Question

describes the sorry state of a cotton bale when it arrived at the textile mill. before it got there, he says, saws at the gin had separated the lint from the seed and removed some sand and plant trash. the cotton had been compressed repeatedly to bale it, wrapped in burlap, and girded with steel bands.
③ \at each exchange of ownership in its trade route, the bale is knifed to give up a sample,\ the technologist recalls, adding that contents of the ragtag bale looked even less promising when it was opened. \cotton at this stage is a mass of tangled fibers of varied lengths. it contains dirt, sand, particles of leaf and stalk of the cotton plant, and some seed fragments.\
④ after opening, cotton from many bales was blended, then vigorously cleaned in several operations, damaging the fibers as little as possible. the matted clumps of cotton, \sometimes hard as wood,\ were then reduced to small tufts and eventually to separate fibers on their way to spinning into yarn.
multiple choice 1 point
how do details about the condition of cotton in paragraph 10 relate to details from paragraph 3 and 4?
they highlight the impact of the new processing technology by contrasting it with the previous state of cotton.
they highlight the number of firms licensed to manufacture the new cotton processing technology.
they show how the new cotton processing led to the invention of even better technology.
they show how the new technology made cotton processing more financially reasonable than it was previously.

Explanation:

Paragraph 3 describes the new cotton processing technology (knifing the bale to give up a sample), while paragraph 4 details the poor condition of cotton before (dirty, with sand, plant trash, matted clumps etc.). This shows a contrast between the new technology and the previous state of cotton.

Answer:

They highlight the impact of the new processing technology by contrasting it with the previous state of cotton.