Carl: But such modernizing prevents students from understanding fully what the plays said to premodern audiences. Thus, modernizing plays is of no use for teaching history, because students cannot gain deep knowledge of the past from modernized plays.
A
whether modernizing the language of premodern plays results in plays that have different pedagogical value than the originals
B
whether the loss in aesthetic quality that results from modernizing the language of premodern plays lessens the plays’ usefulness for teaching history
C
whether the highest form of aesthetic enjoyment of premodern plays comes from seeing them as they were originally performed
D
whether increasing the accessibility of premodern plays through modernizing their language is valuable for teaching history
E
whether using plays with modernized language to teach history requires that there be some loss in the aesthetic quality of the plays
In order to relieve traffic congestion, the city of Gastner built a new highway linking several of the city’s suburbs to the downtown area. However, the average commute time for workers in downtown Gastner increased after the new highway opened.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why did the average commute time for workers in downtown Gastner increase after the new highway, which linked several suburbs to downtown and was built to relieve traffic congestion, opened?
Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains a key difference in traffic patterns before and after the new highway opened. This difference must result in an increased commute time for downtown workers, either because of an overall increase in drivers to downtown Gastner, or because of some traffic shift caused by the new highway.
A
Most people who work in the downtown area of Gastner commute from one of the city’s suburbs.
If most downtown workers commute from the suburbs and the new highway links the suburbs to downtown, shouldn’t most downtown workers’ commute time have decreased? (A) doesn’t help to explain why the average commute time actually increased after the highway opened.
B
The location of the new highway is most convenient for people who commute to and from Gastner’s largest suburbs.
The highway’s convenience for people from the largest suburbs doesn’t explain why the average commute time for downtown workers increased after the highway opened. We need an answer choice that explains how traffic patterns in Gastner changed because of the new highway.
C
Shortly after the new highway was opened, several suburban roads connecting to the new highway were upgraded with new stoplights.
We don't know if new stoplights on suburban roads would increase commute times. Maybe all the suburban roads previously had stop signs, which are generally much slower than stoplights. We still need an explanation for why workers' commute times increased after the highway opened.
D
At the same time the new highway was being built, road repair work was being done on important streets leading to downtown Gastner.
We need an explanation for why workers’ commute times increased after the highway opened, not while the highway was being built.
E
In Gastner’s downtown area, traffic on the roads near the new highway became more congested after the new highway was opened.
This explains a key difference in downtown traffic patterns before and after the new highway opened that caused workers’ commute times to increase. Because of the new highway, traffic on downtown roads near the highway became more congested, which led to increased commute times.