Question

instructions
read the question carefully and select the best answer.
which sentence from the text most strongly supports the correct answer to question 5?
a. “... since burn it must, and we, be it known, did not set it on fire—or to see it put out, and have a hand in it, if that is done as handsomely; yes, even if it were the parish church itself.”

b. “and every few years a new lot is laid down and run over; so that, if some have the pleasure of riding on a rail, others have the misfortune to be ridden upon.”

c. “our life is like a german confederacy, made up of petty states, with its boundary forever fluctuating, so that even a german cannot tell you how it is bounded at any moment.”

d. “our life is frittered away by detail.”

best: fl.ela.k12.ef.1.1 fl.ela.k12.ee.2.1

Explanation:

To solve this, we need to assume the correct answer to Question 5 (not provided here, but typically in a literary analysis context, we analyze each option):

• Option A: Talks about burning/putting out fire, likely not related to a common literary theme (like life’s fragmentation, detail, etc.).
• Option B: Discusses rails (riding or being ridden), metaphorical but unclear without context.
• Option C: Compares life to a German Confederacy (petty states, fluctuating boundaries) – a metaphor for life’s lack of clear structure or fragmentation.
• Option D: “Our life is frittered away by detail” – a direct statement about how life is wasted on small details, a common theme (e.g., in Thoreau’s work about simplicity).

Assuming Question 5 was about life being wasted on details or lack of structure, Option D directly supports it by stating life is frittered by detail.

Answer:

D. "Our life is frittered away by detail"