Instructions Reread paragraphs 15-17 of the story. Then answer the multiple-choice questions that follow.

From The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
15 I stood staring, not as yet realising that this was deat h leaping from man to man in that little distant crowd. All I felt was that it was something very strange. An almost noiseless and blinding flash of light, and a man fell headlong and lay still; and as the unseen shaft of heat passed over them, pine trees burst into fire, and every dry furze bush became with one dull thud a mass of flames. And far away towards Knaphill I saw the flashes of trees and hedges and wooden buildings suddenly set alight.

16 It was sweeping round swiftly and steadily, this flaming deat h, this invisible, inevitable sword of heat. I perceived it coming towards me by the flashing bushes it touched, and was too astounded and stupefied to stir. I heard the crackle of fire in the sand pits and the sudden squeal of a horse that was as suddenly stilled. Then it was as if an invisible yet intensely heated finger were drawn through the heather between me and the Martians, and all along a curving line beyond the sand pits the dark ground smoked and crackled. Something fell with a crash far away to the left where the road from Woking station opens out on the common. Forthwith the hissing and humming ceased, and the black, domelike object sank slowly out of sight into the pit.

17 All this had happened with such swiftness that I had stood motionless, dum bfounded and dazzled by the flashes of light. Had that death swept through a full circle, it must inevitably have slain me in my surprise. But it passed and spared me, and left the night about me suddenly dark and unfamiliar.
The narrator’s attitude in paragraph 15 is best described as —

Answer choices for the above question

A. hostile.

B. enthusiastic.

C. observant.

D. sarcastic.
The author’s word choice in paragraph 16 helps build a suspenseful tone by emphasizing that —

Answer choices for the above question

A. the narrator cannot see what is happening.

B. there is no way to escape from the attack.

C. the Martians have suddenly come into view.

D. many people were hurt or killed.
Based on the narrator’s attitude in the final paragraph, the tone shifts to —

Answer choices for the above question

A. shocked.

B. bitter.

C. peaceful.

D. mysterious.