What is the central idea of the passage?
The Italian merchants sometimes sailed across the
Mediterranean Sea to Syria, where they could buy black
pepper that had been grown on the southwest coast of
India. The tiny dried black peppercorns were the perfect
item to trade, because the small ships of the time could
carry enough to make a nice profit. From India the
pepper was shipped across to Arabia, where camel
caravans would carry it all the way to Syria. The Italians
could purchase enough pepper in Syria to carry with
them to the next Champagne fair. Every count whose
cook added the bite of costly black pepper to his food
knew he was getting a taste of far distant lands. As late as
1300, Jean de Joieville, a French writer who had actually
lived in the Muslim world, still believed that these spices
came from the outer edges of the Garden of Eden, located
somewhere along the river Nile. There, people cast their
nets outspread into the river, at night; and when morning
comes, they find in their nets such goods as ... ginger,
In the Middle Ages, spices that are now ordinary
were rare imports from faraway places
The spices at the Champagne fair were from the
Middle East, where they were used in cooking
Pepper was highly regarded in Europe, so
merchants demanded more and more of it.
The Champagne fairs relied on a vast trade
network that drove up the prices of new and rare
goods.

A) In the Middle Ages, spices that are now ordinary were rare imports from faraway places.

Explanation:

This is an excerpt from "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science ", a book written by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos. The authors explore the history of the spice trade, and how it connected different countries throughout the whole world.

In this passage, it is stated that certain spices, such as pepper and cinnamon, were quite popular in the past. Their popularity stemmed from the fact that these spices were used for medicinal purposes, hence the merchants traveled to distant parts of the world to purchase them. Although these spices are ordinary today, they were not common in the Middle Ages.

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)