Sugar Changed the World, Part 2: Central Ideas Answers

Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.When knowledge of sugar was just beginning to spread from India, from Persia, from Greece, from the great school of Jundi Shapur, cooks working for the wealthiest people treated it as a spice, blending it with other tastes. They continued to do that for another thousand years.

Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.When the prophet Muhammad began preaching in A.D. 610, he attracted only a few disciples. Yet by the time he died in 632, his faith had spread throughout Arabia. By 642, the armies of Muslim conquerors, along with the arguments of the Muslim faithful, took the religion all across Syria, Iraq, parts of Iran, and Egypt. From there, Islam spread through North Africa along the Mediterranean, across to the Iberian Peninsula, and over to France. Islam's march into Europe ended in 732, when the French defeated the Muslim armies at the battle of Poitiers. But that was not all. Muslim rulers took Alexander's old lands in Afghanistan and then, from there, swept through to conquer northern India. The pagan tribes of Central Asia chose Islam. By conversion or conquest, Islam, the religion of Muhammad, won over nearly all the lands of the ancient world: Egypt, Persia, India, and the Christian Mediterranean.

Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.The Hindu writings tell us of a religion in which fire was extremely important. People believed that the gods gave fire to human beings. Yet fire was also a way for humans to reach the gods. By placing offerings in a special fire, a priest could turn them into smoke and send them on to the gods. Five ingredients were selected for this special burning: milk, cheese, butter, honey, and sugar cane.

Read the passage and study the drawing from Sugar Changed the World.

Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.The vast Muslim world was wonderful for the growth of knowledge. The Greeks had developed a level of practical experience and technical understanding a thousand years more advanced than anyone else nearby. The Muslims began to translate some of these ancient Greek texts. From India, Muslims learned of the zero, which allowed them to invent what we still call "Arabic” numerals. And because the Koran, the sacred book of Islam, is written in Arabic, scholars throughout the Muslim world learned to read Arabic and to share their knowledge. The Muslims swept past Jundi Shapur and learned the secrets of sugar. As they conquered lands around the Mediterranean Sea, they spread word of how to grow, mill, and refine the sweet reed.

Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.In the 1100s, the richest Europeans slowly began to add more flavor to their food—because of a series of fairs and wars. A smart count in the Champagne region of France guaranteed the safety of any merchant coming to sell or trade at the markets in the lord's lands. Soon word spread, and the fairs flourished. Starting around 1150, the six Champagne fairs became the one place where Europeans could buy and sell products from the surrounding world—a first step in connecting them to the riches and tastes beyond. Fortress Europe was slowly opening up.

Which text features would be most helpful to support the central idea of the passage? Select two options.

What evidence from the passage best supports the inference that sugar cane had special significance in the ancient era? Select three options.

Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.One of these early Hindu writings, the Atharva Veda, speaks of an archer's bow made of sugar cane. It tells of growing a circle of sugar cane as a kind of sweet protection for a lover, and it includes specific instructions on how to use sugar cane.

Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.The year is 326 B.C. Alexander the Great stands at the Indus River in what is now Pakistan. For a decade he and his Greek soldiers have been battling their way across the known world, defeating even the mighty Persians, rulers of Asia. Alexander's string of victories only feeds his hunger to conquer all, to know all. But his men balk. Tired of fighting, homesick, they refuse to go on. Alexander realizes he cannot continue to conquer Asia, but he is too curious to stop exploring. He has already built a fleet of eight hundred ships, appointed his close friend Nearchus captain, and sent them to investigate the coast of lndia by sea.