Read the paragraph from the section "The rise of Islam." What conclusion is supported by this paragraph? "Under the caliphs, life and culture in great cities blossomed. Some of these cities included Cairo in what is now Egypt and Damascus in what is now Syria. Poets, scientists, and philosophers wrote thousands of books. They also developed the number system that we all use today. Inventors came up with technologies like the pinhole camera, soap, windmills, and surgical tools."

1. Poets and philosophers needed a number system in order to write their books.
2. The ideas developed in Islamic cities are still important to the modern world.
3. The most important Islamic poets and scientists came from Cairo and Damascus.
4. The inventions we use today have not changed since the Middle Ages.

Voters commonly condemn politicians for being insincere, but politicians often must disguise their true feelings when they make public statements. if they expressed their honest views—about, say, their party's policies—then achieving politically necessary compromises would be much more difficult. clearly, the very insincerity that people decry shows that our government is functioning well. which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines this reasoning? (a) achieving political compromises is not all that is necessary for the proper functioning of a government. (b) some political compromises are not in the best long-term interest of the government. (c) voters often judge politicians by criteria other than the sincerity with which they express their views. (d) a political party's policies could turn out to be detrimental to the functioning of a government. (e) some of the public statements made by politicians about their party's policies could in fact be sincere.