Digital ACT Reading Practice Question #1683

The central philosophical debate between Oldrik and Stefan concerns: Passage Excerpt (Literary Narrative): Oldrik tapped the dry wedge of Alpine spruce with his knuckle, listening for the sustained acoustic ring that separated ordinary tone-wood from master violin tops. He examined the tight, uniform annular rings laid down during high-elevation winters of the Val di Fiemme. For three centuries, luthiers had traveled to this valley for slow-growing trees. Stefan, his apprentice, had spent the morning browsing synthetic carbon-fiber blanks online, pointing out their imperviousness to humidity and unbreakable tensile strength. "A carbon violin will sound identical in rain or drought," Stefan argued. Oldrik set the spruce wedge on his bench and smiled faintly. "And that," Oldrik replied softly, "is precisely why it cannot sing. An instrument that does not breathe with the room can never touch the human spirit."