Question

This passage basically explains

• A. the similarities and differences among several ancient socities
• B. the influence of river settlements on the growth of early civilizations
• C. how climatic changes led to the founding of the earliest recorded cities
• D. the development of primitive technologies in the ancient Middle East
• A. less nomadic
• B. less stable
• C. more concentrated
• D. more sparse
• A. farm workers
• B. land owners
• C. traders and merchants
• D. mechanical artisans
• A. to encourage cooperation in the creation of water management systems
• B. to drive farmers to settle in fertile grasslands far from the uncontrollable rivers
• C. to cause warfare over water rights among rival villages
• D. None of the above.
• A. between various centrally ruled commercial kingdoms
• B. between linked villages in Egypt with others in Iran
• C. between connected villages that were scattered along the banks of the same river.
• D. between the inhabitants of small villages and the dynastic kings who ruled them.
• A. a system of centralized government
• B. symbolic systems for writing and mathematical computation
• C. a method of storing and transferring wealth
• D. basic techniques of agriculture
• A. relatively advanced position enjoyed by the Middle East in comparison to other regions
• B. rapidity with which social systems developed in the Middle East spread to other places
• C. crucial role played by rivers in the development of human cultures around the world
• D. importance of water transportation in the growth of early trade

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1 — Carefully identify what the passage is about:
The passage begins by mentioning climate change around 7000 B.C.E. in the Middle East. This change dried up swampy river valleys (like the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates) and turned grasslands into deserts, forcing people to settle along rivers. From this starting point, the passage moves through multiple dimensions: agriculture, water management, cooperation among villages, technological invention, mathematical innovation, and finally trade. It also notes that similar developments occurred in other parts of the world (Indus Valley, Hwang Ho in China).

Step 2 — Understand what the author emphasizes most:
The consistent thread running throughout the passage is the central role of rivers. Rivers did not simply provide water but shaped nearly every aspect of early civilization:
• They provided fertile land once swamps dried.
• They created the need for large-scale cooperation to manage unpredictable floods and droughts.
• They stimulated inventions like the noria and Archimedean screw, as well as mathematics for land measurement.
• They acted as highways of trade, connecting villages and even distant regions (evidence of Egypt–Iran trade).
So, while climate change is the starting point, the passage focuses on how settlements by rivers became the foundation of civilization.

Step 3 — Why other interpretations are less accurate:
• If we said “the passage explains the effect of climate change,” that would only cover the beginning. The rest of the passage deals more with rivers and their long-term influence.
• If we said “the passage is about technological inventions,” again, that is too narrow. Inventions are part of a larger context of river-based living.
• If we said “the passage is about trade,” that also is too limited. Trade is mentioned as one consequence, not the central theme.
Thus, the most comprehensive choice must link river settlements with civilizational growth.

Step 4 — Generalize to global context:
The author strengthens the idea by pointing out that not only Egypt and Mesopotamia but also India (Indus Valley) and China (Hwang Ho) followed the same pattern. This indicates a universal principle: wherever early humans organized large-scale settlements, rivers were the backbone of civilization.

Step 5 — Conclude with the best answer:
Therefore, the passage basically explains the influence of river settlements on the growth of early civilizations. The rivers shaped agriculture, social cooperation, technological invention, trade, and overall progress into advanced societies.

Final Answer: The influence of river settlements on the growth of early civilizations (Option B).

Answer 2

Step 1 — Revisit the relevant part of the passage:
The passage explains that around 7000 B.C.E., climate change made the grasslands of the Middle East (once fertile and hospitable) gradually transform into deserts. At the same time, swampy valleys of the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates became drier and more fertile. As a result, people left the grasslands and concentrated along riverbanks.

Step 2 — What does this mean for settlement patterns?
• Grasslands were once suitable for settlement but became desert-like and uninhabitable.
• People were forced to abandon those regions and migrate toward the rivers.
• Populations became clustered into small, scattered pockets along rivers, instead of spreading widely across the land.
This migration shows that settlement patterns became less stable because people could no longer rely on grasslands; they had to keep moving toward areas that could support life.

Step 3 — Why “less stable” fits best:
• The word “stable” refers to consistency and security of settlement.
• When fertile grasslands turned to desert, older settlements were disrupted — a clear sign of instability.
• Only after concentration along rivers and cooperation through irrigation did stability return, but in the immediate effect of aridity, settlements were destabilized.

Step 4 — Eliminate other possibilities:
• If we said “more secure,” that would be wrong because grassland settlements were lost.
• If we said “more widespread,” that would be wrong because people actually concentrated into pockets along rivers, not spread out.
• If we said “unchanged,” that contradicts the passage since it describes a major migration shift.

Step 5 — Conclude:
Thus, the increasing aridity of the formerly fertile grasslands made settlement patterns in Egypt and Mesopotamia less stable until new river-based civilizations emerged.

Final Answer: Less stable (Option B).

Answer 3

Step 1 — Recall the part of the passage about mathematics:
The passage clearly states that “the earliest methods of measurement and computation and the first developments in geometry were stimulated by the need to keep track of land holdings and boundaries in fields that were periodically inundated.”

Step 2 — What does this mean?
Because river floods often erased or shifted field boundaries, people needed a reliable way to re-measure land after water receded. This necessity pushed them to develop early geometry — methods of measuring length, area, and boundaries.

Step 3 — Who had this need the most?
• Ordinary villagers may have been aware of land changes, but it was the land owners who had a direct interest in preserving the correct boundaries of their property.
• Landowners needed accurate demarcation to prevent disputes, taxation problems, and to ensure their rightful share of fertile ground.
• Thus, geometry began as a practical tool of property management, not as an abstract science. Later it developed into formal mathematics, but its earliest application was highly utilitarian.

Step 4 — Eliminate other groups:
• Farmers generally worked on land but did not need advanced measurement unless they owned the plots.
• Traders mainly used river routes for commerce — they needed weights and measures, not geometry for land boundaries.
• Priests or rulers may have benefited from geometry later (temple or pyramid construction), but the passage specifically ties its earliest practice to land holdings.

Step 5 — Conclude:
Therefore, the passage implies that the earliest geometry was practiced primarily by those who owned land and needed to measure it repeatedly after floods — i.e., land owners.

Final Answer: Land owners (Option B).

Answer 4

Step 1 — Recall the passage section on Mesopotamia:
The passage explains that in Mesopotamia, villagers faced unpredictable droughts, floods, and storms. To manage this, they began building dikes, canals, earthworks, and ditches. But one village alone, with just a dozen houses and families, was too small and vulnerable to do this effectively.

Step 2 — What did this lead to socially?
Since individual villages could not cope alone, several villages combined their human resources to create a coordinated water-control system. This required:
• A greater degree of cooperation than had ever existed before.
• Likely the leadership of councils of elders to organize joint efforts.
• Shared responsibility and benefits, which improved stability, safety, and prosperity.

Step 3 — The social outcome:
Thus, the unpredictability of water supply did not isolate villages — it actually pushed them toward collective action. The shared challenge of managing water encouraged people to cooperate, organize, and lay the foundations of more complex social and political structures that later became early civilizations.

Step 4 — Eliminate incorrect interpretations:
• It was not to discourage cooperation — the passage stresses the opposite.
• It was not simply to cause migration — though climate change earlier caused migration, here the water problem specifically caused cooperation.
• It was not merely technological change — the heart of the effect was social cooperation leading to stability.

Step 5 — Conclude:
Therefore, the passage indicates that the social effect of water unpredictability in Mesopotamia was to encourage cooperation in the creation of water management systems.

Final Answer: To encourage cooperation in the creation of water management systems (Option A).

Answer 5

Step 1 — Revisit the passage on trade:
The passage says: “The rivers served as high roads of the earliest commerce. Traders used boats made of bundles of rushes to transport grains, fruits, nuts, fibers, and textiles from one village to another… Trade expanded surprisingly widely; we have evidence suggesting that, even before the establishment of the first Egyptian dynasty, goods were being exchanged between villagers in Egypt and others as far away as Iran.”

Step 2 — Understand the significance:
• At first, rivers acted as natural highways connecting villages within Egypt and Mesopotamia. Small-scale exchange of daily goods took place along these rivers.
• But trade expanded beyond local exchanges. The archaeological evidence shows surprisingly long-distance contact.
• Goods from Egypt were exchanged with communities as far away as Iran — a vast distance for that early period.

Step 3 — Implication:
This means the “earliest trade routes” were not only local, but also had international dimensions, showing that ancient civilizations were interconnected much earlier than often assumed.

Step 4 — Rule out wrong interpretations:
• If we said “only within villages of Egypt,” it would miss the crucial detail about Iran.
• If we said “between Mesopotamian cities only,” that narrows the scope incorrectly.
• If we said “after Egyptian dynasties,” that is false — the passage stresses this trade existed before dynastic Egypt.

Step 5 — Conclude:
Therefore, the passage refers to the earliest trade routes as those linking Egyptian villages with distant communities in Iran.

Final Answer: Between linked villages in Egypt with others in Iran (Option B).

Answer 6

Step 1 — Go back to the beginning of the passage:
The passage starts: “As the climate in the Middle East changed beginning around 7000 B.C.E., conditions emerged that were conducive to a more complex and advanced form of civilization... attracting settlers armed with the newly developed techniques of agriculture.”

Step 2 — Identify the cause-effect chain:
• Climatic change transformed swamps and grasslands into fertile riverine zones.
• These zones attracted settlers, but only because they already possessed agricultural techniques to exploit that land.
• Without agriculture, humans could not have settled permanently — they would have remained nomadic.
• Once agriculture was in place, surplus food enabled population growth, cooperation, irrigation systems, and the beginnings of complex social structures.

Step 3 — Interpret the implication:
Thus, the rise of civilization in Egypt and Mesopotamia did not occur suddenly. It depended on a foundation that was already laid — the invention and spread of basic agricultural practices.

Step 4 — Eliminate alternatives:
• Geometry or mathematics? → These came later, spurred by agriculture and irrigation needs.
• Large-scale trade? → Trade expanded after food surpluses existed, not before.
• Metalworking or advanced tools? → Not mentioned as a prerequisite in the passage.

Step 5 — Conclude:
The passage makes clear that the emergence of complex civilizations was possible only after the basic techniques of agriculture had been developed.

Final Answer: Basic techniques of agriculture (Option D).

Answer 7

Step 1 — Locate the relevant part of the passage:
Toward the end, the passage states: “Similar developments were occurring at much the same time along the great river valleys in other parts of the world – for example, along the Indus in India and the Hwang Ho in China. The history of early civilization has been shaped to a remarkable degree by the relation of humans and rivers.”

Step 2 — Understand the author’s purpose:
Up to this point, the passage has been describing Egypt and Mesopotamia. But then the author expands the scope to show that this was not an isolated phenomenon — it was part of a global pattern. Rivers in India and China also shaped civilization in the same way.

Step 3 — Eliminate wrong interpretations:
• Comparison of economic strength? → No, the passage does not compare economies of Egypt, India, or China.
• Chronological order of civilizations? → No, it does not focus on which came first.
• Focus on trade or technology in Asia? → Not specifically — the emphasis remains on the river factor.

Step 4 — Infer the intended emphasis:
By citing India and China, the author broadens the argument: rivers universally nurtured early human settlements and allowed agriculture, cooperation, trade, and technology to flourish everywhere. This demonstrates the crucial role of rivers in the rise of civilizations across the world.

Final Answer: Crucial role played by rivers in the development of human cultures around the world (Option C).