Correct Answer: who should flood the neighbourhood rinks
Passage Reference: council is deciding who should flood neighbourhood rinks from now on
Why this is correct: The blogger explains that council is deciding who should flood neighbourhood rinks. Every person in the blog post gives a view on volunteers, city crews or a mix.
Tips: For a “mainly about” question, find the decision the writer sets up in the first paragraph. Then check that every paragraph returns to it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- whether the city should build an indoor arena: No one talks about building an indoor arena. The blog post is about flooding outdoor rinks.
- how to raise money for new hockey boards: Savoie mentions the boards only to show that volunteers know the rink. No one is raising money for new ones.
- when the rink season should start each year: The start of the season is never discussed. The question is who floods the ice.
Correct Answer: Hamish Diallo
Passage Reference: one injury claim could wipe out every dollar the volunteers save
Why this is correct: Hamish Diallo says a badly flooded rink can hide soft spots. He adds that one injury claim could wipe out every dollar the volunteers save.
Tips: Look for the speaker who “warns” about money and injuries together. Read each speaker’s lines and ask who links the two.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Coralie Savoie: Coralie Savoie argues that volunteers save money. She does not warn about injury claims.
- Linh Prentice: Linh Prentice worries that volunteer schedules fall apart on school nights, not about injury claims.
- Tristan Ikeda: Tristan Ikeda wants injuries reported to council, but the warning that one claim could cost more than the savings is Diallo’s.
Correct Answer: a logbook showing volunteers kept ice usable in mild spells
Passage Reference: volunteer crews kept the ice skateable through two mild spells last January while other rinks turned to slush
Why this is correct: Savoie wants volunteers to keep flooding. She shows council a logbook proving that volunteer crews kept the ice skateable through two mild spells. That logbook supports her position.
Tips: Find Savoie’s main reason in her lines. The right choice is proof that would make that reason stronger.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a record of claims filed over bumpy ice: Claims filed over bumpy ice would support Diallo’s warning, not Savoie’s case for volunteers.
- a survey of parents who want longer skating hours: Longer skating hours are never discussed, and such a survey would not show that volunteers flood well.
- a study of rinks run only by city crews: A study of rinks flooded only by city crews would say nothing in favour of Savoie’s volunteers.
Correct Answer: the city would commit to laying the base flood
Passage Reference: the city commit to the base flood before any shared plan grows
Why this is correct: Prentice backs Diallo’s demand that the city commit to the base flood before any shared plan grows. The outcome is that the city takes on the base flood.
Tips: Prentice’s condition is in the sentence with “before”. Read what she wants done before any shared plan grows.
Why the other options are wrong:
- parents would pay for a private flooding crew: Prentice wants the city to commit, not parents to hire a private crew.
- the rink would open only on weekends: Prentice worries about school nights, but she never asks to open the rink only on weekends.
- volunteers would lay every flood without training: Prentice wants the city to handle the base flood, so volunteers would not lay every flood.
Correct Answer: light-hearted and open-minded
Passage Reference: I have a clear favourite, but I’ll admit the other side made me think. ... Honestly, my feet would thank me.
Why this is correct: You can see the light-hearted side in jokes like “two frozen feet” and “my feet would thank me”. The blogger also admits “the other side made me think”, which is open-minded.
Tips: For tone, look at how the writer talks, not only what they want. Notice the word choices in the first and last paragraphs.
Why the other options are wrong:
- angry and suspicious: The writer is never angry with anyone and even agrees to take the safety course.
- formal and distant: The blog post is personal and full of jokes about cold feet, so it is not formal.
- gloomy and resigned: The writer is cheerful and has a plan for the rink, so the tone is not gloomy.
Correct Answer: finish a safety course before flooding alone
Passage Reference: as long as each volunteer finishes a basic safety course before flooding alone
Why this is correct: Savoie leads the rink group. She says volunteers can keep flooding as long as each one finishes a basic safety course before flooding alone.
Tips: The comment calls her the rink group leader, so go back to her lines. Look for the condition after “as long as”.
Why the other options are wrong:
- flood only on weekend mornings: Savoie never limits flooding to weekend mornings. Volunteers flood after dark.
- pay a small fee for the hoses: Savoie says hoses are cheap for the city, and she never asks volunteers to pay for them.
- work beside a city crew each night: Savoie wants volunteers to flood alone after a safety course, not beside a city crew every night.
Correct Answer: training numbers and injury reports
Passage Reference: how many volunteers have finished training and how many injuries are reported
Why this is correct: Ikeda, the councillor, says a shared plan should publish how many volunteers have finished training and how many injuries are reported.
Tips: Find the councillor in the third paragraph. Read what he says a shared plan should make public.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the names of every volunteer: Ikeda wants the number of trained volunteers, not their names.
- a map of the best rinks: No map of rinks is mentioned. Ikeda wants training and injury numbers.
- the cost of each flood: Ikeda does not ask for the cost of each flood. He wants training and injury figures.
Correct Answer: fall apart on school nights
Passage Reference: says volunteer schedules fall apart on school nights
Why this is correct: Prentice, a mother of three, says volunteer schedules fall apart on school nights, because tired parents put homework first.
Tips: Go back to the mother of three in the third paragraph. The right choice uses her own words about volunteer schedules.
Why the other options are wrong:
- work best during school holidays: Prentice never talks about holidays. She says the schedules fail on school nights.
- should be posted online: Prentice does not ask for schedules to be posted online. She says they fall apart.
- are set by the city: The volunteers set their own schedules. Prentice says those schedules fall apart on school nights.
Correct Answer: hoses and night shifts cost less than a crew
Passage Reference: Savoie says hoses and a few night shifts cost far less than paying a full city crew
Why this is correct: Savoie says hoses and a few night shifts cost far less than paying a full city crew.
Tips: Savoie is named in the comment, so reread her lines in the second paragraph. Put each of her points in your own words and match one.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the city should buy the volunteers new hoses: Savoie mentions hoses as a cheap cost, but she never asks the city to buy new ones.
- volunteers should be paid for night shifts: Savoie’s point is that volunteers are cheap, so she does not ask for them to be paid.
- a city crew floods more evenly than volunteers: Savoie defends the volunteers’ ice. The worry about uneven floods comes from Diallo.
Correct Answer: your twins were six
Passage Reference: Every winter since my twins were six
Why this is correct: Look at the first sentence: “Every winter since my twins were six, I have spent one night a week at the rink.”
Tips: The blank asks when the writer began. Check the very first sentence of the post for a time phrase with “since”.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the rink first opened: The post does not say when the rink opened. The flooding started when the twins were six.
- you retired from teaching: The rink is behind an elementary school, but the blogger never says anything about teaching.
- you moved to the city: Moving is never mentioned. The flooding began when the twins were six.
