Read the excerpt from Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" speech. Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany—busy office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of park land. Where a city's culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, countless theaters, and museums. Where there was want, today there's abundance. Which statement best explains the use of rhetoric in this paragraph?
Answer
A
Reagan uses parallelism to compare the past to the present.
B
Reagan uses hyperbole to emphasize changes that have taken place.
C
Reagan uses hasty generalizations to encourage hope.
D
Reagan uses repetition to focus attention on history.
Explanation
Reagan repeatedly contrasts what West Berlin was like in the past with what it is like now: “Where ... there was rubble” is followed by what exists “today,” and the pattern continues with culture and abundance. This parallel structure emphasizes the city’s transformation. The passage does not mainly rely on hyperbole or hasty generalizations.
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