Passage Summary: The oceans are rising because the world is getting warmer, but the rise is being slowed down because humans have built many reservoirs that hold water on land.

Reasoning: Global warming increases sea levels through melting ice and thermal expansion, but man-made reservoirs trap water that would otherwise flow into the ocean.

Analysis: This stimulus presents a set of competing forces affecting sea levels. We have two factors pushing the level up (melting and expansion) and one human-made factor holding it back (reservoirs). The logical takeaway is a comparison: the sea level rise we are seeing now is lower than the rise we would see if those reservoirs didn't exist. When looking for the correct answer, avoid anything that claims sea levels are actually falling; the text only supports the idea that the *rate* of increase is being mitigated.