Does this sound right? ? if not how should i write it? "the lessons i refused to learn, life taught me the hard way"

Think about the noes story. which fits best on the blank line above?

What type of writing is demonstrated in this excerpt by general philip henry sheridan? at once i set about preparing for the examination which precedes admission to the military academy, studying zealously under the direction of mr. william clark; my old teachers, mcnanly and thorn, having disappeared from somerset and sought new fields of usefulness. the intervening months passed rapidly away, and i fear that i did not make much progress, yet i thought i should be able to pass the preliminary examination. that which was to follow worried me more and gave me many sleepless nights; but these would have been less in number, i fully believe, had it not been for one specification of my, outfit which the circular that accompanied my appointment demanded. this requirement was a pair of "monroe shoes." now, out in ohio, what "monroe shoes" were was a mystery—not a shoemaker in my section having so much as an inkling of the construction of the perplexing things, until finally my eldest brother brought an idea of them from baltimore, when it was found that they were a familiar pattern under another name. a. research essay b. persuasive essay c. biography d. memoir

Read this excerpt from "the all-american slurp." i pulled the strings out of my stalk. z-z-zip, z-z-zip. my brother followed suit. z-z-zip, z-z-zip. to my left, my parents were taking care of their own stalks. z-z-zip, z-z-zip, z-z-zip. suddenly i realized that there was dead silence except for our zipping. looking up, i saw that the eyes of everyone in the room were on our family. mr. and mrs. gleason, their daughter meg, who was my friend, and their neighbors the badels—they were all staring at us as we busily pulled the strings of our celery. what story element does the author develop in this excerpt? a) lot details about the party b) characterization of the lins c) characterization of the gleasons d) setting details about the gleasons’ house