The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Several of the world’s earliest cities were organised along egalitarian lines. In some regions, urban populations governed themselves for centuries without any indication of the temples and palaces that would later emerge; in others, temples and palaces never emerged at all, and there is simply no evidence of a class of administrators or any other sort of ruling stratum. It would seem that the mere fact of urban life does not, necessarily, imply any particular form of political organization, and never did. Far from resigning us to inequality, the picture that is now emerging of humanity’s past may open our eyes to egalitarian possibilities we otherwise would have never considered.
We now have the evidence in support of the existence of an egalitarian urban life in some ancient cities, where political and civic organisation was far less hierarchical.
The passage argues that several of the earliest cities were egalitarian: some governed themselves for centuries without temples, palaces or a ruling class, so urban life does not necessarily imply any particular political form. It ends by saying that this emerging picture of the past opens our eyes to egalitarian possibilities.
The keyed summary — we now have evidence of egalitarian urban life in some ancient cities, where political and civic organisation was far less hierarchical — captures both the new evidence and its limited scope (“some” cities), matching “Several of the world’s earliest cities”.
The summary saying ancient cities were not organised hierarchically, contrary to our assumption, overgeneralises: the passage speaks of several or some cities, not ancient cities as a whole.
The summary about deducing the lack of hierarchy from the absence of temples and palaces turns a supporting detail into the main point and misses the conclusion about political possibilities.
The summary claiming that the emergence of administrators transformed egalitarian cities into today’s hierarchical ones asserts a historical transition the passage never argues.
Hence, the answer is We now have the evidence in support of the existence of an egalitarian urban life in some ancient cities, where political and civic organisation was far less hierarchical.
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Important Questions from Non Grammar
- In formulating Principle VI (a), the ILC clarified the term "waging of a war of aggression" because:
- The author attributes the growing public frustration with the UN primarily to which pair of continuous failures?
- A primary point of divergence between the US Conservative position and the Secretary-General's Conservative position on security matters, according to the summary is:
- According to the critique's conclusion, the immediate, insurmountable barrier preventing the implementation of any reform, major or minor, is:
- The Secretary-General's 'Agenda for Peace' proposed a specific military capability intended to address the gap between traditional peace-keeping and full military action. This proposed unit was explicitly characterized by the summary as being:
