"You tell me how many choral societies there are in an Italian region, and I will tell you…how long it will take to get your health bills reimbursed…" What did sociologist Robert Putnam mean by that statement?

Read the following excerpts that illustrate darl's and cash's points of view from william faulkner's as i lay dying : from darl: read the following excerpts that illustrate darl's and cash's points of view from william faulkner's  as i lay dying: from darl: tull's wagon stands beside the spring, hitched to the rail, the reins wrapped about the seat stanchion. in the wagon bed are two chairs. jewel stops at the spring and takes the gourd from the willow branch and drinks. i pass him and mount the path, beginning to hear cash's saw. when i reach the top he has quit sawing. standing in a litter of chips, he is fitting two of the boards together. between the shadow spaces they are yellow as gold, like soft gold, bearing on their flanks in smooth undulations the marks of the adze blade: a good carpenter, cash is. he holds the two planks on the trestle, fitted along the edges in a quarter of the finished box. he kneels and squints along the edge of them, then he lowers them and takes up the adze. a good carpenter. addie bundren could not want a better one, better box to lie in. it will give her confidence and comfort. i go on to the house, followed by the          chuck.          chuck.          chuck. of the adze. from cash: i made it on the bevel. there is more surface for the nails to grip. there is twice the gripping-surface to each seam. the water will have to seep into it on a slant. water moves easiest up and down or straight across. in a house people are upright two thirds of the time. so the seams and joints are made up-and-down. because the stress is up-and-down. in a bed where people lie down all the time, the joints and seams are made sideways, because the stress is sideways. except. a body is not square like a crosstie. animal magnetism. the animal magnetism of a dead body makes the stress come slanting, so the seams and joints of a coffin are made on a bevel. compare how the two narrators tell the story of addie bundren's impending death. is either narrator reliable? explain what the reader learns about each narrator. be sure to use specific details from the text to support your answer.

Which two passages in this excerpt from the death of ivan illych does leo tolstoy use to suggest that ivan ilych feels like his life is slipping away from him? "what's the use? it makes no difference," he said to himself, staring with wide-open eyes into the darkness. "death. yes, death. and none of them knows or wishes to know it, and they have no pity for me. now they are playing." (he heard through the door the distant sound of a song and its accompaniment.) "it's all the same to them, but they will die too! fools! i first, and they later, but it will be the same for them. and now they are merry . . the beasts! " anger choked him and he was agonizingly, unbearably miserable. "it is impossible that all men have been doomed to suffer this awful horror! " he raised himself. "something must be wrong. i must calm myself—must think it all over from the beginning." and he again began thinking. "yes, the beginning of my illness: i knocked my side, but i was still quite well that day and the next. it hurt a little, then rather more. i saw the doctors, then followed despondency and anguish, more doctors, and i drew nearer to the abyss. my strength grew less and i kept coming nearer and nearer, and now i have wasted away and there is no light in my eyes.

What is the best definition of detonation a.) the meaning of the word in a different language b.)the dictionary meaning of the word c.) the additional meaning that comes from the feeling one gets from a word d.) the meaning of irony