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Read these lines: "Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden." According to the quoted lines, what caused the boy s gloom?
AThe size of the fence he had been set to whiten
BThe heat of the morning as the summer came on
CThe loss of the brush he had been given to use
DThe sight of other boys already at their own work
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. The size of the fence he had been set to whiten
1. The gloom lands at one exact moment, when he surveys the fence.
2. The very next sentence gives the measurements, thirty yards long and nine feet high.
3. Placing the size right after the change of mood makes the size the cause, option A.
4. He still has both bucket and brush, and no other boys and no heat are mentioned at that point.
_Source: Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), public domain_
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