Read the passage from utopia.

they detest war as a very brutal thing, and which, to the reproach of human nature, is more practised by men than by any sort of beasts. they, in opposition to the sentiments of almost all other nations, think that there is nothing more inglorious than that glory that is gained by war; and therefore, though they accustom themselves daily to military exercises and the discipline of war, in which not only their men, but their women likewise, are trained up, that, in cases of necessity, they may not be quite useless, yet they do not rashly engage in war, unless it be either to defend themselves or their friends from any unjust aggressors, or, out of good nature or in compassion, assist an oppressed nation in shaking off the yoke of tyranny.
which quotation from the passage best summarizes the central idea?
a. they detest war as a very brutal thing, and which, to the reproach of human nature, is more practised by men than by any sort of beasts.
b. they, in opposition to the sentiments of almost all other nations, think that there is nothing more inglorious than that glory that is gained by war . .
c. they accustom themselves daily to military exercises and the discipline of war, in which not only their men, but their women likewise, are trained up . .
d. they do not rashly engage in war, unless it be either to defend themselves or their friends from any unjust aggressors, or, out of good nature . .

d. they do not rashly engage in war, unless it be either to defend themselves or their friends from any unjust aggressors, or, out of good nature . . .

Explanation:

The text talks about how people hate wars, but prepare for war every day so they can defend their families, friends and themselves. These people think that the victory of a war is an inglorious and unreasonable thing for happiness.

d. they do not rashly engage in war, unless it be either to defend themselves or their friends from any unjust aggressors, or, out of good nature . . .

Explanation:

Based on the passage from "Utopia" by Thomas Moore, we can deduce that the people detest wars, finding it "a brutal thing" and that "there is nothing more inglorious than that glory that is gained by war". But we can also see that they still prepare themselves for any form of fighting. So, they accustom themselves to the training of not only men but also women, in case of any attack. They know and place war as something that is the worse but they still make it a point that they are prepared for anything that might come up. These lines "they do not rashly engage in war, unless it be either to defend themselves or their friends from any unjust aggressors, or, out of good nature . . ." rightly sums up the central idea of the whole passage.

"it's more of an essay than story, but perhaps it is best described as a mood-piece: it uses a lot of musical imagery, not to mention sea imagery, religious imagery, and any other imagery that suits his purpose."