Question

the main, or central, idea of the passage is a polish army unit grew so fond of a pet bear that they enlisted the animal in the army in order to bring him along when they deployed to battle. how does the author develop the main idea? while traveling through iran during world war ii, a group of polish soldiers encountered a young boy with an intriguing possession: a bear cub. the soldiers promptly bought the cub, named him wojtek, and took him to join the rest of their unit. the playful bear adapted well to military life. however, when the unit was ordered to deploy for battle, officers refused to allow the bear on the ship, saying that only soldiers were permitted. the solution was both obvious and extraordinary: the soldiers arranged for wojtek to be officially enlisted in the army. as an enlisted soldier, he could accompany the men on their mission. “he didn’t receive a salary,” recalled one former soldier in an interview with the bbc news service, “but was officially a polish soldier.” wojtek remained with the company throughout the war and even helped carry crates of ammunition to soldiers on the battlefield. 15. analyze the relationship between the soldiers and the officers.

Explanation:

The bold detail describes a conflict: officials barred Wojtek from the military ship, claiming only soldiers were allowed. This creates a problem that the soldiers solve by enlisting Wojtek as an official army member, which directly supports the main idea of the unit's deep fondness for the bear that led them to take such an extraordinary step to keep him with them.

Answer:

It creates a conflict between the soldiers (who want Wojtek aboard) and military officials (who ban non-soldiers from the ship), which the soldiers resolve by officially enlisting Wojtek in the army—this shows the lengths they would go to keep the bear, emphasizing their strong fondness for him that is the central idea.