Question

read the passage from ronald reagan’s tear down this wall speech.
where four decades ago there was rubble, today in west berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in germany—busy office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of park land. where a city’s culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, countless theaters, museums and libraries. where there was want, today there’s abundance. . . . from devastation, from utter ruin, you berliners have, in freedom, rebuilt a city that once again ranks as one of the greatest on earth. . . .
in the 1950s, khrushchev predicted: we will bury you. but in the west today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well - being unprecedented in all human history. in the communist
which statement best describes reagan’s main message for his audience in this excerpt?
a. the berlin wall is a reminder of the past and of the war.
b. the united states is more powerful than the soviet union.
c. democracy leads to greater prosperity than communism does.
d. berlin is a thriving city that can boast of many accomplishments.

Explanation:

The excerpt contrasts West Berlin's post-war recovery and prosperity (with offices, homes, cultural institutions) with the failures of communist systems, emphasizing that the free world has achieved unmatched well-being. Option A focuses only on the past war, not the main message. Option B overstates a power comparison not the core focus. Option D only covers Berlin's success, missing the contrast with communism. Option C aligns with the speech's focus on democracy's superiority in creating prosperity over communism.

Answer:

C. Democracy leads to greater prosperity than communism does.