Question

The fact is, bureaucracies are a problem around the world. There’s an old story about a town – it could be anywhere – with a bureaucrat who is known to be a good-for-nothing, but he somehow had always hung on to power. So one day, in a town meeting, an old woman got up and said to him: "There is a folk legend here where I come from that when a baby is born, an angel comes down from heaven and kisses it on one part of its body. If the angel kisses him on his hand, he becomes a handyman. If he kisses him on his forehead, he becomes bright and clever. And I’ve been trying to figure out where the angel kissed you so that you should sit there for so long and do nothing.”

–Address at Moscow State University
Ronald Reagan

What is the main opinion Reagan gives in Passage A?


What is the main opinion Reagan gives in Passage B?


Which opinion does he substantiate with facts?

Answer 1

Passage A — Main opinion:
- Bureaucracies are a problem around the world.

Passage B — Main opinion:
- Bureaucrats can be useless or incompetent yet still cling to power (illustrated by the story about the useless bureaucrat).

Which opinion is substantiated with facts?
- Neither is substantiated with factual evidence. Passage A is a general assertion; Passage B is a humorous anecdote/illustration, not factual proof.