Which excerpt from "how should one read a book? ” best states the author’s purpose? most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. but if you open your mind as widely as possible, then signs and hints of almost imperceptible fineness, from the twist and turn of the first sentences, will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other. thus to go from one great novelist to another—from jane austen to hardy, from peacock to trollope, from scott to meredith—is to be wrenched and uprooted; to be thrown this way and then that. but a glance at the heterogeneous company on the shelf will show you that writers are very seldom “great artists”; far more often a book makes no claim to be a work of art at all.

In this excerpt from "a modest proposal" by jonathan swift, which important issue does the writer deal with using a satirical tone? some persons of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number of poor people, who are aged, diseased, or maimed; and i have been desired to employ my thoughts what course may be taken, to ease the nation of so grievous an incumbrance. but i am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is very well known, that they are every day dying, and rotting, by cold and famine, and filth, and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected. and as to the young labourers, they are now in almost as hopeful a condition. they cannot get work, and consequently pine away from want of nourishment, to a degree, that if at any time they are accidentally hired to common labour, they have not strength to perform it, and thus the country and themselves are happily delivered from the evils to come. a. old, sickly people cannot be hired as laborers because they don't have the physical stamina required for the job. b. old, sickly people and young laborers are useless to the nation because they cannot be productive citizens. c. the economy of the nation is burdened by the poor, the old, and the sickly who survive on charity and handouts. d. the living conditions of the poor and their lack of employment opportunities are serious concerns for the nation. reset next