read the passage from sugar changed the world. not only were russian farms run on unfree labor, but they…

read the passage from sugar changed the world. not only were russian farms run on unfree labor, but they used very simple, old - fashioned methods of farming. like the english back in the time of henry iii, all russians aside from the very wealthy still lived in the age of honey—sugar was a luxury taken out only when special guests came to visit. indeed, as late as 1894, when the average english person was eating close to ninety pounds of sugar a year, the average russian used just eight pounds. what inference does the passage best support? ○ most russians in the 1890s were not wealthy. ○ most english citizens were very wealthy. ○ russians did not run their farms well. ○ english people were fonder of sweets.

read the passage from sugar changed the world. not only were russian farms run on unfree labor, but they used very simple, old - fashioned methods of farming. like the english back in the time of henry iii, all russians aside from the very wealthy still lived in the age of honey—sugar was a luxury taken out only when special guests came to visit. indeed, as late as 1894, when the average english person was eating close to ninety pounds of sugar a year, the average russian used just eight pounds. what inference does the passage best support? ○ most russians in the 1890s were not wealthy. ○ most english citizens were very wealthy. ○ russians did not run their farms well. ○ english people were fonder of sweets.

Answer

Brief Explanations:

The passage states that in 1894, the average Russian used just eight pounds of sugar a year while the average English person was eating close to ninety pounds. Also, it mentions that in Russia, sugar was a luxury taken out only when special guests came (implying most couldn't afford it regularly). The comparison between Russian and English sugar consumption (with Russians having much less) along with the luxury - status of sugar in Russia (for all but the very wealthy) points to the idea that most Russians were not wealthy (as they couldn't afford a relatively common item like sugar in other places).

  • For the option “Most English citizens were very wealthy”: The passage only gives sugar consumption data for the average English person. Just because they consume more sugar doesn't directly imply most are very wealthy. There could be other factors like sugar availability, cultural preferences etc.
  • For “Russians did not run their farms well”: The passage says Russian farms used simple, old - fashioned methods and had unfree labor. But this is more about the labor and farming methods rather than mis - management in a sense of not running well in terms of profitability (the passage doesn't give profit data).
  • For “English people were fonder of sweets”: The passage gives sugar consumption data but doesn't explicitly say it's because of a fondness for sweets. It could be due to other factors like sugar being more affordable, used in more food products etc.

Answer:

Most Russians in the 1890s were not wealthy.