16Hit1600
Information and IdeasEasy–MediumMain idea: a repaired clock

Information and Ideas practice question

The town clock stopped in 1994 and stayed stopped for nearly thirty years, its hands fixed at twenty past four. Last spring a retired watchmaker offered to repair it for nothing. He spent four months on the mechanism, and on the first of June the clock struck noon for the first time since most of the town's children were born.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

  1. A. A long-stopped town clock was restored through one volunteer's months of unpaid work.Correct
  2. B. The clock stopped at twenty past four.
  3. C. The town's children had never heard the clock.
  4. D. Town clocks are difficult to repair.

Answer: A. A long-stopped town clock was restored through one volunteer's months of unpaid work.

Stopped for decades, fixed by a volunteer.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. The clock stopped at twenty past four.
A detail.
C. The town's children had never heard the clock.
A detail, and an implication rather than the point.
D. Town clocks are difficult to repair.
Not a claim the text makes.

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