JAMB Use of English 1986 Question 23

Question 23

Comprehension
JAMB 1986 Passage V: Museums
It may be argued that museums as an institution and an agency for transmitting cultural heritage are an artificial creation, so far as objects are removed from their natural or proper environments and put into museums which are a different environment altogether. However, it seems that museums themselves have come to be accepted and recognized as the best equipped institutions devised by man for the assemblage of cultural objects and their presentation and preservation for the present and future generations.

The artificial character of museums is however being gradually transformed into a cultural reality. Thus, just as one goes to the theatre for plays and other performing arts; the mosque, the church or the shrine for worship; the library for the printed word; today, it is to the museum one goes to see evidence of man's material outfit. For, no other institution or place so readily comes to mind as museums do when evidence of material culture is sought. Herein lies the importance of museums as cultural institutions and an agency for transmitting culture.

The evidence of material culture can best be sought in the

  1. A.theatre and other performing arts
  2. B.library and the museum
  3. C.museum only
  4. D.museum more than any other institution
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D (museum more than any other institution)

Explanation

'No other institution or place so readily comes to mind as museums do' when material culture is sought, so the museum is the best place, more than any other.