This excerpt is from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Explanation:
- Ben Roger was Tom's peer. While Tom was whitewashing the fence, Ben arrived with an apple, making a long melodious whoop intermittently with a ding-dong, ding-dong sound.
- He was mimicking a steamboat, reducing speed as if he was measuring nine feet of water. He pretended to embody the boat, the captain, and the engine bell.
- Then he feigned bringing the forty feet wheel to a halt with a ting-a-ling-ling.
"Sestina" by Elizabeth Bishop
This poem narrates Bishop’s personal experience. Her father passed away during her childhood, and her mother never recovered from a mental breakdown. Because of this, Bishop was raised by extended family members for many years.
The grandmother in the poem feels sorrow because of these circumstances and the child's innocence, but she conceals her grief by laughing and speaking to the child.
"reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears."
- Sestina
Why does the grandmother laugh and talk?
A. to amuse the almanac
B. to conceal her tears
C. to entertain the child and pass the time
