Question

There is no concept of "health and safety” in Elizabethan England, so you will inevitably feel vulnerable when you arrive. Nauseating smells and sights will assail your senses; contemporary standards of cleanliness will worry you. People die every day from unknown ailments, the young as often as the old. Infectious diseases periodically kill thousands within a few weeks. Even when the plague is not in town, it lurks as anxiety in the back of people’s minds and, when it does strike, their worry turns to terror. On top of the illnesses, the chances of being attacked and hurt are much higher than in the modern world, and workplace injuries are far more common.
What is the central idea of this paragraph?

A.)Infectious diseases, like the plague, killed many people.
B.)Infectious diseases were a great source of concern.
C.)Elizabethans faced health challenges similar to ours today.
D.)Elizabethans faced a variety of challenges in staying healthy.

Answer 1

Answer:

The central idea of this paragraph is:

D) Elizabethans faced a variety of challenges in staying healthy.

Explanation:

This paragraph concerns the varied and terrible challenges people who lived in Elizabethan England had to face constantly. It was not only the case of worrying about one specific disease. They were constantly bombarded with several types of diseases, killed by viruses and bacteria. And that was not all. They were also killed in acts of violence and frequently got hurt while working. This paragraph, thus, shows us that staying healthy in Elizabethan England was a most difficult task. No wonder even young people died in great numbers. Their notion of hygiene and safety back then was far inferior when compared to ours.