PART A: Which statement best expresses the central idea of the text?
(Article 1 of the harvest of gypsies)
A
While Steinbeck doesn’t agree with the treatment of migrant workers, he understands that treating them unfairly is necessary to support America’s agriculture industry.
B
Despite the hostility toward migrant workers and their difficult life experiences, their work is essential to the success of the nation’s agriculture industry.
C
Migrant workers are often taken advantage of during harvests, because they don’t know that they have a right to better conditions and pay.
D
While America understands that it abuses the labor of migrant workers, the nation appreciates the sacrifices workers make to support the agriculture industry.

The statement that best expresses the central idea of the text is, 'Despite the hostility toward migrant workers and their difficult life experiences, their work is essential to the success of the nation’s agriculture industry.'

In this article Steinbeck speaks about the new gypsies (who are migrant workers) their backgrounds, lifestyle and how they are beneficial and necessary to the harvesting of crops each year. He mentions that there is no other labour to pick and harvest crops therefore without these workers the crops would rot and perish making them crucial to the agricultural industry.

He also talks about how these workers are not well received by the locals and are in fact hated because of their lifestyle and how they affect neighbourhoods they take up residence in.

The best quote from the article that sums up these ideas is, "The migrants are needed, and they are hated...They are never received into a community nor into the life of a community. Wanderers in fact, they are never allowed to feel at home in the communities that demand their service.