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HomeSTAAR EOC English IEnglishReading Comprehension: Short Fiction › Read these lines: "Those solemn but sweet organ …

Read these lines: "Those solemn but sweet organ notes had set up a revolution in him. To-morrow he would go into the roaring downtown district and find work. He would be somebody in the world. He would. Soapy felt a hand laid on his arm. He looked quickly around into the broad face of a policeman. What are you doin here? asked the officer. Nothin, said Soapy. Then come along." The ending is ironic because the arrest comes

Abefore he has had any chance to break the shop window
Bfrom the same officer he had already spoken with once
Cat the very moment he has given up wanting to be taken
Dafter a night in which he had broken no laws at all
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. at the very moment he has given up wanting to be taken
1. The whole evening has been a series of attempts to be arrested, and every one of them has failed. 2. The organ music then changes his mind, and he begins planning honest work instead. 3. His plans are cut off in mid sentence by a hand on his arm. 4. He is doing nothing at all, and says so, and is taken anyway. 5. So the thing he wanted arrives only once he has stopped wanting it, option C. 6. Option D is wrong on the facts, since he had smashed a window and taken an umbrella earlier. 7. Option A misplaces the window, which was broken long before this moment. _Source: O. Henry, The Four Million (1906), public domain_
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