Question

22

Select the correct text in the passage.
Which excerpt best develops the author's idea that there is a noticeable difference between the rich and the poor?
(5) Thus we met from time to time during my rambles in the poor quarters. Had I a moment to spare I stopped for a while to
listen to a tune or two, as I saw that it gratified the old man, and since I always carried a lump of sugar in my pocket for any dog
acquaintance I might possibly meet, I soon made friends with the monkey also.
(6) Since the old man had once recognized his musical friend on a balcony of the Hotel de L'Avenir, he often came and played
under my windows. Later on he became engaged, as already said, to come regularly and play twice a week,-it may, perhaps,
appear superfluous for one who was studying medicine, but the old man's terms were so small, and you know I have always
been so fond of music. Besides it was the only recreation at hand-I was working to take my degree in the spring.
(7) So passed the autumn, and the hard times came. The rich tried on the new winter fashions, and the poor shivered with the
cold. It became more and more difficult for well-gloved hands to leave the warm muff or the fur-lined coat to take out a copper
for the beggar, and more and more desperate became the struggle for bread amongst the problematical of the street.

Answer 1

The excerpt that best develops the author's idea that there is a noticeable difference between the rich and the poor is:

(7) So passed the autumn, and the hard times came. The rich tried on the new winter fashions, and the poor shivered with the cold. It became more and more difficult for well-gloved hands to leave the warm muff or the fur-lined coat to take out a copper for the beggar, and more and more desperate became the struggle for bread amongst the problematical of the street.

This excerpt highlights the contrast between the rich, who can afford new winter fashions and luxury items like warm muffs and fur-lined coats, and the poor, who suffer in the cold and struggle to even obtain a copper coin for basic needs like food. It emphasizes the disparity in wealth and living conditions between the two groups, supporting the author's idea of a noticeable difference between the rich and the poor.