What is the main conclusion of the passage?
Museums that hold objects taken from other countries during periods of conquest are increasingly asked to return them. Some curators respond that the objects are safer, better studied and seen by more people in a great metropolitan museum than they would be at home. The argument has a colonial echo: it assumes that the former owners cannot be trusted with their own heritage. It also proves too much, since by the same logic the richest institutions would be entitled to hold the treasures of everyone else. Yet a blanket policy of return is not the answer either. Some objects were acquired by fair purchase or gift, and a few survive only because someone took them away. Each claim should be judged on how the object was acquired, and on what the claimant wishes to do with it.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Claims for return should be judged case by case, by how the object was acquired
- Step 1: The last sentence says each claim should be judged on how the object was acquired and what the claimant wishes to do with it.
- Step 2: The only choice consistent with this is "Claims for return should be judged case by case, by how the object was acquired".
Answer
Claims for return should be judged case by case, by how the object was acquired.
Why not the others: The author rejects both a blanket return and the curators' argument, and does not propose dismissing curators or immunity for gifts.
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