Question

It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms.

–“A Modest Proposal,”
Jonathan Swift

Which sentence best paraphrases the passage?

Irish cities are busy and “crowded.”
Swift says that mothers might have three, four, or six children.
Swift says that it is common to see impoverished people in the streets of Ireland.
It is hard to read about the suffering of children in Ireland.

Answer 1

Swift says that it is common to see impoverished people in the streets of Ireland.

Reason: the passage describes the frequent sight of female beggars with several ragged children begging in the streets and doorways.