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Verbal·Expression of Ideas·Rhetorical Synthesis

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While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• The Shinkansen, commonly known as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railways in Japan.
• 1960s: The trains’ high speeds created intense pressure waves that produced sonic booms when the trains exited tunnels.
• 1980s: Engineer Eiji Nakatsu noted that the kingfisher bird could dive into water at high speeds while barely creating a splash.
• The kingfisher’s beak gradually widens from tip to head, allowing the bird to transition smoothly between air and water.
• Nakatsu and the other engineers redesigned the train nose based on the kingfisher’s beak structure to improve the train’s transition between tunnel and open-air environments.
• The redesign reduced pressure buildup, eliminating sonic booms.

The student wants to explain how the kingfisher’s beak structure was used to solve the bullet train’s sonic boom problem. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A

Nakatsu discovered that the kingfisher’s beak structure eliminated sonic booms, and the redesign improved the train’s transition between tunnel and open-air environments.

B

Nakatsu’s observation of kingfishers diving into water showed how the bird’s beak structure could help the train eliminate sonic booms.

C

By redesigning the train’s nose to imitate the kingfisher’s gradually widening beak shape, engineers improved the train’s transition between tunnels and open air, eliminating sonic booms.

D

The shape of the kingfisher’s beak inspired engineers to reshape the train nose into one that gradually widens, allowing the train to move smoothly between air and water.