Read the following passage from "Five Hours to Simla."
After the cacophony of screeching brakes and grinding gears, there followed the
comparatively static hum of engines, and drivers waited in exasperation for the next lurch
forwards. For the moment there was a lull, curious on that highway. Then the waiting very
quickly began to fray at the edges. The sun was beating on the metal of the vehicles, and the
road lay flattened across the parched plain, with no trees to screen it from the sun. First one
car horn began to honk, then a bicycle rickshaw began to clang its bell, then a truck blared
its musical horn, and then the lesser ones began to go pom-pom, pom-pom almost in
harmony, and suddenly, out of the centre of all that noise, a long, piercing wail emerged.
Which of these sentences most effectively summarizes the main ideas in this paragraph?
(1 point)
The cars' engines rumbled steadily with their occupants growing more impatient as the heat of the
sun intensified.
The screeching brakes and grinding gears of the cars made much noise before the waiting game in
the mid-day heat began.
The cars began to honk at each other, encouraging other vehicles to join in the melody of traffic
sounds, with a baby's cry interrupting the harmony.
A variety of noises filled the air as the sun beat down on the waiting vehicles, indicating that the long
wait was beginning to take its toll on the patience of those who were caught in the traffic.