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Read these lines: "It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells." The details in the quoted lines set up a mood of
Aloud festivity that hides what one man intends
Bquiet mourning in a town emptied by an illness
Copen hostility between two well matched rivals
Dcalm routine on an ordinary working evening
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. loud festivity that hides what one man intends
1. The setting is carnival at its wildest, and the other man is drunk, warm and dressed as a fool.
2. Nothing in the scene is quiet, empty or ordinary, which removes options B and D.
3. The greeting is excessive warmth rather than hostility, which removes option C.
4. What remains is a noisy holiday in which one man is greeted as a friend, and that is option A.
_Source: Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado, public domain_
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