Question

her daughters would seek her out at night when she seemed to have a moment to talk to them: they were having trouble at school or they wanted her to persuade their father to give them permission to go into the city or to a shopping mall or a movie - in broad daylight, mami! laura would wave them out of her room. \the problem with you girls...\ the problem boiled down to the fact that they wanted to become americans and their father - and their mother, too, at first - would have none of it. - \daughter of invention,\ julia alvarez what is the meaning of the idiom underlined in the passage? focused on exaggerated was dishonest forgot a lesson

Explanation:

To determine the meaning of "boiled down to", we analyze the context. The sentence explains that the problem ultimately (or essentially) came down to the fact about the girls wanting to be Americans and their parents' resistance. "Focused on" is incorrect as the problem isn't focusing on something but reducing to a core fact. "Exaggerated" and "was dishonest" are irrelevant. The correct meaning here aligns with the idea of the problem being reduced to or centered on that fact, but wait, actually, "boiled down to" means to be reducible to or essentially be about. Wait, among the options, "focused on" is the closest in terms of the problem being centered on that fact? Wait no, let's re - evaluate. Wait, the idiom "boil down to" means to be summarized as or to be essentially about. So in the context, the problem's essence was the fact that the girls wanted to be Americans and parents didn't agree. So "focused on" (meaning the problem centered around that fact) is the correct option. The other options: "exaggerated" has nothing to do with the meaning of the idiom, "was dishonest" is irrelevant, "forgot a lesson" is also irrelevant.

Answer:

A. focused on