IMPLIED MAIN IDEAS AND THE CENTRAL POINT
PART I
A. Identify the letter of the sentence that best expresses the implied main idea of each of the following
paragraphs.
1. Many people think there is no difference between an alligator and a crocodile. However, the alligator's snout is
shorter and broader than that of a crocodile. A more dramatic difference between the two creatures lies in how
dangerous they are to humans. There are very few documented instances in which alligators have killed a person.
On the other hand, crocodiles, particularly those along the Nile River, are quite dangerous to humans. It is said, in
fact, that as far as killing people is concerned, crocodiles are second only to poisonous snakes.
a. Poisonous snakes are more dangerous to humans than crocodiles.
b. Many people believe that alligators and crocodiles are the same.
c. There are clear differences between alligators and crocodiles.
d. Alligators aren't particularly dangerous to humans.
2. A chemistry professor wished to demonstrate the harmful effects of alcohol to her class. On the lab table, she set
two beakers--one containing water and the other filled with grain alcohol. Then she dropped a worm into each. The
worm in the alcohol beaker wriggled violently in a vain attempt to escape and quickly died. The other worm, in the
water beaker, moved slowly and gracefully, seeming to enjoy its new environment. The professor smiled with
satisfaction and looked at the roomful of students. Then she asked, "What lesson can be learned from this
demonstration?" One student quickly answered, "If you drink alcohol, you'll never have worms."
a. Teaching chemistry is extremely difficult.
b. The professor should not have sacrificed a worm for her lesson.
c. More schools should be teaching students about the harmful effects of alcohol.
d. Although the professor meant to teach the dangers of alcohol, a student assumed something quite
different.
3. The earliest humans probably used the lengthening and shortening of shadows on the ground to measure the
passage of time. Later, the sundial was invented to tell time more precisely, but still by using the shadow principle.
The hourglass, a slightly more recent invention, measured time by allowing grains of sand to fall from one
container to another. In about the year 1300, a primitive clock was invented. It had only an hour hand, but it became
the most exact way yet to tell the time. Since then, clocks have been so improved technically that today's clocks and
watches can be depended upon to be quite precise.
a. Throughout history, people have found better and better ways to measure the passing of time.
b. The hourglass is a slightly more recent invention than the sundial.
c. The first methods of measuring the passing of time took advantage of the changing shadows cast by the
sun throughout a day.
d. A primitive clock invented in about 1300 was the most exact way to tell time up to that point.
B. Identify the letter of the sentence that states the central point of the following selection.
An Endangered Way of Life
(A)
Small towns across America are in crisis, and the quality of life for their citizens is declining.
In 1950, about 36 percent of Americans lived in small towns and rural areas; by 1990, only 25 percent did.
Young people (especially those with higher education) are moving away, often leaving their parents behind. As a
result, rural America is aging.
(B)
Also, the economic life of rural America is discouraging. Because many small towns depend on a single
employer, their economies are fragile. Moreover, with more people than jobs, employers are able to pay just the
minimum wage. The poverty rate for young people in rural areas has more than doubled in the past twenty years,
and the unemployment rate is twice the national average.
(C)
Health care in rural America is deteriorating. Of the three hundred hospitals that closed in the 1980s, more
than half were in small towns. The country doctor is also disappearing. Many small towns have only a part -time
physician who serves several communities, and some have no doctor at all.
(D)
Small-town schools are also in trouble. With dwindling numbers of students, the cost of educating a single
student often becomes prohibitive, and many small districts have been forced to merge. In consolidated school
districts, students may be forced to travel fifty miles back and forth to school each day.
(E)
The crisis in rural America is taking its toll on the mental health of its residents. A recent study of Iowa
farmers found that one in three suffered symptoms of depression. Another study, of rural adolescents, found that
they are far more prone to depression and suicidal thoughts than are their urban counterparts.
4. Select the sentence in which the author expresses the central point.
a. Small towns across America are in crisis, and the quality of life for their citizens is declining.
b. Also, the economic life of rural America is discouraging.
c. Health care in rural America is deteriorating.
d. Small-town schools are also in trouble.
e. The crisis in rural America is taking its toll on the mental health of its residents.
PART II
A. Identify the letter of the sentence that best expresses the implied main idea of each of the following
paragraphs.
5. Many people dream of being celebrities, but do they consider what celebrities' lives are really like? For one
thing, celebrities have to look perfect all the time. There's always a photographer ready to take an unflattering
picture of a famous person looking dumpy in old clothes. Celebrities also sacrifice their private lives. Their
personal struggles, divorces, or family tragedies all end up as front-page news. Most frighteningly, celebrities are in
constant danger of the wrong kind of attention. Threatening letters and even physical attacks from crazy fans are
things the celebrity must contend with.
a. Many people dream of being celebrities.
b. Being a celebrity is often difficult.
c. Being a celebrity means having to look good all the time.
d. Celebrities face dangers.
6. Chocolate comes from the beans of cacao trees found in Africa, Brazil, and the West Indies. The cacao bean was
used as currency by the ancient Aztecs. In 1528, Spanish explorers introduced chocolate to the court of King
Charles V. Chocolate quickly became popular throughout Europe, often being called the "food of the gods."
Thomas Jefferson brought it to North America in 1765, opening the first chocolate factory in the Massachusetts
Bay Colony. Two decades later, Conrad Van Houten, a Dutch chemist, discovered the way to blend cocoa butter
with sugar to yield a chocolate very similar to that which we enjoy today.
a. Chocolate didn't become popular throughout Europe until the 1500s.
b. Chocolate has a long and interesting history.
c. Before 1765, North Americans had to do without chocolate.
d. The Spanish explorers found many new foods as well as new lands.
7. As you speak with someone, you can easily gather clues about how much he or she understands or agrees with
you and adjust your conversation accordingly. But when you write, you must try to anticipate the reader's reactions
without such clues. You also have to provide stronger evidence in writing than in conversation. A friend may
accept an unsupported statement such as "He's a lousy boss." But in writing, the reader expects you to back up such
a statement with proof.
a. There are special techniques to communicating verbally with others.
b. Speaking and writing are both challenging ways of communicating.
c. Communicating effectively in writing is more demanding than communicating verbally.
d. When speaking, you get feedback about a person's reaction that helps you to make your conversation
more effective.
B. Identify the letter of the sentence that states the central point of the following selection.
Missing Persons
Many of the world's girls and women are missing from schools. In sub-Saharan Africa, for every ten boys,
only six girls are enrolled in secondary school, and in southern Asia, only four. In these regions, three-quarters of
women aged 25 and over are still illiterate. A major reason why girls leave school is that they are married off, often
to older men, and begin bearing children in their teens. Some are sold by their parents to prostitution rings, where
young girls are in demand because they are considered less likely to carry the AIDS virus.
(B)
Women are missing from the paid labor force. Women work as hard as or harder than men (on average,
thirteen more hours a week worldwide). But the work women do-caring for children; providing food and health
care to their families; tending gardens and livestock; processing crops; gathering firewood and hauling water;
weaving cloth, carpets, and baskets; and selling home-grown food and home-made crafts at local markets-is not
considered "real" work. When women do work for wages, they are usually employed in clerical, sales, and service
occupations, and they are excluded from higher-paying jobs in manufacturing, transportation, and management.
Even when women do the same work as men, they earn-on average and worldwide-30 to 40 percent less.
Women are missing in the halls of power, policy, and decision making. Although women make up more than
half the world's population, less than 5 percent of heads of state, heads of corporations, and directors of
international organizations are female.
(C)
Women are missing from the battlefield, but tragically not from the ranks of the dead and wounded. In the
many ethnic and civil wars in the world today, hostile groups are fighting for towns and cities, and civilians are
caught in the crossfire. Hundreds of thousands of women and children have become widows, orphans, and refugees.
(D)
War or not, women the world over are regularly abused sexually, physically injured, and even killed simply
because they are women. In 1987 in India, 1,786 "dowry deaths" (in which the husband and/or his family kill a
woman because her dowry was insufficient) were recorded. In Thailand, more than 50 percent of married women
living in Bangkok's largest squatter settlement said they were regularly beaten by their husbands. Not until 1991 did
the Brazilian Supreme Court outlaw the "honor" defense, which excused a man who murdered an adulterous wife
on the grounds that he was defending his honor.
(E)
Throughout the world, females are clearly second-class citizens, and worse.
(A)
8. Select the sentence in which the author expresses the central point.
a. Many of the world's girls and women are missing from schools..
b. Women are missing from the paid labor force.
c. Women are missing from the battlefield, but tragically not from the ranks of the dead and wounded.
d. War or not, women the world over are regularly abused sexually, physically injured, and even killed
simply because they are women.
e. Throughout the world, females are clearly second-class citizens, and worse.
PART III
A. Identify the letter of the sentence that best expresses the implied main idea of each of the following
paragraphs.
9. People with normal vision can perceive an infinite number of colors. They can experience the color blue, for
example, ranging from the palest robin's-egg color to the deepest midnight hue. It is estimated, however, that 5,000
people in the United States do not experience color at all; rather, they see the world only in shades of gray. Even
more-about 1.5 million Americans-are affected by partial color blindness. While most of them are unable to
distinguish red and green colors, others cannot see blues or yellows.
a. Many Americans are affected by partial color blindness.
b. People with normal vision can see a wide range of colors.
c. Total or partial color blindness robs many Americans of the ability to perceive color.
d. Numerous Americans have a physical handicap of some kind.
10. Are you one of the millions of people who are terrified of going to the dentist? If so, why not find a dentist
who's sympathetic to your plight? Some dentists actually specialize in treating people who are very fearful of dental
work. These dentists encourage patients to discuss their fears and will answer questions in an honest, understanding
manner. Even if your dentist does not have such a specialty, you can arrange with him or her to use a signal, such as
raising your right hand, if you experience too much pain. This will give you a feeling of control and the assurance
that the pain-if any-will not go beyond what you can tolerate. You can also try the relaxation technique of breathing
deeply, before and during appointments. A last good idea is to bring headphones and listen to your favorite music in
the dental chair. It's hard for the brain to register pain when your favorite rap group, or classical musician, is filling
your head.
a. Millions of people are frightened of visits to the dentist.
b. There are ways to make visits to the dentist less painful and frightening.
c. There are dentists who specialize in treating patients who are very fearful of dental work.
d. If you are frightened of going to the dentist, try the relaxation technique of breathing deeply before and
during appointments.
11. Much of what falls to Earth from outer space is made up of tiny fragments of comets so light that they do not
burn up as they float through the air. Sometimes pieces of comets are large enough to survive their passage through
the air as shooting stars. These large meteorites can weigh as much as several tons. Also, at least one rock seems to
have fallen to Earth from the moon. It is a greenish brown stone the size of a golf ball which was found in
Antarctica in 1982. It is identical in makeup to rocks brought back from the moon by the Apollo 15 astronauts.
Other rocks have been found that are probably from Mars, although no positive identification can be made until
astronauts bring rock samples back from Mars.
a. Various kinds of matter from outer space have landed on Earth.
b. A stone found in Antarctica is thought to have come from the moon.
c. Some pieces of comets that land on Earth weigh as much as several tons.
d. Earth contains a wide variety of rocks of various kinds.
B. Identify the letter of the sentence that states the central point of the following selection.
Learned Helplessness
(A)
A researcher at Johns Hopkins University has repeatedly done a simple experiment with two rats. He holds
one rat firmly in hand so that no matter how much the rats struggles, he cannot escape. The rat will finally give up.
The researcher then throws that unmoving rat into a tank of warm water. The rat then sinks, not swims. He has
"learned" that there is nothing he can do, that there is no point in struggling. The researcher then throws another rat
into the water--one that doesn't "know" that his situation is hopeless and that he is therefore helpless. This rat will
swim to safety.
Here is a comparable experiment involving people, conducted by Martin E. P. Seligman of the University of
Pennsylvania. (B)Two groups of college students are put in rooms where they are blasted with noise turned up to
almost intolerable levels. In one room there is a button that turns off the noise. The students quickly notice it, push
it, and are rewarded with blissful silence. In the other room, however, there is no turn-off button. The students look
for one, find nothing, and finally give up. There is no way to escape the noise (except to leave the room before a
previously agreed-upon time period has elapsed), so they simply endure.
(C)
Later, the same two groups are put in two other rooms. This time, both rooms contain a switch-off
mechanism--though not a simple button this time and not as easy to find. Nevertheless, the group that found the
button the first time succeeds in finding the "off' switch the second time, too. But the second group, already
schooled in the hopelessness of their circumstances, doesn't even search. Its members just sit it out again.
(D)
Both experiments suggest that past failures can teach one to feel helpless and, as a result, to give up trying.
(E)
Being aware of this possibility may give people the courage to persist despite previous disappointments.
12. Select the sentence in which the author expresses the central point.
a. A researcher at Johns Hopkins University has repeatedly done a simple experiment with two rats.
b. Two groups of college students are put in rooms where they are blasted with noise turned up to almost
intolerable levels. In one room there is a button that turns off the noise.
c. Later, the same two groups are put in two other rooms.
d. Both experiments suggest that past failures can teach one to feel helpless and, as a result, to give up
trying.
e. Being aware of this possibility may give people the courage to persist despite previous disappointments.
PART IV
A. Identify the letter of the sentence that best expresses the implied main idea of each of the following
paragraphs.
13. There is no doubt that businesses can improve their productivity. If every person and machine did things right
the first time, the same number of people could handle much larger volumes of work. High costs of inspection
could be channeled into productive activities, and managers could take all the time they spend checking and devote
it to productive tasks. Wasted materials would become a thing of the past. In fact, it's been estimated that attention
to quality can reduce the total cost of operations anywhere from 10 to 50 percent. As Philip Crosby said: "Quality is
free. What costs money are the unquality things--all the actions that involve not doing jobs right the first time."
a. Philip Crosby is an expert in quality in business.
b. It is wasteful to spend so much money on plant inspections.
c. Businesses can improve their sales in several ways.
d. If quality is improved, productivity improves.
14. In 1882, a tax collector from the German provinces was tired of making his rounds through the dark forests
under constant threat of attack by highwaymen. He decided to do something about the problem that would benefit
other travelers as well. A part-time policeman and keeper of the dog pound in his spare time, he decided to develop
a breed of dog that would be fearless, powerful, and aggressive in protecting people and property--the first guard
dog. After experimenting with different combinations over the years, he hit on the perfect blend of Great Dane,
Rottweiler, Weimaraner, Manchester terrier, and German pointer. Loyal, agile, and quick to learn, the breed he
developed is now the most popular guard dog and the official mascot of the U.S. Marine Corps. In addition to
developing and refining the breed, Louis Doberman also gave it his name.
a. The popular guard dog the Doberman pinscher was developed by a nineteenth-century German tax
collector for protection when making his rounds.
b. In the late 1800s, traveling through forests in the German provinces was dangerous.
c. The Doberman pinscher is a perfect blend of Great Dane, Rottweiler, Weimaraner, Manchester terrier,
and German pointer.
d. Louis Doberman, a tax collector, felt threatened by highwaymen when traveling as a tax collector
through the dark German forests.
B. Identify the letter of the sentence that states the central point of the following selection.
Teenagers and Jobs
(A)
Today's world puts a lot of pressure on teenagers to work. By working, they gain more independence from
their families, and they also get the spending money needed to keep up with their peers. Many people argue that
working can be a valuable experience for the young.
(B)
However, schoolwork and the benefits of extracurricular activities tend to go by the wayside when
adolescents work more than fifteen hours a week. Teachers are then faced with the problems of keeping the
attention of tired pupils and of giving homework to students who simply don't have the time to do it. In addition,
educators have noticed less involvement in the extracurricular events many consider healthy influences on young
people. School bands and athletic teams are losing players to work, and sports events are poorly attended by
working students. (C)Those teenagers who try to do it all--homework, extracurricular activities, and work--may find
themselves exhausted and prone to illness.
(D)
Another drawback of too much work is that it may promote materialism and an unrealistic lifestyle. Some
parents say that work teaches adolescents the value of a dollar. Undoubtedly, it can, and it's true that some
teenagers work to help out with the family budget or save for college. But surveys have shown that the majority of
working teens use their earnings to buy luxuries--stereos, tape decks, clothing, even cars. These young people,
some of whom earn $300 and more a month, don't worry about spending wisely--they can just
about have it all. In many cases, experts point out, they are becoming accustomed to a lifestyle they won't be able to
afford several years down the road, when they'll no longer have parents to pay for car insurance, food and lodging,
and so on. At that point, they'll be hard pressed to pay for necessities as well as luxuries.
(E)
Teens can benefit from both work and school--and avoid the pitfalls of materialism--simply by working no
more than fifteen hours a week. As is often the case, a moderate approach is likely to be the most healthy and
rewarding one.
15. Select the sentence in which the author expresses the central point.
a. Today's world puts a lot of pressure on teenagers to work.
b. However, schoolwork and the benefits of extracurricular activities tend to go by the wayside when
adolescents work more than fifteen hours a week.
c. Those teenagers who try to do it all--homework, extracurricular activities, and work--may find
themselves exhausted and prone to illness.
d. Another drawback of too much work is that it may promote materialism and an unrealistic lifestyle.
e. Teens can benefit from both work and school--and avoid the pitfalls of materialism--simply by working
no more than fifteen hours a week.
PART V
A. Identify the letter of the sentence that best expresses the implied main idea of each of the following
paragraphs.
16. Baby mammals are born nearly helpless. They cannot survive if they are not cared for, usually by older
members of their species. Food and shelter are the most obvious needs of a baby animal. But scientists have also
observed another, less obvious need of baby mammals. Monkeys who are raised alone, with no physical contact
with other animals, develop strange habits such as constantly rocking or moving in circles. In addition, they cannot
relate normally to other monkeys. The males can rarely breed with females. The females who do bear young ignore
or abuse their babies. When monkeys who were raised alone are put in contact with friendly, "motherly" monkeys
who touch and cuddle them, they eventually develop normal monkey behaviors.
a. Baby mammals need to be given food and shelter.
b. Studies suggest that touching, like food and shelter, is key to normal mammal development.
c. All animals that are raised without physical contact with other animals develop strange habits.
d. Scientists have done studies of monkeys raised without physical contact with other animals.
17. Losing a mate is in some ways more difficult for older men to adjust to than for women. Men now in their
sixties and seventies tend to be unfamiliar with cooking and household chores. They may experience physical
decline due to skipped meals and poor nutrition. At the same time, however, remarriage is almost exclusively a
male option. In 1981, there were only twenty-three unmarried men age 65 and older for every hundred unmarried
women. In addition, men age 65 and older are eight times more likely to remarry than older women are. Further, for
a woman, widowhood today usually brings a decline in standard of living. Many women now in their sixties and
seventies were full-time housewives for most of their lives and are unlikely to have savings and income from
pension plans. In many cases, the husband's pension did not include a provision for widows, so this source of
income is cut off. Even if the woman worked most of her life, the chances are that she earned much less than her
husband and so receives less in Social Security benefits and pension after this death.
a. Many of today's widows do not receive money from their husband's pensions.
b. Men and women have very different experiences throughout life.
c. It is generally more difficult for a man to lose a mate than for a woman.
d. The experience of widowhood is different for men and women.
B. Identify the letter of the sentence that states the central point of the following selection.
Alcohol Reform
In the nineteenth century, reformers wanted to persuade Americans to adopt more godly personal habits.
They set up associations to battle profanity and Sabbath breaking, to place a Bible in every American home, and to
provide religious education for the children of the poor. (B)And beginning early in the 1800s, an extensive moral
reform campaign was conducted against liquor.
(C)
At the start of the century, heavy drinking was an integral part of American life. Many people believed that
downing a glass of whiskey before breakfast was healthful. Instead of taking coffee breaks, people took a dram of
liquor at eleven and again at four o'clock as well as drinks after meals "to aid digestion" and a nightcap before
going to sleep. Campaigning politicians offered voters generous amounts of liquor during campaigns and as
rewards for "voting right" on election day. On the frontier, one evangelist noted, "A house could not be raised, a
field of wheat cut down, nor could there be a log rolling, a husking, a quilting, a wedding, or a funeral without the
aid of alcohol."
By 1820 the typical adult American consumed more than 7 gallons of absolute alcohol a year (compared with
2.6 gallons today). Consumption had risen markedly in two decades, fueled by the growing amounts of corn
distilled by farmers into cheap whiskey, which could be transported more easily than bulk corn. In the 1820s, a
gallon of whiskey cost just a quarter.
(D)
In their campaign, reformers identified liquor as the cause of a wide range of social, family, and personal
problems. Alcohol was blamed for the abuse of wives and children and the squandering of family resources. Many
businesspeople linked drinking with crime, poverty, and inefficient and unproductive employees.
The stage was clearly set for the appearance of an organized movement against liquor. In 1826 the nation's
first formal national temperance organization was born: the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance.
Led by socially prominent clergy and laypeople, the new organization called for total abstinence from distilled
liquor. Within three years, 222 state and local antiliquor groups were laboring to spread this message.
By 1835, membership in temperance organizations had climbed to 1.5 million, and an estimated 2 million
Americans had taken the "pledge" to abstain from hard liquor. Reformers helped reduce annual per capita
consumption of alcohol from seven gallons in 1830 to just three gallons a decade later, forcing four thousand
distilleries to close. (E)Fewer employers provided workers with eleven o'clock or four o'clock drams, and some
businesses began to fire employees who drank on the job.
(A)
18. Select the sentence in which the author expresses the central point.
a. In the nineteenth century, reformers wanted to persuade Americans to adopt more godly personal habits.
b. And beginning early in the 1800s, an extensive moral reform campaign was conducted against liquor.
c. At the start of the century, heavy drinking was an integral part of American life.
d. In their campaign, reformers identified liquor as the cause of a wide range of social, family, and personal
problems.
e. Fewer employers provided workers with eleven o'clock or four o'clock drams, and some businesses
began to fire employees who drank on the job.
Part VI
A. Identify the letter of the sentence that best expresses the implied main idea of each of the following
paragraphs.
19. Salespeople who want to increase their sales may make promises which the company's production and
accounting departments find difficult to support. Production, for example, may not be able to meet the sales
department's schedule because purchasing didn't get raw materials in time. While salespeople might like to have
large inventories available, production and finance are likely to resist building up stocks because of the high cost of
storing and/or owning unsold goods. Also, if production is in the middle of union negotiations, it is likely to feel
they are more important than anything else. At the same time, however, salespeople may feel that nothing is more
urgent than increasing sales.
a. The demands of the sales department should be given priority in an organization.
b. Union demands can slow up production.
c. Businesses tend to be disorganized because of lack of communication.
d. Different parts of a business may have competing needs.
20. A Senate committee estimates the loss of earnings of men ages 25 to 34 who have less than high school-level
skills at $236 billion. Half of the heads of households classified below the federal poverty line cannot read an
eighth-grade book. More than a third of mothers on welfare are also functionally illiterate. (Functional illiteracy is
the inability to read and write well enough for everyday practical needs.) So are 60 percent of the adult prison
population and 84 percent of juveniles who come before the courts. Businesses have difficulty filling such entrylevel jobs as clerk, bank teller, and paralegal assistant. A major insurance firm reports that 70 percent of dictated
letters must be retyped "at least once" because secretaries cannot spell and punctuate correctly. The military, too,
pays a price for functional illiteracy. The navy has stated that 30 percent of new recruits are "a danger to themselves
and costly to naval equipment" because they cannot read very well or understand simple instructions.
a. Americans are among the most poorly educated people in the world.
b. Functional illiteracy, widespread among Americans, is costly for individuals and society.
c. Businesses must face the problem of poorly prepared workers.
d. Our prisons and courts are filled with adults and juveniles who are functionally illiterate.
B. Identify the letter of the sentence that states the central point of the following selection.
Marriage Contracts
Every year, thousands of couples marry unwisely. Their decision to wed is based on the great rush of
emotion that comes along with falling in love. "We love each other!" they proclaim. "Of course our marriage will
work!" Unfortunately, the rosy glow that accompanies romantic love doesn't last forever. Couples who promise
"Till death do us part" often regret that vow a few months or years later. They may feel that their decision was
made hastily, that they didn't know each other well enough, that their ideas about marriage are too different. And
then they are faced with two unhappy options. They can continue on in a disappointing marriage, or they can start
proceedings for an unpleasant, expensive, time-consuming divorce.
(B)
Another approach is needed here: People who want to marry should sign renewable marriage contracts.
Such a marriage contract could be valid for three years, at which time the partners would decide whether or not to
renew the agreement. If they did not choose to stay together, no divorce would be necessary. They would simply
file a paper stating that they would not be renewing their contract.
One advantage of the marriage contract system is that it would force couples to think in concrete terms about
their marriages. They would have to talk ahead of time about some essential questions. How will our money be
handled? How will work around the house be divided? Will we have children? How will they be raised? Will we
have a religious life? How often will our in-laws visit? These are the kinds of questions that most couples who are
wildly in love would otherwise never face.
(C)
It would not be surprising if many couples in the process of working on a contract decided that they
shouldn't get married after all. And that would be a good thing. They are the couples whose marriages probably
wouldn't survive the first clash with reality.
(A)
(D)
In addition, a contract would encourage couples to work harder at their marriages. They couldn't afford to
let problems simmer under the surface, assuming that they had unlimited years to fix them. If they knew that their
contract was coming up for renewal every few years, people would give as much attention to their marriages as
they do to their careers or relationships with friends.
(E)
Finally, a renewable marriage contract would make ending a marriage far easier than it is today. No longer
would both partners have to hire expensive lawyers and endure long waits in the divorce courts. Their marriage
contract would spell out the terms of a split. It would say how property would be divided and how custody of
children would be handled. Ending a marriage would require the simple filing of a paper in the courthouse. The
man and woman would then go their own ways, sadder perhaps, but wiser about what it takes to make a marriage
work.
21. Select the sentence in which the author expresses the central point.
a. Every year, thousands of couples marry unwisely.
b. Another approach is needed here: People who want to marry should sign renewable marriage contracts.
c. It would not be surprising if many couples in the process of working on a contract decided that they
shouldn't get married after all.
d. In addition, a contract would encourage couples to work harder at their marriages.
e. Finally, a renewable marriage contract would make ending a marriage far easier than it is today.