- fifty dollars: Fifty dollars is not in the article.
Correct Answer: two thousand
Passage Reference: collected more than two thousand straws in one morning
Why this is correct: Volunteers collected more than two thousand straws in one morning.
Tips: Find what the volunteers found at the beach. Read the size of the number carefully.
Why the other options are wrong:
- twenty-five hundred: Twenty-five hundred is not in the article. The figure given is two thousand.
- three thousand: Three thousand does not appear in the article.
- four thousand: The article gives a smaller number than four thousand.
Correct Answer: April
Passage Reference: volunteers at a beach cleanup in April
Why this is correct: The beach cleanup took place in April.
Tips: The comment needs a month. Find when the volunteers went to the beach.
Why the other options are wrong:
- March: March is not mentioned in the article.
- May: May is not mentioned in the article.
- June: June is not mentioned in the article.
Correct Answer: five years
Passage Reference: Five years ago, nobody brought a bag to the grocery store
Why this is correct: Halpenny says five years ago nobody brought a bag to the grocery store. Halpenny uses it to show that habits change.
Tips: The commenter means the marine educator. Find her example about shopping bags and the time she gives.
Why the other options are wrong:
- two years: The article gives a longer time than two years.
- ten years: Halpenny’s figure is smaller than ten years.
- twenty years: Twenty years is not mentioned in the article.
Correct Answer: a line of strangers
Passage Reference: Asking for plastic in front of a line of strangers feels like reading out my medical file.
Why this is correct: Jaskolski says asking for plastic in front of a line of strangers feels like reading out his medical file.
Tips: The commenter means the accessibility advocate. Find who he says is watching when he asks.
Why the other options are wrong:
- his own friends: Jaskolski does not mention friends. The people watching him are strangers.
- the café owner: Jaskolski does not mention the owner.
- his family: Jaskolski does not mention his family.
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