Question

Instructions

Read the following excerpt. Then, read each central idea and choose the detail that supports it.
In this excerpt, we learn about the diversity of culture among people isolated by their situation in
New Guinea.
From First Contact: New Guinea's Highlanders Encounter the Outside World by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson
1 The reality turned out to be very different from Trégance's mythic kingdom. There was no
unified, hierarchic society. The populations of the highland valleys were splintered into
thousands of tiny, isolated enclaves, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand people.
Each enclave had its allies and its enemies, and it was the presence of these enemies that
determined the pattern of life and made freedom of movement, and therefore, wide-ranging
travel, impossible. Men and women lived out their lives knowing nothing but the familiar
environment of their own tribal territory. Travel more than ten miles was difficult and dangerous.
Travel from one end of the valley to the other was impossible. Travel beyond the valleys, to the
outside world, was inconceivable. There was no outside world.
2 Along with this restriction in movement was a restriction in information. There was no
common tongue, but rather a multiplicity of separate languages. This effectively prevented any
free flow of information from the outside in, and the inside out. Certainly there were well-
established trading routes, extending from both coasts into the highland valleys. Coastal items
of value-particularly seashells but also the odd piece of steel-were traded through
innumerable hands in innumerable transactions from the coasts into the interior. But by this time
information about the origin of the goods was lost. In much the same way, Medieval Europeans
enjoyed the exotic products of the Far East without knowing where they came from.
1. The researchers had preconceived ideas about what life would be like in New Guinea, and their ideas
were wrong.
A. "There was no unified, hierarchic society.... There was no common tongue, but rather a multiplicity of several
languages."
B. "Coastal items of value-particularly seashells but also the odd piece of steel-were traded through
innumerable hands in innumerable transactions from the coasts into the interior."
2. People in the highlands were sheltered from the outside world by the difficulty of travel.
A. "The populations of the highland valleys were splintered into thousands of tiny, isolated enclaves, ..."
B. "... it was the presence of these enemies that determined the pattern of life and made freedom of
movement, and therefore, wide-ranging travel, impossible..."
3. People in the highlands were isolated from the outside world by a restriction on information.
A. "But by this time information about the origin of the goods was lost...."
B. "... a multiplicity of separate languages.... effectively prevented any free flow of information from the outside
in, and the inside out."

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

1. The researchers had preconceived ideas about what life would be like in New Guinea, and their ideas were wrong.

A. "There was no unified, hierarchic society.... There was no common tongue, but rather a multiplicity of several languages."

2. People in the highlands were sheltered from the outside world by the difficulty of travel.

A. "The populations of the highland valleys were splintered into thousands of tiny, isolated enclaves, ..."

B. "... it was the presence of these enemies that determined the pattern of life and made freedom of movement, and therefore, wide-ranging travel, impossible..."

3. People in the highlands were isolated from the outside world by a restriction on information.

A. "But by this time information about the origin of the goods was lost...."

B. "... a multiplicity of separate languages.... effectively prevented any free flow of information from the outside

in, and the inside out."