Read the paragraph from "The Workers of Ellis Island." Interpreters translated for immigrants who could not communicate in English. Interpreters not only needed strong linguistic skills in one or more foreign languages, but they also needed to understand the most common dialects in a given language. An interpreter needed to convey the equivalent (or a close equivalent) of the words and meanings expressed by an alien immigrant and a United States Immigrant Inspector or other Ellis Island worker. Many interpreters at Ellis Island were either immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants.

Which sentence best represents the paragraph's central idea?

A. Interpreters translated for immigrants who could not communicate in English.

B. Interpreters not only needed strong linguistic skills in one or more foreign languages, but they also needed to understand the most common dialects in a given language.

C. An interpreter needed to convey the equivalent (or a close equivalent) of the words and meanings expressed by an alien immigrant and a United States Immigrant Inspector or other Ellis Island worker.

D. Many interpreters at Ellis Island were either immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants.

the correct answer is D.

Explanation: A central idea is a or the main point that the author is making (also called a main idea or a key idea). In other words, a central idea is what the paragraph is mostly about. You can think of a central idea as a thesis statement.

in the problem you wrote said that the taxi charges $0.070 per mile(which would be 7 cents per mile), but then in your suggested equation you have it as $0.70 per mile (which is 70 cents per mile).

the latter seems more realistic, so i will assume that the taxi costs $5.00 and charges $0.70 per mile with tolls costing an additional $3.50. and it asks you to find how far you can travel on $36.50.

let x the number of miles traveled. since the taxi charges $0.70 per mile, multiplying this by the miles traveled (x) will yield the cost of the taxi ride as far as how far it took you. then adding this amount to the cost of the taxi ($5.00) and the additional cost for the tolls ($3.50) will give you the total cost of the taxi ride ($36.50)

that is,

            (0.70)x + 5.00 + 3.50 = 36.50

adding the like terms on the left-hand side of this equation, we arrive at the following:

            (0.70)x + 8.50 = 36.50

subtracting 8.50 from both sides of the equation, we get:

            (0.70)x = 28.00

to solve for x, divide both sides of the equation above by the coefficient of x (that being, 0.70):

            x = 40

thus, you can travel up to 40 miles on $36.50