Read the excerpt from life on the mississippi. there never was so wonderful a book written by man; never one whose interest was so absorbing, so unflagging, so sparkingly renewed with every reperusal. the passenger who could not read it was charmed with a peculiar sort of faint dimple on its surface (on the rare occasions when he did not overlook it altogether); but to the pilot that was an italicized passage; indeed, it was more than that, it was a legend of the largest capitals, with a string of shouting exclamation points at the end of it; for it meant that a wreck or a rock was buried there that could tear the life out of the strongest vessel that ever floated. it is the faintest and simplest expression the water ever makes, and the most hideous to a pilot’s eye. in truth, the passenger who could not read this book saw nothing but all manner of pretty pictures in it painted by the sun and shaded by the clouds, whereas to the trained eye these were not pictures at all, but the grimmest and most dead-earnest of reading-matter. what best describes why the narrator uses the image of an italicized passage written in capital letters to describe the river? to demonstrate how complicated and difficult it is to navigate down the river. to explain how experienced captains are able to “read” the river. to show how sailing down the river can be as thrilling as reading a good book. to express his delight over starting to get to know the river better.

She took up a scalpel and slit the monkey's abdomen, making a slow and gentle cut, keeping the blade well away from her gloved fingers. the spleen was puffed up and tough, leathery, like a globe of smoked salami. she did not see any bloody lesions inside this monkey. she had expected that the monkey's interior would be a lake of blood, but no, this monkey looked all right, it had not bled into itself. if the animal had died of ebola, this was not a clear case. she opened up the intestine. there was no blood inside it. the gut looked okay. then she examined the stomach. there she found a ring of bleeding spots at the junction between the stomach and the small intestine. this could be a sign of ebola, but it was not a clear sign. it could also be a sign of simian fever, not ebola. therefore, she could not confirm the presence of ebola virus in this animal based on a visual inspection of the internal organs during necropsy.

The moutain stood shoulder to shoulder and glared down at the pasture below, daring anyone to approach. what is the most likely the intent of the author's word choice in this sentence?

Read the passage from sugar changed the world. but it is in india, where it was used as an offering in religious and magical ceremonies, that we have the first written record of sugar. long before the first pyramids were built in egypt, the ancient sumerians traded with the people of harappa and mohenjo daro, who lived along the indus river. unfortunately, we are still not able to read the writings left behind from those ancient cities. so the first documents telling us about life in that region come from a much later period. these hindu sacred teachings were probably first gathered together sometime between 1500 and 900 b. c., and were carefully memorized. only hundreds of years later were they finally written down. the hindu writings tell us of a religion in which fire was extremely important. people believed that the gods gave fire to human beings. yet fire was also a way for humans to reach the gods. by placing offerings in a special fire, a priest could turn them into smoke and send them on to the gods. five ingredients were selected for this special burning: milk, cheese, butter, honey, and sugar cane. which details would best fit in a summary of this passage? select two options. "in india . . it was used as an offering in religious and magical ceremonies" "the first written record of sugar" "long before the first pyramids were built in egypt" "gods gave fire to human beings" "a priest could turn them into smoke and send them on to the gods"