Answers2026-2027_MDCPS_1001375_English 3 B-CRRhetorical Devices in a Political Speech

A Look at the Fast-Food Industry by Eric Schlosser Answers

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1
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Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. The labor practices of the fast food industry have their origins in the assembly line systems adopted by American manufacturers in the early twentieth century. Business historian Alfred D. Chandler has argued that a high rate of “throughput” was the most important aspect of these mass production systems. A factory’s throughput is the speed and volume of its flow—a much more crucial measurement, according to Chandler, than the number of workers it employs or the value of its machinery. Which of the following choices best describes the evidence used in this excerpt?

A
An expert’s opinion provides historical background of an important concept.
B
An expert’s viewpoint presents a counterclaim to the author’s argument.
C
Statistical and factual evidence prove the author’s claim.
D
Personal experience creates persuasive, emotional appeal.
2
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Which excerpt from Fast Food Nation best illustrates the use of the rhetorical appeal logos?

A
Teenagers open the fast food outlets in the morning, close them at night, and keep them going at all hours in between.
B
Elisa’s mother usually drives her the half-mile or so to the restaurant, but sometimes Elisa walks, leaving home before the sun rises.
C
The labor practices of the fast food industry have their origins in the assembly line systems adopted by American manufacturers in the early twentieth century.
D
Fast food kitchens often seem like a scene from Bugsy Malone, a film in which all the actors are children pretending to be adults.
3

Which of the following pieces of evidence from Fast Food Nation best supports the author’s claim that teenagers are the ideal candidates for working in the fast food industry?

A
And it gives fast food companies an enormous amount of power over their employees.
B
Since most teenagers still lived at home, they could afford to work for wages too low to support an adult, and until recently, their limited skills attracted few other employers.
C
Workers at the counter are told to increase the size of an order by recommending special promotions, pushing dessert, pointing out the financial logic behind the purchase of a larger drink.
D
A McDonald’s kitchen is full of buzzers and flashing lights that tell employees what to do.
4

In Fast Food Nation, the best reason that the author offers for the fast-food industry’s strict regimen for productivity is that

A
once an order is placed, glowing buttons suggest other menu items.
B
company operation manuals can be updated more often.
C
it gives the companies power over their employees.
D
flashing lights can help tell employees what to do.
5

Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. The restaurant opens for business at seven o’clock, and for the next hour or so, Elisa and the manager hold down the fort, handling all the orders. As the place starts to get busy, other employees arrive. Elisa works behind the counter. She takes orders and hands food to customers from breakfast through lunch.Which type of evidence does Schlosser use in this excerpt?

A
anecdotal
B
statistical
C
testimonial
D
analogical
6

Which excerpt from Fast Food Nation best illustrates the author’s use of the rhetorical appeal logos?

A
Her family’s modest townhouse sits beside a busy highway on the south side of Colorado Springs, in a largely poor and working-class neighborhood.
B
A job at a fast food restaurant became an American rite of passage, a first job soon left behind for better things.
C
English is now the second language of at least one-sixth of the nation’s restaurant workers, and about one-third of that group speaks no English at all.
D
When she finally walks home, after seven hours of standing at a cash register, her feet hurt. She’s wiped out.
7

Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. The strict regimentation at fast food restaurants creates standardized products. It increases the throughput. And it gives fast food companies an enormous amount of power over their employees. “When management determines exactly how every task is to be done . . . and can impose its own rules about pace, output, quality, and technique,” the sociologist Robin Leidner has noted, “[it] makes workers increasingly interchangeable.”Which type of evidence is Schlosser using in this excerpt?

A
anecdotal
B
statistical
C
testimonial
D
analogical
8

The author of Fast Food Nation claims that the fast-food industry prefers to employ underskilled workers. The author best offers support by providing

A
counterclaims about employees who prefer part-time jobs
B
specific reasons such as the ability of de-skilled jobs to “be filled cheaply”
C
evidence that English is the second language for many employees
D
evidence that employees often learn basic job skills such as “getting to work on time”
9

Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. EVERY SATURDAY, ELISA ZAMOT gets up at 5:15 in the morning. It’s a struggle, and her head feels groggy as she steps into the shower. Her little sisters, Cookie and Sabrina, are fast asleep in their beds. By 5:30, Elisa’s showered, done her hair, and put on her McDonald’s uniform. She’s sixteen, bright-eyed and olive-skinned, pretty and petite, ready for another day of work. Elisa’s mother usually drives her the half-mile or so to the restaurant, but sometimes Elisa walks, leaving home before the sun rises. Which of the following choices best describes the rhetorical appeal used in this excerpt?

A
The excerpt demonstrates logos because it is completely objective and lacking in emotion.
B
The excerpt demonstrates logos because it contains statistics to support the author’s claim.
C
The excerpt demonstrates ethos because the author positions himself as an expert on the topic.
D
The excerpt demonstrates pathos because the author presents a compelling story using emotional language.
10

The author of Fast Food Nation claims that the fast-food industry prefers to employ teenagers. How does the author best support this claim?

A
by providing evidence that teenagers are the bulk of the workforce in America because many still live at home
B
by providing the counterclaim that teenagers typically leave behind their first jobs at fast-food chains for better opportunities
C
by providing evidence that teenagers are better at smiling and promoting the increased size of an order
D
by providing specific reasons why teenagers are ideal candidates, such as their acceptance of lower wages
11

Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. At Taco Bell restaurants the food is “assembled,” not prepared. The guacamole isn’t made by workers in the kitchen; it’s made at a factory in Michoacán, Mexico, then frozen and shipped north. The chain’s taco meat arrives frozen and precooked in vacuum-sealed plastic bags. The beans are dehydrated and look like brownish corn flakes. The cooking process is fairly simple. “Everything’s add water,” a Taco Bell employee told me. “Just add hot water.”The Taco Bell employee’s quote supports Schlosser’s argument in this excerpt because it

A
provides personal opinions about the working conditions in fast food restaurants.
B
helps the reader visualize teenagers working in fast food restaurants.
C
provides expert testimony about the nutritional quality of fast food.
D
emphasizes the obsession with consistency and standardization in the fast food industry.
12

Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. The labor practices of the fast food industry have their origins in the assembly line systems adopted by American manufacturers in the early twentieth century. Business historian Alfred D. Chandler has argued that a high rate of “throughput” was the most important aspect of these mass production systems. A factory’s throughput is the speed and volume of its flow—a much more crucial measurement, according to Chandler, than the number of workers it employs or the value of its machinery. Which of the following choices best describes the evidence used in this excerpt?

A
An expert’s opinion provides historical background of an important concept.
B
An expert’s viewpoint presents a counterclaim to the author’s argument.
C
Statistical and factual evidence prove the author’s claim.
D
Personal experience creates persuasive, emotional appeal.
13

Which excerpt from Fast Food Nation best states a reason supporting the author’s claim that fast food restaurants follow the assembly line model?

A
Once an order has been placed, buttons light up and suggest other menu items that can be added.
B
At Burger King restaurants, frozen hamburger patties are placed on a conveyer belt and emerge from a broiler ninety seconds later fully cooked.
C
The McDonald’s operations manual today has ten times the number of pages and weighs about four pounds.
D
Teenagers open the fast food outlets in the morning, close them at night, and keep them going at all hours in between.
14

Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. The restaurant opens for business at seven o’clock, and for the next hour or so, Elisa and the manager hold down the fort, handling all the orders. As the place starts to get busy, other employees arrive. Elisa works behind the counter. She takes orders and hands food to customers from breakfast through lunch.Which type of evidence does Schlosser use in this excerpt?

A
anecdotal
B
statistical
C
testimonial
D
analogical
15

Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. The strict regimentation at fast food restaurants creates standardized products. It increases the throughput. And it gives fast food companies an enormous amount of power over their employees. “When management determines exactly how every task is to be done . . . and can impose its own rules about pace, output, quality, and technique,” the sociologist Robin Leidner has noted, “[it] makes workers increasingly interchangeable.” The management no longer depends upon the talents or skills of its workers—those things are built into the operating system and machines. The testimonial evidence in this excerpt is effective because it

A
makes an emotional protest against the fast food industry’s treatment of employees.
B
includes an expert opinion supporting the claim that the fast food industry resembles the manufacturing business.
C
describes a personal experience of what it is like to work in a fast food restaurant.
D
provides a technical explanation of the standardized procedures and equipment used in fast food restaurants.
16

Which excerpt from Fast Food Nation best illustrates the use of the rhetorical appeal pathos?

A
Teenagers have long provided the fast food industry with the bulk of its workforce.
B
The strict regimentation at fast food restaurants creates standardized products.
C
Although Richard and Mac McDonald introduced the division of labor to the restaurant business, it was a McDonald’s executive named Fred Turner who created a production system of unusual thoroughness and attention to detail.
D
But the stance of the fast food industry on issues involving employee training, the minimum wage, labor unions, and overtime pay strongly suggests that its motives in hiring the young, the poor, and the handicapped are hardly altruistic.
17

Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. Cooking instructions are not only printed in the manual, they are often designed into the machines. A McDonald’s kitchen is full of buzzers and flashing lights that tell employees what to do.The evidence presented in this excerpt best supports the author’s claim that

A
McDonald’s is the leader in fast food innovation.
B
fast food restaurants use technology designed to reduce the need for skilled labor.
C
technology has helped improve the fast food industry.
D
the workers’ limited skills have forced fast food employers to rely on machines instead of people.
18

Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. “When management determines exactly how every task is to be done . . . and can impose its own rules about pace, output, quality, and technique,” the sociologist Robin Leidner has noted, “[it] makes workers increasingly interchangeable.” The management no longer depends upon the talents or skills of its workers — those things are built into the operating system and machines. Jobs that have been “de-skilled” can be filled cheaply. The need to retain any individual worker is greatly reduced by the ease with which he or she can be replaced.Which best describes the type of evidence presented in this excerpt?

A
analogical
B
anecdotal
C
statistical
D
testimonial
19

Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation. Instead of relying upon a small, stable, well-paid, and well-trained workforce, the fast food industry seeks out part-time, unskilled workers who are willing to accept low pay. Teenagers have been the perfect candidates for these jobs, not only because they are less expensive to hire than adults, but also because their youthful inexperience makes them easier to control.In this excerpt, Schlosser claims that fast food restaurants are

A
taking advantage of people to save money.
B
helping society by hiring unskilled workers.
C
providing valuable training for teenagers.
D
using highly skilled workers in low-paying jobs.
20

Which excerpt from Fast Food Nation best states the author’s overall claim?

A
The fast food industry’s obsession with throughput has altered the way millions of Americans work, turned commercial kitchens into small factories, and changed familiar foods into commodities that are manufactured.
B
Unlike Olympic gymnastics—an activity in which teenagers consistently perform at a higher level than adults—there’s nothing about the work in a fast food kitchen that requires young employees.
C
Although Richard and Mac McDonald introduced the division of labor to the restaurant business, it was a McDonald’s executive named Fred Turner who created a production system of unusual thoroughness and attention to detail.
D
Teenagers have been the perfect candidates for these jobs, not only because they are less expensive to hire than adults, but also because their youthful inexperience makes them easier to control.

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