DIRECTIONS: Read the passage. Then, answer the questions that follow.
It's a fact: facts are changing; they're losing their importance. If this sounds ridiculous
to you, you are not alone. After all, facts can't change. A fact is something solid,
truthful, and accurate: A year has 365 days; water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
And so on. And in actuality, these kinds of facts haven't changed, and won't change.
But there is another kind of "fact" that does seem to be undergoing change. Consider
an example from my own experience in a U.S. government agency-a fact such as
the unemployment rate. In the past, this was a simple number that our agency
routinely calculated and no one questioned. However, this has changed. We would
say, for example, that unemployment was at 5.4 percent. Our opponents would then
counter. Unemployment seems to be at 5.4 percent, they'd say, but that doesn't count
the under-employed, the part-time employed, those who have taken pay cuts, and
those who have given up looking for work.
From there, we say one thing, they say another, and it goes on like this, back and
forth. The thing we all have in common is that we get many of our facts from Internet
sources. And this is where the whole system goes off the rails. In my own personal
experience, I have concluded that you can find anything on the Internet. And that's
how things have changed in recent years. In the past, there was only one set of facts.
All sides of a debate were stuck with them. Today, with so many Internet sources,
you can pretty much find "facts" to support any position you want. Now, don't get me
wrong: Some facts are clearly more reliable than others. But in today's world, it's hard
to tell the "better" facts from the "worse" facts. And that's a real problem.
1. What central idea does the passage express?
2. How does the writer support the central idea?
3. What personal information does the writer include to support the idea?
