I built up the wood supply yesterday and this morning. There is a rhythm to the saw as its teeth eat back and forth in the deepening cut, but I must admit I enjoy the splitting more. To hit the chunk exactly where you want to and cleave it apart cleanly . . . there’s a good sound to it and satisfaction in an efficient motion. Another reward comes from seeing those triangular stove lengths pile up. Then the grand finale! Drive the ax into the block, look around and contemplate the measure of what you have done. 3
Breakup is not the spectacular sight it was last year. A big wind would have cleared the thin ice out yesterday. As I loaded tools on the packboard this afternoon, the rotted ice began to flow past in quiet exit.

4
At the construction site several hundred yards down the lake shore, I found my logs were not as badly checked as I had first thought. The checking was only evident on the weathered sides. The logs were well seasoned and light in weight for their length.

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Read the two excerpts from act 4, scene 3, and act 5, scene 5, of julius caesar. cassius. ha! portia? brutus. she is dead. cassius. how scaped i killing when i crossed you so? o insupportable and touching loss! upon what sickness? brutus. impatient of my absence, and grief that young octavius with mark antony have made themselves so strong—for with her death that tidings came. with this, she fell distraught, and, her attendants absent, swallowed fire. brutus. why this, volumnius. the ghost of caesar hath appeared to me two several times by night—at sardis once, and this last night, here in philippi fields. i know my hour is come. volumnius. not so, my lord. brutus. nay, i am sure it is, volumnius. thou seest the world, volumnius, how it goes. our enemies have beat us to the pit, [low alarums] it is more worthy to leap in ourselves than tarry till they push us. good volumnius, thou know’st that we two went to school together. even for that, our love of old, i prithee, hold thou my sword hilts, whilst i run on it. . so fare you well at once, for brutus’ tongue hath almost ended his life’s history. night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest, that have but laboured to attain this hour. . i prithee, strato, stay thou by thy lord. thou art a fellow of a good respect. thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it. hold then my sword, and turn away thy face while i do run upon it. wilt thou, strato? which statement best compares brutus’s remarks at the death of his wife, portia, to his words before his own death? brutus shows more sadness for portia’s death than he does for his own. brutus is more philosophical about his own death than he is about portia’s. brutus uses more imagery when speaking about portia’s death than about his own. brutus reacts more matter-of-factly about his own death than he does about portia’s.

What if the author had used “looked at” instead? punishment would be deemphasized. punishments would be seen as less harsh. the meaning wouldn't change.

What does breathless mean in the following sentence? after elizabeth won the race, she was breathless with excitement. a. was about to faint b. was not able to breathe c. was at the finish line d. was not excited