In the final sentence, 'we leave the door open' is best described as:
Foxes have lived in our cities for nearly a century, yet we still argue about whether they belong. To some residents, the fox is a thief of bin bags and a screamer in the night. To others, it is the last wild thing left in streets otherwise given over to concrete. Scientists, meanwhile, point out that urban foxes are neither villains nor victims: they are opportunists, perfectly adapted to feed on whatever our habits leave behind. If we dislike the mess, the evidence suggests, we should look first at our own rubbish, not at the animal that tidies it. Wildlife, after all, does not adapt to us out of kindness; it adapts because we leave the door open.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. A metaphor for how human carelessness welcomes wildlife
- Step 1: The foxes do not literally walk through a door.
- Step 2: The phrase stands for our leftover food and rubbish inviting them, so it is a metaphor.
Answer
A metaphor for how human carelessness welcomes wildlife.
Why not the others: A literal instruction that householders should lock doors at night: the door is symbolic, not a real door. A simile comparing wildlife with a visitor who is made welcome: there is no 'like' or 'as' here, so it is not a simile. A rhetorical question challenging the reader to defend foxes: the sentence is a statement, not a question.
Practise more Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation.
Free questions with an explanation for every one, and full timed National 5 (Scotland) mock tests.
More Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation questions
- What does the writer suggest by the line 'Nobody chooses the 11.40 night bus; it chooses you'?
- Which technique is used in 'It crawls out of the depot like a tired animal'?
- What does 'a kind of democracy' suggest about the people on the bus?
- 'Nobody is in a hurry, because the bus itself refuses to be.' What is the effect of this sentence?
- The writer calls the bus 'a lit room moving through a dark city'. How does this image support the idea of the bus as a refuge?
- How does the final sentence of the passage develop the writer's ideas?