hard · Act reading

The naturalist Eldridge had spent thirty years cataloguing the migratory routes of Arctic terns, and his published maps were models of precision. Yet in his private journals he confessed a different relationship to the work. "I draw these lines," he wrote, "as if the birds obeyed my geometry, when in truth I am only recording the faint pressure of a will I cannot name." He came to believe that every map was less a description than a wager—a guess dressed in the costume of certainty. The cleaner the line, he noted, the larger the lie it concealed. Which of the following best captures Eldridge's view of his own scientific maps, as revealed in the passage?

1. His maps were intentionally falsified to advance his professional reputation among other naturalists
2. His maps imposed a deceptive appearance of certainty onto phenomena he did not fully understand
3. His maps grew less accurate over the thirty years as his eyesight and patience steadily declined
4. His maps were the most reliable record of tern migration produced by any naturalist of his era

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