Question

select the best evidence to support the statement that the letters contain bad news. claras mother read the letters aloud, barely able to hold back her tears and skipping paragraphs that her daughter sensed without needing to hear them. later, as her mother slept, clara would convince her cousin claudette to reread her fathers letters from start to finish. that is how clara read, with borrowed eyes. nobody ever saw her shed a tear, not even when the letters from the lawyer stopped coming, not even when news of the war made them all fear the worst. from carlos ruiz zafón, the shadow of the wind. copyright 2001 by carlos ruiz zafón

Explanation:

To support the statement that the letters contain bad news, the key evidence is Clara's mother's reaction: she read the letters aloud, barely holding back tears and skipping paragraphs (implying distressing content). Clara later had her cousin reread the letters, and the context of war and lawyer letters stopping also hints at bad news, but the mother's emotional response (tears, skipping) directly shows the letters' negative nature.

Answer:

Clara's mother read the letters aloud, barely able to hold back her tears and skipping paragraphs that her daughter sensed without needing to hear them.