Question

Read the excerpt from "A Quilt of a Country."

Once these disparate parts were held together by a common enemy, by the fault lines of world wars and the electrified fence of communism. With the end of the cold war there was the creeping concern that without a focus for hatred and distrust, a sense of national identity would evaporate, that the left side of the hyphen—African-American, Mexican-American, Irish-American—would overwhelm the right. And slow-growing domestic traumas like economic unrest and increasing crime seemed more likely to emphasize division than community. Today the citizens of the United States have come together once more because of armed conflict and enemy attack.

Which sentence from the excerpt best reveals the context of the excerpt?

Once these disparate parts were held together by a common enemy, by the fault lines of world wars and the electrified fence of communism.
Today the citizens of the United States have come together once more because of armed conflict and enemy attack.

Answer 1

"Today the citizens of the United States have come together once more because of armed conflict and enemy attack."

This sentence gives the immediate context (the present moment and a recent enemy attack) that frames the rest of the excerpt.