Question

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England.

Another familiar disease is malaria, which Elizabethans refer to as ague or fever. You might associate this with more tropical countries of the modern world but in marshy areas in sixteenth-century England, such as the Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire Fens, the Norfolk Broads, and Romney Marsh in Kent, it kills thousands. No one suspects that it has anything to do with mosquitoes; rather people believe it is the corrupted air arising from the low-lying dank marsh (hence the term mal-aria). As a result, you will have no chance of getting proper treatment for the disease.

How does the paragraph expand on the central idea that malaria was a deadly disease in Elizabethan England?

It proves that malaria is spread by mosquitoes in swampy areas.
It gives a detailed description of the area known as Romney Marsh.
It explains Elizabethan misconceptions about the spread of malaria.
It compares common malaria symptoms to influenza symptoms.

Answer 1

It explains Elizabethan misconceptions about the spread of malaria.

The paragraph notes people blamed "corrupted air" from marshes (mal-aria) rather than mosquitoes, and explains the consequence—no proper treatment—supporting how deadly it was.