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Text Solution:

In this particular context, although the word “but” does appear in the sentence, it does not signal that our job is to create a contrast in the sentence. In fact, in evaluating the sentence context, we can see that a “sign” of something is being described, and thus the sentence conveys agreement overall.

We should also notice the key piece of known information that the “sign” is “unfortunate.” Using this clue, we know that the sign must be something negative. Let’s keep that meaning in mind as we evaluate the answer choices.

Choice (A), acquisitiveness, which pairs with choice (C), greed, certainly is negative, and this synonym pair makes sense given the context that “over half of newly constructed buildings … are built on land that is susceptible to catastrophic damage.” With this synonym pair, the overall meaning conveyed would be that it is not safe to build on the land, but developers are building there anyway because they care only about money. So, choices (A) and (C) certainly make sense in the context of something “unfortunate.”

Choice (B), efficiency, which pairs with choice (F), productivity, does not make sense in the context of an “unfortunate” sign. Furthermore, we are told only that “over half of newly constructed buildings … are built on land that is susceptible to catastrophic damage.” In other words, we are told that a large proportion of the buildings constructed are built on that land, but we are not told that the total number of buildings constructed is large, or that they are built at a fast pace or in an efficient way. Thus, the information we’re given is not actually, as far as we know, a “sign of the efficiency/productivity of developers.” So, we can eliminate (B) and (F) as both illogical and unsupported by the sentence context.

The only choices remaining are “opulence” (great wealth, luxury) and “profitability,” which both relate to money but do not create the same sentence meaning. Furthermore, based on the information in the sentence, we cannot say for sure that the fact that “over half of newly constructed buildings … are built on land that is susceptible to catastrophic damage” is a sign of either “opulence” or “profitability.” Eliminate (D) and (E).

Choices (A) and (C) are the only pair that logically complete the sentence and create the same sentence meaning:

It is an unfortunate but unmistakable sign of the acquisitiveness/greed of developers that over half of newly constructed buildings in the contiguous United States are built on land that is susceptible to catastrophic damage from natural disasters.