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Information and IdeasHardCentral idea of a passage weighing a reputation

Information and Ideas practice question

Isabella Bird is remembered chiefly as a fearless traveller, and her accounts of Persia and Japan support the picture. Yet her letters show a woman who suffered badly from ill health at home and travelled, at first, on her doctor's advice. The daring, in other words, was real, but it began as a cure, and Bird herself was more surprised than anyone by where it led.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

  1. A. Bird's reputation for daring is deserved, but her travels began as a remedy for illness rather than as a pursuit of adventure.Correct
  2. B. Bird's accounts of her travels were invented.
  3. C. Bird travelled only because her doctor ordered her to.
  4. D. Bird was less courageous than her reputation suggests.

Answer: A. Bird's reputation for daring is deserved, but her travels began as a remedy for illness rather than as a pursuit of adventure.

Real daring, medical origin, her own surprise.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. Bird's accounts of her travels were invented.
The accounts support the picture.
C. Bird travelled only because her doctor ordered her to.
Only at first; it led somewhere she did not expect.
D. Bird was less courageous than her reputation suggests.
The text says the daring was real.

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