16Hit 1600
Craft and StructureMediumTwo accounts of the dancing plague

Craft and Structure practice question

Text 1 In 1518 Strasbourg, hundreds of people danced uncontrollably for days. Rye infected with ergot fungus — whose compounds can trigger convulsions and hallucinations — had entered the city's bread supply, and the poisoning explains the frenzy. Text 2 Ergot cripples circulation and coordination; victims could hardly have danced for days. The outbreak followed famine and plague years, and spread by watching — the signature not of a toxin, but of distress erupting through a community under unbearable strain.

Which choice best describes the relationship between the texts?

  1. A. The texts offer competing explanations for the same historical event.Correct
  2. B. Text 2 argues the event described in Text 1 never happened.
  3. C. Both texts attribute the event to contaminated grain.
  4. D. Text 1 describes the event's causes, while Text 2 describes only its effects.

Answer: A. The texts offer competing explanations for the same historical event.

Both texts accept the 1518 outbreak as real; Text 1 favors ergot poisoning while Text 2 argues for mass psychological distress — rival explanations of one event.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. Text 2 argues the event described in Text 1 never happened.
Text 2 questions the grain theory, not the event itself.
C. Both texts attribute the event to contaminated grain.
Only Text 1 endorses the grain explanation; Text 2 rejects it.
D. Text 1 describes the event's causes, while Text 2 describes only its effects.
Both texts are about causes; neither is limited to effects.

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