Which statement best expresses the passage’s main idea?

Version control preserves parallel changes and exposes conflicts so teams can combine work without giving up human judgment. (The system merges nonoverlapping work and marks collisions, while people still must resolve disputed wording and verify reality.)

Why must a person resolve two different edits to the same route note?

The software can detect overlap but lacks enough real-world context to decide which description is true. (The passage says software can mark the conflict but cannot determine whether the route is closed, renamed, or differently described.)

What does “common ancestor” mean in this example?

the earlier revision from which both proposed changes began (Both volunteers start from revision 12, which the system uses as the shared earlier state for comparing their proposals.)

Why may the gate addition and road-name correction merge automatically?

They affect different parts of the map. (The second paragraph says the two changes touch different parts, allowing the system to combine them without a conflict.)

How Version Control Protects Shared Work: Level 5 Reading Comprehension Questions

A neighborhood team keeps an evacuation map in a shared digital project. Mira adds the location of a new gate while Chen corrects the name of a road. Both begin from revision 12, work separately, and submit a proposed revision 13. If the system stored only the newest complete file, one person’s useful change could overwrite the other.

Version control instead records a history of changes. It can compare each proposal with the common ancestor, revision 12. Because the gate and road name affect different parts of the map, the system may merge them automatically into one new version. The history still records who changed what and which earlier state came before it.

A harder case appears when both volunteers edit the same route note in different ways. The software can mark a conflict, but it cannot know whether the route is closed, renamed, or merely described differently. A person must inspect both proposals, check the real situation, and choose or write the final wording. After that decision, the resolved version joins the history.

Branches let a team test changes without immediately altering the agreed copy. They support parallel work, not parallel truth. The repository remains useful only when people describe revisions clearly, review important merges, and keep its shared version connected to reality. Version control protects collaboration by preserving differences and making collisions visible; it does not remove the need for judgment.

Comprehension questions