Read the following article from a website.
Saskatoon council is considering a new stormwater fee that would charge each property by how much of its land is covered by hard surfaces like roofs, driveways and parking lots. Basements and underpasses have flooded in four of the past six summers, and the city says its old drain pipes were never built for today’s storms. If council approves the fee next month, the first bills would arrive in January.
Akosua Quaye, the city’s drainage engineer, says flood projects keep losing when they compete with everything else in the tax budget. “Every spring the list of delayed drain repairs gets longer, and every summer somebody’s basement pays for it,” she said. “A fee ties the cost to the pavement that sends water into the street.” Quaye wants owners to earn credits for rain barrels and paving that lets water through, “so anyone who keeps water on their own lot pays less.”
Tadhg Rees, president of a homeowners’ association, warns that a sudden bill could turn residents against the whole idea. “Families on big lots did not design the pipes under their street,” Rees said. “If the first bill is three hundred dollars with no warning, people will see it as a tax with a new name.” He says he supports green drainage projects but wants the charge phased in over three years. Many of his members are retired and live on fixed pensions, Rees said.
Haneul Ryu, a watershed planner, says trust depends on what residents can see. “Publish a five-year list of projects and show exactly which streets get new pipes and when,” she said. “Otherwise the money looks like it disappears into a hole,” Ryu said. Wasim Rasul, who organizes tenants, says renters will end up paying. “Landlords will simply add the fee to the rent, and tenants have no driveway to repave,” Rasul said. “Council should cap how much of the fee can be passed on. Renters cannot earn a credit for a roof they do not own,” he added.
Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.
At present, Tadhg Rees is 2..
The author presents the issue as 3..
Paragraph three mainly sets out 4..
Wasim Rasul thinks that charging the fee to landlords would lead to 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 charge based on hard surfaces on each property
Why this is correct: Council is considering a fee that charges each property by how much of its land is covered by hard surfaces.
Passage Reference: a new stormwater fee that would charge each property by how much of its land is covered by hard surfaces
Tips: A gist option must cover the whole article, not one speaker’s quote. Test every option against what Quaye, Rees, Ryu and Rasul say.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a plan to repave the city’s main roads: Nobody plans to repave roads. The fee is about water running off hard surfaces.
- a study of flooding in rented homes: Rented homes come up only in Rasul’s worry about rent. No study is described.
- a tax increase to build new parks: Parks are not mentioned in the article.
Correct Answer: leading homeowners, many of them retired
Passage Reference: Tadhg Rees, president of a homeowners’ association ... Many of his members are retired and live on fixed pensions, Rees said.
Why this is correct: Rees is president of a homeowners’ association. He says many of his members are retired and live on fixed pensions.
Tips: Gather what the article tells you about Rees himself, from his quotes and the reporter’s lines. Keep the option that is true of him today.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a planner who studies the watershed: That is Ryu, the watershed planner.
- the engineer in charge of the city’s drains: That is Quaye, the city’s drainage engineer.
- organizing renters across the city: That is Rasul, who organizes tenants.
Correct Answer: a real problem made worse by storms
Passage Reference: the city says its old drain pipes were never built for today’s storms
Why this is correct: The reporter writes that basements have flooded in recent summers, and that the old pipes were never built for today’s storms.
Tips: Look only at the lines the reporter writes without quotation marks. Compare every option with them, and remove any the reporter never shows.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a cost forced on the city by the province: The province is never mentioned. Council itself is deciding.
- a quarrel between landlords and tenants: Only Rasul talks about landlords and tenants. The reporter frames a citywide flooding problem.
- a matter that affects only downtown: The fee covers every property in the city, not one area.
Correct Answer: a case for bringing in the charge slowly
Passage Reference: warns that a sudden bill could turn residents against the whole idea ... wants the charge phased in over three years
Why this is correct: In paragraph three, Rees warns that a sudden bill could turn people against the idea. He wants the charge phased in over three years.
Tips: Read “Paragraph three” again and decide what it is there to do. Then test each choice against those lines only.
Why the other options are wrong:
- an engineer’s case for linking cost to pavement: Quaye makes this case in paragraph two.
- a demand to publish where pipes will go: Ryu asks for a project list in the last paragraph.
- the history of the city’s old pipes: The old pipes are mentioned once in paragraph one. No paragraph tells their history.
Correct Answer: tenants paying it through higher rent
Passage Reference: Landlords will simply add the fee to the rent
Why this is correct: Rasul says landlords will simply add the fee to the rent. Tenants have no driveway to repave, so they cannot pay less.
Tips: Find what Rasul predicts in his quotes. Keep that option, and drop any idea that another speaker gives or nobody gives.
Why the other options are wrong:
- landlords repaving their driveways: Rasul talks about driveways only to say tenants have none.
- fewer basements flooding each summer: Fewer floods is what Quaye hopes the fee will bring.
- people turning against green projects: Rees warns about residents turning against the idea, not Rasul.
Correct Answer: four
Passage Reference: Basements and underpasses have flooded in four of the past six summers
Why this is correct: Basements and underpasses have flooded in four of the past six summers.
Tips: The commenter mentions six summers. Find how many of those summers brought floods.
Why the other options are wrong:
- two: The article gives a larger number of summers with floods.
- three: Three is not the number of flood summers in the article.
- five: The article gives a smaller number of flood summers.
Correct Answer: barrels
Passage Reference: Quaye wants owners to earn credits for rain barrels and paving that lets water through
Why this is correct: Quaye wants owners to earn credits for rain barrels and paving that lets water through.
Tips: Find the engineer’s idea for lowering a bill. Notice what goes with porous paving.
Why the other options are wrong:
- gardens: Quaye does not mention gardens. The garden is the commenter’s own idea.
- sensors: Sensors are not mentioned in the article.
- tanks: Rain tanks are not mentioned in the article.
Correct Answer: roof
Passage Reference: Renters cannot earn a credit for a roof they do not own
Why this is correct: Rasul says renters cannot earn a credit for a roof they do not own.
Tips: The commenter borrows a point from the tenant organizer. Find his quote about credits and take the thing he says renters lack.
Why the other options are wrong:
- car: Rasul does not mention cars.
- fence: Fences are not mentioned in the article.
- basement: Rasul talks about a roof, not a basement.
Correct Answer: next month
Passage Reference: If council approves the fee next month
Why this is correct: The article says council could approve the fee next month.
Tips: The commenter is asking when council decides. Find the sentence that says what happens if council says yes.
Why the other options are wrong:
- next week: The article says next month, not next week.
- next spring: Spring is not mentioned as the time of the decision.
- in two years: Two years is not in the article. Council could decide as soon as next month.
Correct Answer: January
Passage Reference: If council approves the fee next month, the first bills would arrive in January.
Why this is correct: If council approves the fee next month, the first bills would arrive in January.
Tips: Find when the first bills would be mailed if council says yes. Check the month the article gives.
Why the other options are wrong:
- October: October is not mentioned in the article.
- November: November is not mentioned in the article.
- December: The first bills would come one month later than December.
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