The thesis is usually at the beginning of the essay. It states what you will talk about in the essay. It's kind of like a preview.
Answer:
my friends and i were traveling abroad three times since we had finished school
I would say that the passage which best suggests an indirect cause is B) Jack slew the giant because he sold the cow for magic beans.
Him selling the cow wasn't the direct cause for him killing the giant, but it happened indirectly.
According to Plato's argument uneducated people looks like the ones in the cave. Because the life is lived when it is learned. Plato draws the comparison between material world and the world of ideas, emphasizing the importance of the latter. He also claims that mind has to be freed, it has to be able to perceive thing how they are. With restricted mind, individual can only obtain the shown part of something. He cannot learn everything.