Source 1: On our West Texas ranch, the steady spin of turbines has changed how we plan for dry years. Lease payments arrive whether the herd grows or the grass browns, and the machines sip almost no water compared to irrigation. Maintenance crews come on predictable schedules, using existing roads that also help us reach far pastures after storms. There are trade-offs: turbine pads fragment some habitat, and the whoosh is a constant presence on windy nights. Still, because construction was phased, we avoided the boomtown shortages that neighbors faced when drilling surged. The county used new revenue to repave school bus routes, a small fix with big daily impact. To me, wind brought reliability rather than sudden riches. Stability matters. Truly.

Source 2: In the Permian towns my company serves, drilling's return unlocked good wages for workers who once drove two hours for seasonal construction gigs. Hotel lots filled with service trucks, and taxable sales supported a new library wing and grants for EMT training. Yet we also saw strains: housing costs spiked, and weekend traffic jammed two-lane highways built for ranch pickups. Pipelines and recycling systems now reduce truck trips and water waste, but they require big upfront investment and careful oversight. The industry's cycle can be brutal; when prices fall, overtime evaporates and storefronts empty. Local leaders who set aside revenue during high years weather downturns best. Oil brings opportunity, but without planning, that opportunity proves painfully uneven. Volatility hurts families.

Which synthesis statement best combines information from both sources to create a new understanding?

Source 1: Using summer satellite images over three years, researchers mapped how temperatures varied across a midsize city. The hottest zones were dense commercial corridors and large parking lots; neighborhoods with mature trees ran several degrees cooler in late afternoon. Roof color mattered, too: clusters of dark, low-reflective roofs created hotspots even near parks. The team paired images with ground sensors to confirm the pattern on clear days and during heat advisories. They concluded materials and design choices drive heat more than latitude within the city. Recommendations included replacing dark surfaces with reflective coatings, planting street trees where sidewalks are wide enough, and concentrating shade near bus stops. Cooling, they argued, depends on both surface properties and shade distribution. Patterns persisted overnight.

Source 2: A neighborhood coalition tracked temperatures after planting hundreds of young trees along streets and in schoolyards. Volunteers used the same inexpensive thermometers, logging measurements near crosswalks, storefronts, and playgrounds at the same times each week. During the second summer, shaded sidewalks averaged cooler than nearby unshaded blocks, and parents reported shorter wait times for children to cool down after play. However, heat still pooled around a grocery store parking lot and a bus transfer point with little shade. The coalition learned that trees help most where irrigation and long tree pits support growth, and that reflective paint under bus shelters reduced hot surfaces for waiting passengers. Their takeaway: targeted greening and reflective fixes work best together. Maintenance made gains last.

Which conclusion is supported by evidence from both sources?

Source 1: After the 1900 storm shattered Galveston, city engineers and laborers spent years lifting buildings and streets, then poured miles of seawall to blunt the next blow. My great-grandmother remembered wagons creaking up temporary wooden trestles as sand filled beneath homes. The projects didn't erase risk, but they reduced routine flooding and gave families confidence to rebuild schools, streetcars, and shops. Civic groups coordinated hurricane drills and relief funds, embedding lessons into everyday life. Some neighbors moved to the mainland, yet many businesses chose to stay, betting that protection would sustain port trade. The rebuilt city felt different—higher, straighter, more deliberate. Resilience, people said, meant hard engineering and hard organizing, not hope alone, when the Gulf tested us. Again and again.

Source 2: Our company's ledgers from 1898 to 1915 record a decisive change in Gulf shipping. The 1900 hurricane damaged wharves, warehouses, and rail spurs in Galveston, raising costs and delays. Investors soon favored dredging and fortifying the inland waterway to Houston, where storms lost power across the bay and construction land was cheaper. Freight tonnage shifted steadily, and insurance rates reflected the new calculus. Galveston remained important, especially for coastal trade, but deep-water traffic followed capital toward the Ship Channel's sheltered docks and expanding refineries. The lesson we drew was not about courage; it was about logistics. Weather risk, access to rail, and room for industry determined which port grew fastest in the new century. Regional power shifted, permanently, though unevenly.

Which synthesis best combines information from both sources?

Source 1: In my eighth-grade classes, a visible phone-free policy changed the rhythm of lessons. When students placed devices in numbered pockets at the door, chatter quieted faster and transitions shrank by minutes. Assignment completion rose, and hallway conflicts over posts or messages dropped. I still allow quick checks for urgent family calls through the office, and we build short brain breaks into longer blocks so students can stretch and talk. The goal isn't punishment; it's carving space for deep reading and discussion. When we tried a looser rule—phones face down on desks—notifications still pulled eyes away. Clear structure, consistent enforcement, and alternatives for emergencies keep learning time focused without pretending that students' lives stop at the bell. Boundaries help everyone learn.

Source 2: As a student with after-school responsibilities, I understand why teachers want phones put away. Group work goes smoother when nobody is half-watching a screen, and I read faster without buzzing on the desk. Still, total separation all day raises anxiety for me and friends who check bus updates or coordinate little siblings' pickups. What helped most was a schedule: phones stored during class, quick access during passing periods, and one short mid-block check-in for long lessons. Knowing there was a predictable time reduced sneaky glances and arguments. Also, the office kept a plan for contacting families in emergencies, so we didn't feel cut off. Balanced rules respected learning time and real life outside the classroom. Structure made trust and focus.

Which synthesis statement is supported by evidence from both sources?

Source 1 (Historian): In 1901, the Spindletop gusher signaled a new era for Texas. Boomtowns sprang up across the coastal plain and Permian Basin, drawing workers, merchants, and engineers. Oil revenue paved roads, expanded rail links, and helped fund schools and universities through taxes and endowments. Families who arrived with little found steady work in drilling, refining, and services that grew around the fields. Yet the prosperity was cyclical: price crashes shuttered rigs, and towns learned to diversify into manufacturing and shipping. By mid-century, oil had woven itself into Texas identity and politics, shaping everything from local high school mascots to state infrastructure planning. The industry's growth repeatedly forced communities to weigh short-term jobs against long-term stability. Regional banks rose and fell with wells.

Source 2 (Environmental/Regulatory Analyst): Early oil extraction in Texas left a rough footprint. Unchecked flaring lit the night sky, and spills soaked coastal marshes and ranchland. Air quality in some boomtowns worsened as refineries expanded. Over decades, public pressure and costly accidents pushed the industry and state regulators to change. Blowout preventers, improved casing, and later horizontal drilling reduced some surface disturbance and catastrophic failures. Rules from the Railroad Commission tightened reporting and set minimum setbacks near homes and waterways, though enforcement still varied. Conservation groups established wildlife refuges along the coast and urged better cleanup standards. Today, operators juggle profit targets with compliance plans and community expectations, and even advocates acknowledge tradeoffs between energy, jobs, and environmental health. Local monitoring has grown but remains uneven.

Which synthesis statement best combines information from both sources to create a new understanding?

Source 1 (Fire Ecologist): Across fire-adapted forests, prescribed burns intentionally reduce dried leaves, branches, and small shrubs that drive extreme flames. In long-running studies, plots treated with frequent, low-intensity fire see fewer crown fires and recover more quickly after lightning ignitions. Burns also open space for native grasses and restore nutrient cycles. Yet timing is everything: managers need cool, moist conditions and steady winds, and climate change narrows those safe windows in many regions. Burn crews train rigorously, and plans include escape routes and contingency resources, but risk cannot be eliminated. Even well-executed burns release smoke that can aggravate asthma, so agencies must coordinate with health officials. No single treatment, by itself, can prevent damage during record drought and wind.

Source 2 (Community Safety Officer): In neighborhoods pressed against wildland slopes, mechanical thinning and pruning can immediately reduce the ladder fuels that carry flames into roofs. Crews remove dead limbs, chip brush, and create shaded fuel breaks that give firefighters space to work. These projects matter when air-quality alerts, school events, or nearby hospitals make smoke from prescribed burns unacceptable. Thinning is not cheap and must be maintained every few years, but paired with ember-resistant vents, clean gutters, and defensible space, it has helped communities survive recent fires. After-action reports show houses with both yard work and neighborhood-scale treatments are far more likely to remain standing. Still, managers stress that regional risk falls most when treatments extend beyond property lines.

Which conclusion is supported by evidence from both sources?

Source 1 (Municipal Water Manager, Texas Hill Country): Central Texas cities depend on reservoirs that capture spring rains and stretch supplies through long summers. Dams on major rivers also blunt the peaks of flash floods that have repeatedly damaged low-water crossings and neighborhoods. Lake recreation draws visitors and supports marinas and bait shops, and hydropower contributes a small but steady trickle of electricity. The same reservoirs, however, silt up over decades and require costly maintenance. During multiyear droughts, managers juggle releases for downstream farmers, habitat needs, and city taps while urging conservation. Population growth raises the stakes: reliability is now a public safety issue as well as an economic one. Planners evaluate new pipelines and aquifer storage but see reservoirs as essential anchors in a broader portfolio.

Source 2 (River Ecologist and Guide): On free-flowing stretches of Texas rivers, seasonal pulses move sediment, cue fish to spawn, and replenish cypress-lined banks. When dams hold back water, downstream temperatures can cool abruptly, sandbars shrink, and native species lose the signals they evolved to follow. Guides notice that flows timed only for power demand lift paddlers one week and strand them the next, unsettling small tourism businesses. Yet the picture is not simple. Some reservoirs become bird havens, and managed environmental flows from dams can mimic natural variability enough to help mussels and migratory fish. Many river advocates now focus on protecting key reaches while pressing cities to save water first, arguing that demand management can reduce pressure to impound every tributary.

Which synthesis statement best combines information from both sources?

Source 1 (School Librarian): Walk into a busy school library and you'll see two kinds of browsing. Students flip through paperbacks, testing a chapter, and they tap through e-book samples at computers or on tablets. Print copies support deep, sustained attention for many readers, and shelves encourage serendipity—finding a story you didn't plan to read. E-books, meanwhile, expand access after hours, serve students who need adjustable fonts, and keep popular titles available without long waits. Budgets rarely allow unlimited purchases, so librarians study circulation data and student feedback to balance formats. When schools add both e-book licenses and fresh print, overall reading typically rises. The space also doubles as a community hub for clubs and quiet study, regardless of format.

Source 2 (Student Reading Research): Recent surveys and classroom experiments suggest teens read longer on phones when the text is short, but remember and analyze complex chapters slightly better on paper. Access matters more than preference, though. Students without reliable devices or data plans fall behind when assignments require e-books only, while others rely on downloads because they share bedrooms and need backlit screens at night. Programs that offer choice—print copies to borrow and e-books for flexible access—see the biggest gains in time spent reading and completion rates. Instruction helps, too. Teaching note-taking strategies for both formats narrows the comprehension gap. The takeaway from this mix of studies is pragmatic: matching format to task and student context yields the best results.

Which conclusion synthesizes both sources' findings?