Read the two passages and answer the question.
passage 1: "midas" retold by thomas bulfinch
[1] bacchus, on a certain occasion, found his old schoolmaster and foster-father, silenus, missing. the old man had been drinking, and in that state wandered away, and was found by some peasants, who carried him to their king, midas. midas recognized him, and treated him hospitably, entertaining him for ten days and nights with an unceasing round of jollity.
[2] on the eleventh day he brought silenus back, and restored him in safety to his pupil. whereupon bacchus offered midas his choice of a reward, whatever he might wish. he asked that whatever he might touch should be changed into gold. bacchus consented, though sorry that he had not made a better choice.
[3] midas went his way, rejoicing in his new-acquired power, which he hastened to put to the test. he could scarce believe his eyes when he found a twig of an oak, which he plucked from the branch, become gold in his hand. he took up a stone; it changed to gold. he touched a sod; it did the same. he took up an apple from the tree; you would have thought he had robbed the garden of the hesperides. his joy knew no bounds, and as soon as he got home, he ordered the servants to set a splendid repast on the table. then he found to his dismay that whether he touched bread, it hardened in his hand; or put a morsel to his lip, it defied his teeth. he took a glass of wine, but it flowed down his throat like melted gold.
[4] in consternation at the unprecedented affliction, he strove to divest himself of his power; he hated the gift he had lately coveted. but all in vain; starvation seemed to await him. he raised his arms, all shining with gold, in prayer to bacchus, begging to be delivered from his glittering destruction. bacchus, merciful deity, heard and consented. "go," said he, "to river pactolus, trace its fountain-head, there plunge yourself and body in, and wash away your fault and its punishment." he did so, and scarce had he touched the waters before the gold-creating power passed into them, and the river sands became changed into gold, as they remain to this day.
passage 2: "bacchus's regret" by hunter doyle
[1] king midas returned my beloved teacher to me,
so i rewarded him with a wish—whatever he wanted would be.
midas cried, "give my fingers a golden touch!
then, i shall have a gilded kingdom and such."
[5] i tried to make him see the err of his choice,
but he would not heed the caution in my voice.
i pleaded with midas, "be careful what you choose,
for you're only thinking of what you'll gain—not what you'll lose."
[9] his thirst for wealth became no match for his appetite;
after all, a gold apple is not something one can bite.
his daughter wept for her poor starving dad,
so he wiped her tears and told her not to be sad.
[13] into a golden statue midas's daughter became,
and he and his greedy wish were ultimately to blame.
yet, maybe if i had put up more of a fight and a fret,
then i wouldn't have to live with all this regret.
how does the poem show the theme greed can have negative consequences differently than the myth?
a) by allowing bacchus to refuse midas's wish
b)by changing what midas wishes for
c)by resolving midas's conflict sooner
d)by showing what happens to midas's daughter

Read the excerpt from pat mora’s essay "the leader in the mirror." i hoped that most of the students were going to enroll in college. the confetti would be for their private celebrations, those solitary moments when they had passed a test that worried them, finished a difficult paper at 2 a. m., found a summer internship. sometimes, even when no one else is around, it’s important to celebrate when we have struggled and succeeded—to sprinkle a little confetti on our own heads. what is the author’s purpose in using confetti as a symbol? the confetti represents celebration. the author uses confetti to encourage her audience to celebrate success. the confetti represents celebration. the author uses confetti to teach the students how to plan a celebration party. the confetti is a symbol of college graduation. the author uses the symbol to reward college graduates. the confetti is a symbol of summer internships. the author uses the symbol to encourage signing up for summer internships.

Which three excerpts would best be characterized as expository texts? excerpt 1 may 17, 1980, was a quiet day in silver lake, washington. if you had been there, you probably would have seen mount st. helens, one of the state’s famous mountains. the mountain looked like a cone capped with snow. it rose from a valley of deep green trees and bright blue lakes. mount st. helens is volcanic. scientists were watching the mountain carefully that spring. for two months, they recorded small earthquakes near the mountain. steam spewed from its top. and yet, from a distance, the mountain looked picture-perfect. a volcano can erupt when pressure underground builds and forces its way to the surface. volcanos can be active, dormant, or extinct. an active volcano has erupted in the last 10,000 years and is thought to erupt in the near future. a dormant volcano has not erupted in the past 10,000 years, but is thought to erupt again. an extinct volcano is one scientists do not expect to erupt again. for example, in 1980, mt. st. helens was an active volcano. excerpt 2 anxiety sometimes manifests as an apprehensive feeling or worry that you are unable to explain fully. stress is often a trigger. symptoms can include tense muscles, churning stomach, nausea, diarrhea, headache, backache, heart palpitations, sweating, flushing, and numbness or “pins and needles” in arms, hands, or legs. with all these symptoms, it is easy to mistake anxiety for a physical illness. everyone becomes anxious from time to time, but when anxiety interferes with life when there’s no real threat, or is present long after a real threat has passed, it is a problem. one of the best ways to deal with anxiety is to learn how to manage stress in your life. relaxation techniques are also good. meditation, breathing techniques, and yoga are all possible ways to ease anxiety. being healthy also . follow a regular sleep pattern, get plenty of exercise, and maintain a healthy diet. all of these practices will reduce anxiety and stress. excerpt 3 visiting a different country can be a great way to spend a vacation. as a tourist, you are there to see new sights and have new experiences. but living in a different country is not the same as visiting one. when you move to a new country, you move away from people you are close to and many things that you know. a new place may have different customs, different food and often, a different language. the climate and land may be very different. buying food and getting to work may be a major challenge. you will have times of feeling afraid, angry and homesick. these feelings are examples of culture shock. excerpt 4 there never was such a country for wandering liars; and they were of both sexes. hardly a month went by without one of these tramps arriving; and generally loaded with a tale about some princess or other wanting to get her out of some faraway castle where she was held in captivity by a lawless scoundrel, usually a giant. now you would think that the first thing the king would do after listening to such a novelette from an entire stranger, would be to ask for credentials—yes, and a pointer or two as to locality of castle, best route to it, and so on. but nobody ever thought of so simple and commonsense a thing as that. no, everybody swallowed these people’s lies whole, and never asked a question of any sort or about anything. (from a connecticut yankee in king arthur's court by mark twain) excerpt 5 she was dressed in rich materials—satins, and lace, and silks—all of white. her shoes were white. and she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table. dresses, less splendid than the dress she wore, and half-packed trunks, were scattered about. she had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on—the other was on the table near her hand—her veil was but half arranged, her watch and chain were not put on, and some lace for her bosom lay with those trinkets, and with her handkerchief, and gloves, and some flowers, and a prayer-book, all confusedly heaped about the looking glass. (from great expectations by charles dickens)

(1) fire extended humans’ geographical boundaries by allowing them to travel into regions that were previously too cold to explore. (2) it also kept predators away, allowing early humans to sleep securely. (3) fire, in fact, has been a significant factor in human development and progress in many ways. (4) other obvious benefits of fire are its uses in cooking and in hunting. (5) probably even more important, however, is that learning to control fire allowed people to change the very rhythm of their lives. (6) before fire, the human daily cycle coincided with the rising and setting of the sun. (7) with fire, though, humans gained time to think and talk about the day’s events and to prepare strategies for coping with tomorrow. the sentence that expresses the main idea is: (type the number of the sentence. then click “go.”)