Question

eudora welty (1909 - 2001) wrote short stories, novels, and essays about the american south.
from the abode of summer
1
in mississippi, at least, we sometimes wonder what vacationers who come south in winter see. what do we look like then - our trees gone bare, and we with coats on? that is an obscure time. i know my vision of where i live is a summer one; and summer is the vision i keep year - round. summer is the time when southerners are south, where they live; and south is where it is summertime most.
2
our south is the abode of heat - and the source of whats good for it: the high ceilings, the cross halls, the porches, the frosty drink with mint coming out the top; the cotton dress, the cotton nightgown; those precious and cooling summer fruits, small blue fig and great big watermelon; parties moved out to the porch and yard, where the moonlight, in patterns of leaf and flower, descends along with the possible breezes to our skin and clothes, and music sounds sweet when it is played outdoors or steals out through a window to us.
3
the souths summer is the heart of summer. those ribbony afternoons of childhood (it is the children who stir in afternoons) live in our memory; i think the memory of every southerner lies fixed in summertime. from the beginning of our lives, it seems, we knew the big, slow month - after - month turning of sights and sounds and scents, the kaleidoscope of pleasures in the duress of heat - the swimming of ice in china pitchers of tea or lemonade, ceiling fans wheeling on porches, punkahs in the oldest houses in stately back - and - forth above the long table, fans in the hand, church fans, party fans, silk and feather and ivory fans, old ladies black fans, childrens fans, on chains that went around the neck. and the evenings of childhood summers, where in companies we used to play out, pulling those homemade toys, tiny
this question has two parts. answer part a, and then answer part b.
part a
these sentences are from the passage.
\we love trees, those live oaks especially, vast and majestic and venerable roofs that they are. lately torn by the storms of the equinoxes as they have been, in summer they spread impervious again in blessed new layers of green.\ (paragraph 9)
what does the phrase spread impervious mean in these sentences?

1. improve their appearance
2. grow their leaves thick and tight
3. protect themselves from damage
4. become larger and more beautiful

part b
which two phrases from paragraph 9 best support the correct answer from part a?

1. \we love trees\

Explanation:

In the context, the live - oaks are described as having been torn by storms but then spreading impervious in new layers of green. This implies that they grow their leaves thick and tight to recover. For Part B, the phrases that support the idea of the trees' leaf - growth are needed. "Lately torn by the storms" shows the damage and "spread impervious again in blessed new layers of green" indicates the recovery through leaf - growth.

Answer:

Part A: 2. grow their leaves thick and tight
Part B:

1. "Lately torn by the storms of the equinoxes"
2. "spread impervious again in blessed new layers of green"