Read these sentences from the text. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part.

What conclusion can you draw based on this information?
The reason that the clerk’s fire and Scrooge’s fire were both so small is that there was no coal.
Scrooge did not allow his clerk to have enough coal in his fire to keep warm.
The only reason the clerk did not have enough coal is because he didn’t want to go get it.
Scrooge offered the clerk more coal but the clerk did not take it because he was scared.

Apex english 4 semester 1 read the following story summary. when she was a child, sara hated her piano instructor, mr. singh. she felt she had already mastered the piano, but mr. singh constantly criticized her playing in a blunt and hurtful way. after sara grew up, she realized that mr. singh's strictness was responsible for the only edge she had over other pianists her age and the only reason she was able to succeed in music later in life. she learned to appreciate his tough love. what does the story most clearly suggest about the author's perspective? a. that a person should put his or her talents to good use b. that pursuing one's dream is paramount in life c. that the world is harsh and only the strong survive d. that adults have children's best interests in mind

Read the passage, then answer the question that follows. no one could have seen it at the time, but the invention of beet sugar was not just a challenge to cane. it was a hint—just a glimpse, like a twist that comes about two thirds of the way through a movie—that the end of the age of sugar was in sight. for beet sugar showed that in order to create that perfect sweetness you did not need slaves, you did not need plantations, in fact you did not even need cane. beet sugar was a foreshadowing of what we have today: the age of science, in which sweetness is a product of chemistry, not whips. in 1854 only 11 percent of world sugar production came from beets. by 1899 the percentage had risen to about 65 percent. and beet sugar was just the first challenge to cane. by 1879 chemists discovered saccharine—a laboratory-created substance that is several hundred times sweeter than natural sugar. today the sweeteners used in the foods you eat may come from corn (high-fructose corn syrup), from fruit (fructose), or directly from the lab (for example, aspartame, invented in 1965, or sucralose—splenda—created in 1976). brazil is the land that imported more africans than any other to work on sugar plantations, and in brazil the soil is still perfect for sugar. cane grows in brazil today, but not always for sugar. instead, cane is often used to create ethanol, much as corn farmers in america now convert their harvest into fuel. –sugar changed the world, marc aronson and marina budhos how does this passage support the claim that sugar was tied to the struggle for freedom? it shows that the invention of beet sugar created competition for cane sugar. it shows that technology had a role in changing how we sweeten our foods. it shows that the beet sugar trade provided jobs for formerly enslaved workers. it shows that sweeteners did not need to be the product of sugar plantations and slavery.

From this story and the indian saying which precedes it, what can the reader conclude about the culture in which the tale is set? a) they believe that death is always signified by pigeons flying away. b) they think that the behavior of creatures in the natural world can indicate things that will happen to people. c) they believe that honest, hard work provides relief from the ravages of the natural world. d) they think that death isn't the end, but only the beginning of a new life.