Question

Read the passage from The American Plague.

Toward the end of October, Washington heard from Postmaster General Pickering that the fever seemed to be on the wane. A cold spell had swept in and with it a cleansing rain. Burials were falling in number, from a high of 120 on October 11 to half that number on October 21.

This good news was followed almost immediately by a contradictory report from Comptroller Wolcott. After several good days in the city, he explained, warm weather reappeared and deaths increased, jumping to 82 on October 22. Wolcott advised the president to delay his return trip several more days.

From the central ideas of these two paragraphs, the reader can conclude that

a)Washington had reliable information from many sources.
b)ashington lacked reliable information despite his sources.
c)Wolcott was not a good source of information for Washington.
d)Pickering was not a good source of information for Washington.

Answer 1

B. is the correct answer

Answer 2

Answer: The right answer is the B) Washington lacked reliable information despite his sources.

Explanation: Just to elaborate a little on the answer, it can be added that Washington's sources were allegedly trustworthy - one of them was Postmaster General Timothy Pickering and the other one was Comptroller Oliver Wolcott Jr. However, the information that each one of them provided - a weather report and a mortality report - was contradictory and unreliable. While the former informed Washington that the weather had cooled down and the mortality rate had consequently decreased, the latter reported that the weather had indeed become warmer and the deaths had increased.