Question

Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.

Sugar turned human beings into property, yet sugar led people to reject the idea that any person could be owned by another. Sugar murdered millions, and yet it gave the voiceless a way to speak. Sugar crushed people, and yet it was because of sugar that Gandhi began his experiment in truth—so that every individual could free him- or herself. Only sugar—the sweetness we all crave—could drive people to be so cruel, and to combat all forms of cruelty. The craving for sugar took us from that ancient time when people were defined by the work of their ancestors to our modern world—the one Gandhi led us to see, in which each individual is valued as human. Though terrible conditions for sugar workers still exist in places such as the Dominican Republic, and cane sugar has been replaced by other sweeteners invented in the Age of Science, this one substance forever marked our history.

What claim do the authors make in this passage?

A) Cruel working conditions on sugar plantations caused many people to violently revolt and rebel.
B) Sugar has been a source of cruelty, from the time of plantations to modern farms.
C) Sugar plantations were violent systems, but sugar also led some people to reject slavery.
D) Sugar workers should reject the idea that anyone owns them and should combat cruelty.

Answer 1

The answer is:

C) Sugar plantations were violent systems, but sugar also led some people to reject slavery.

In the excerpt from "Sugar Changed the World," Marina Budhos expresses how the brutality of conditions suffered by slaves influenced people to repudiate such system. She also mentions Gandhi's endeavor to transmit human values, and reinforces the concept of the significance sugar has had in the history of mankind.