Read the excerpt from "A Genetics of Justice” by Julia Alvarez. My father and mother were once again trapped in a police state. They laid low as best they could. Now that they had four young daughters, they could not take any chances. For a while, that spark which has almost cost my father his life and which he had lighted in my mother seemed to have burnt out. Periodically, Trujillo would demand a tribute, and they would acquiesce. A tax, a dummy vote, a portrait on the wall. To my father and other men in the country, the most humiliating of these tributes was the occasional parade in which women were made to march and turn their heads and acknowledge the great man as they passed the review stand. What is the central idea in this paragraph?
Answer
A
The author’s parents tried to get by in the dictatorship, but felt humiliated by the tributes they were forced to participate in.
B
Having four young daughters made the family more of a target because of Trujillo’s mandatory tributes.
C
Trujillo required people to take part in tributes and parades, which were enforced by the police state.
D
The author’s parents fought against the dictatorship, even though they participated in the tributes.
Explanation
The paragraph explains that the author’s parents “laid low” and acquiesced to Trujillo’s demands to avoid taking risks. It also emphasizes how humiliating the tributes were, especially the parades in which women had to acknowledge Trujillo. So the central idea is that the parents tried to get by under the dictatorship while feeling humiliated by the forced tributes.
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