Read this excerpt from Chapter 14 of The Secret Garden. And they laughed so that in the end they were making as much noise as if they had been two ordinary healthy natural ten-year-old creatures—instead of a hard, little, unloving girl and a sickly boy who believed that he was going to die.

What is the effect of the word choice on the meaning of the excerpt?

A)It highlights how loud the children are when they are together.

B)It shows the positive effect their interaction has had on them.

C)It reminds the reader of the children's underlying unhappiness.

D)It emphasizes how much effort it will take the children to behave themselves.

What is the value of x in the equation? 43 7 x − 31 2 = 12 a) 32 5 b) 31 2 c) 33 4 d) 36 7

He leaned his head against the wall; his eyes were shut, his hands clasped in each other, and his body seemed to be sustained in an upright position merely by the cellar-door against which he rested his left shoulder. the lethargy into which he was sunk seemed scarcely interrupted by my feeling his hand and his forehead. his throbbing temples and burning skin indicated a fever . . there was only one circumstance that hindered me from forming an immediate determination in what manner this person should be treated. my family consisted of my wife and a young child. our servant-maid had been seized, three days before, by the reigning malady, and, at her own request, had been conveyed to the hospital. we ourselves enjoyed good health, and were hopeful of escaping with our lives. our measures for this end had been cautiously taken and carefully adhered to. they did not consist in avoiding the receptacles of infection, for my office required me to go daily into the midst of them; nor in filling the house with the exhalations of gunpowder, vinegar, or tar. they consisted in cleanliness, reasonable exercise, and wholesome diet. who is the story’s first-person narrator

What did mark twain contribute to the history of the novel? select all that apply.