Question 5 • CMS 2025-2026 English I CREDIT RECOVERY
Read the excerpt from "A Quilt of a Country." What is the point of this splintered whole? What is the point of a nation in which Arab cabbies chauffeur Jewish passengers through the streets of New York—and in which Jewish cabbies chauffeur Arab passengers, too, and yet speak in theory of hatred, one for the other? What is the point of a nation in which one part seems to be always on the verge of fisticuffs with another, blacks and whites, gays and straights, left and right, Pole and Chinese and Puerto Rican and Slovenian? Other countries with such divisions have in fact divided into new nations with new names, but not this one, impossibly interwoven even in its hostilities. Which statement best summarizes the central idea of this paragraph?
Answer
A
America is always on the verge of civil unrest due to its multicultural citizens.
B
America’s cultural differences make it impossible to live peacefully.
C
America is a united country despite its cultural differences.
D
America’s cultural differences have caused it to fracture.
Explanation
The paragraph describes serious tensions among different groups, but emphasizes that they remain “impossibly interwoven” rather than splitting into separate nations. This means America is united despite its cultural differences, which is choice C. The other choices overstate the divisions by claiming America has fractured or cannot live peacefully.
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