Text 1
Psychologist Anders Ericsson's research on expert performance concluded that deliberate practice, defined as structured, effortful training focused on improving specific weaknesses, is the primary driver of elite-level skill. Ericsson maintained that innate talent plays a far smaller role than most people assume and that differences in achievement largely reflect differences in the quantity and quality of practice.

Text 2
A 2014 meta-analysis led by psychologist Brooke Macnamara examined the relationship between deliberate practice and performance across multiple domains. The study found that while practice did account for a meaningful portion of performance differences, its explanatory power varied considerably: practice explained about 26 percent of variance in games, 21 percent in music, but only 4 percent in academic achievement, suggesting that other factors also play substantial roles.

Based on the texts, what is the relationship between Text 1 and Text 2?

Text 1
Urban planner Jan Gehl has long advocated for designing cities around pedestrians rather than automobiles. Gehl argues that walkable streets with narrow lanes, outdoor seating, and ground-level shops create vibrant public life and encourage social interaction, making cities more livable for their residents.

Text 2
Transportation researcher David Levinson acknowledges the appeal of pedestrian-oriented design but cautions that such approaches work best in dense urban cores. In sprawling metropolitan areas where jobs, housing, and services are widely dispersed, Levinson argues, restricting automobile infrastructure without first addressing land use patterns can reduce accessibility for residents who depend on cars to reach essential destinations.

Based on the texts, Levinson (Text 2) would most likely agree with which aspect of Gehl's position (Text 1) while raising which concern?

Text 1
Marine biologist Boris Worm published a widely cited 2006 study projecting that, if current trends continued, all commercially fished species could collapse by 2048. The study drew attention to the accelerating loss of marine biodiversity and the potential consequences for global food systems.

Text 2
In a 2009 follow-up paper co-authored with fisheries scientist Ray Hilborn, Worm revised his earlier conclusions. The new analysis found that while many fish populations were indeed in serious decline, others had stabilized or were recovering in regions where science-based management practices had been implemented. Worm and Hilborn concluded that the situation was dire but not irreversible.

Based on the texts, how does Text 2 modify the picture presented in Text 1?

Text 1
Neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene has argued that the human brain contains a specialized neural circuit for processing numerical quantities, a kind of built-in "number sense" that is present from infancy. He points to studies showing that even newborns can distinguish between sets of different sizes, suggesting that basic numerical cognition is innate rather than learned.

Text 2
Cognitive scientist Rafael Núñez has questioned whether the abilities observed in infants truly constitute numerical understanding. Núñez argues that detecting differences in quantity is a perceptual skill shared by many animal species and should not be equated with the distinctly human capacity for mathematics, which depends on culturally transmitted symbols and concepts that develop only through social learning.

Based on the texts, what is the nature of the disagreement between the two researchers?

Text 1
Political scientist Robert Putnam documented a decades-long decline in civic participation in the United States, including falling membership in community organizations, lower voter turnout, and reduced trust among neighbors. He attributed this erosion of "social capital" largely to generational change and the rise of entertainment technologies, particularly television, which replaced time previously spent in communal activities.

Text 2
Sociologist Claude Fischer has challenged Putnam's narrative by arguing that the specific forms of civic life Putnam measured, such as bowling leagues and fraternal lodges, declined not because Americans became more isolated but because they shifted their social engagement to other venues, including informal networks, online communities, and smaller interest-based groups that traditional surveys fail to capture.

Based on the texts, what is the fundamental difference in how Putnam and Fischer interpret the same trend?

Text 1
Literary critic Harold Bloom championed the idea of a "Western canon," a body of literary works he considered aesthetically superior and essential for understanding the tradition of great writing. Bloom maintained that literary merit should be judged by standards internal to literature itself, such as originality, cognitive power, and mastery of figurative language, rather than by a work's political or social content.

Text 2
Scholar Toni Morrison, while never denying the artistry of canonical works, argued that the very process of canon formation reflects cultural power dynamics. Morrison contended that the repeated elevation of certain voices and exclusion of others is not a neutral aesthetic judgment but a historical act shaped by who held authority in universities and publishing houses. She called for examining not only what is in the canon but what assumptions determine its boundaries.

Based on the texts, both authors would most likely agree with which of the following statements, despite their broader disagreement?

Text 1
Ecologist E.O. Wilson proposed that at least half of Earth's land surface should be set aside as protected habitat to prevent a catastrophic loss of biodiversity. Wilson argued that smaller, fragmented reserves are insufficient because they cannot support the large, interconnected ecosystems that many species require to maintain viable populations over time.

Text 2
Conservation biologist Bram Büscher has expressed concern that Wilson's "Half-Earth" proposal, however well-intentioned, risks displacing Indigenous and rural communities who live on and manage the very lands that would be designated as protected. Büscher argues that effective conservation must integrate human communities rather than exclude them, since many of the world's most biodiverse landscapes have been shaped and sustained by Indigenous land management practices for centuries.

Based on the texts, how does Büscher's critique (Text 2) relate to Wilson's argument (Text 1)?