Word Choice and Evidence in Wheels of Change, Part 3

Question 8 • 25-26 TX-Literary Genres

Which excerpt from Chapter 2 of Wheels of Change supports the viewpoint that cycling has health benefits?

Answer

“The bicycle is the devil's advance agent morally and physically in thousands of instances." Smith's resolution called for "all true women and clergymen" to join with her in denouncing the bicycle craze among women as “indecent and vulgar.”

The Reverend Dr. A. Stewart Walsh, a respected clergyman in New York City and a cyclist himself, wrote a letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Eagle declaring, "I have associated with thousands of riders . . . and I have not seen among them . . . anything that could begin to approach the outrageous and scandalous indecency of the resolutions of the alleged rescue league."

In fact, the impact of the bicycle on the health and welfare of its riders was the subject of a great deal of discussion in the 1890s. At first, the popularity of the safety drew mostly praise as its use seemed to usher in a new era of robust living.

Medical literature linked cycling to cures for everything from asthma and diabetes to heart disease and varicose veins, while one study credited the decreasing death rate from consumption (tuberculosis) among women in Massachusetts to their increasing use of the bicycle.

Explanation

Choice D directly describes cycling as beneficial to health: medical literature linked it to cures for several illnesses, and a study associated increased bicycle use with a lower tuberculosis death rate among women. Choice C says cycling was praised as part of a new era of robust living, but D gives specific evidence of health benefits.

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