Question

read the passage and answer the following question(s).
1
defining the age of adulthood
you often hear young people argue that the age of adulthood should be a single age. they ask how someone can be old enough to vote but not old enough to take out a loan without a cosigner. they ask how someone can be old enough to fight for this country in our military but not old enough to rent a car. objectively, it’s hard to fault their argument, as allowing people to take on the rights of adulthood at different ages does seem to muddy the waters when it comes to determining exactly when one really does become “grown up.”
read this sentence from paragraph 1.
“objectively, it’s hard to fault their argument, as allowing people to take on the rights of adulthood at different ages does seem to muddy the waters when it comes to determining exactly when one really does become ‘grown up.’”
what does the phrase muddy the waters mean?
○ to introduce a new idea
○ to make something less clear
○ to fail to become an adult
○ to make something soggy

Explanation:

The phrase "muddy the waters" in the context of determining adulthood at different ages implies making the situation or the understanding less clear. The passage talks about how different ages for adult rights make it hard to define when one is grown up, so the phrase means to make something less clear. Option A is incorrect as it's not about introducing new ideas. Option C is incorrect as it's not about failing to become an adult. Option D is incorrect as it's a literal misinterpretation of "muddy". So the correct option is the one that says "to make something less clear".

Answer:

to make something less clear (the option with this text, assuming the options are labeled, e.g., if it's the second option, then "B. to make something less clear" depending on the original option labels; from the given options, the one with "to make something less clear" is the correct choice)