Reading comprehension—best supported inference (role of the businessman in civilisation and industry): The passage claims that across ages the businessman has helped build great cities, provided luxuries, supported artists through patronage, uplifted fellow citizens' standard of living, and in recent centuries helped seed the Industrial Revolution worldwide. Based on this evidence, which statement is most directly supported?

Given data

• Businessmen have historically helped build great cities and provided people with luxuries.
• They have funded artists (patronage) and lifted fellow citizens' standard of living.
• In recent centuries, businessmen helped seed the Industrial Revolution around the globe.

Concept / Approach
Identify the option that synthesises all stated contributions: urban development, cultural patronage, rising living standards, and industrial transformation. The common thread is contribution to civilisation's growth.

Step-by-step reasoning
Step 1: City-building and luxuries point to material and infrastructural advances.Step 2: Patronage of art shows cultural and aesthetic advancement.Step 3: Raising living standards indicates socio-economic progress.Step 4: Seeding the Industrial Revolution denotes technological and productive transformation.Step 5: Option E precisely encapsulates this multi-faceted impact; other options either add unstated claims (A, B, D) or invert causality (C says beneficiary, not contributor).

Verification / Alternative
Each cited example is a subset of civilisation's growth; hence the best-supported generalisation is that the businessman has contributed to civilisation's growth.

Common pitfalls

• Choosing a true-sounding but unstated evaluation (e.g., accountability or personal luxury).
• Confusing beneficiary with contributor.

Final Answer
has contributed to the growth of civilisation.