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Read the excerpt from "A Quilt of a Country."
Which statement best traces the development of a central
idea from one paragraph to the next?
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America is an improbable idea. A mongrel nation built of
ever-changing disparate parts, it is held together by a
notion, the notion that all men are created equal, though
everyone knows that most men consider themselves better
than someone. "Of all the nations in the world, the United
States was built in nobody's image," the historian Daniel
Boorstin wrote. That's because it was built of bits and
pieces that seem discordant, like the crazy quilts that have
been one of its great folk-art forms, velvet and calico and
checks and brocades. Out of many, one. That is the ideal.
O The first paragraph discusses the aspects of American
culture that unify Americans. The second paragraph
discusses the aspects of American culture that tear
Americans apart and cause friction.
O The first paragraph discusses the idea that Americans
are united as one despite their differences. The second
paragraph discusses the idea that acts of intolerance
make it difficult to believe that Americans are united as
one.
The reality is often quite different, a great national striving
consisting frequently of failure. Many of the oft-told stories
of the most pluralistic nation on earth are stories not of
tolerance, but of bigotry. Slavery and sweatshops, the
burning of crosses and the ostracism of the other. Children
learn in social-studies class and in the news of the lynching
of blacks, the denial of rights to women, the murders of gay
O The first paragraph discusses possible benefits to living
in a society like America. The second paragraph
discusses the disadvantages of living in a society like
America.
O The first paragraph discusses the diversity of American
society and its role in history. The second paragraph
discusses the uniformity of American society and its role
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