Question

developing ideas with structure in an informational text
mastery check
the power of carrots
do you think carrots are only those crunchy orange sticks on a snack tray or the wilted orange circles in a stew? think again! the humble carrot has many benefits to humans and can also be full of surprises.
a long, long history
there is no way of knowing exactly when or how humans began growing carrots, but people have been eating the vegetable for over 1,000 years.
at first, the plants grew wild, and, while ancient greeks and romans wrote about gathering them for medicine, they were not considered food.
scientists think that people first grew carrots as a food crop sometime before the 900s in the iranian plateau
from there, traders carried carrots along the ancient silk road that extended to syria and across north africa in the 1000s. in the 1100s,
read the passage from the power of carrots.
in the 1100s, traders took carrots across the mediterranean sea to spain and then through italy in the 1200s. people began growing them in france, germany, and the netherlands in the 1300s and in england in the 1400s.
traders brought carrots east across china beginning in the 1200s.
traveling by ship, chinese traders brought carrots to japan in the 1600s.
also, they brought carrots to north america in the 1600s.
how does the passage connect to the author’s idea that carrots have a long history?
by comparing ways carrots have been traded throughout history
by using chronological dates to show the history of carrots
by showing the effect of the spread of carrots throughout history
by describing how the spread of carrots shaped history

Explanation:

To determine how the passage connects to the idea that carrots have a long history, we analyze each option:

• Option 1: The passage doesn't compare different trading ways of carrots. It just tells the timeline of carrot spread. Eliminate.
• Option 2: The passage uses chronological dates (1100s, 1200s, 1300s, 1400s, 1600s) to show when carrots spread to different regions, which supports the idea of a long history. This fits.
• Option 3: The passage doesn't focus on the effect of carrot spread, but on the timeline of their spread. Eliminate.
• Option 4: The passage doesn't describe how carrot spread shaped history, just the spread itself over time. Eliminate.

Answer:

B. by using chronological dates to show the history of carrots