Read the excerpt below and answer the question. he had a latten cross set full of stones and in a bottle had he some pig’s bones, but with these relics, when he came upon. some simple parson, then this paragon in that one day more money stood to gain ( the canterbury tales; “general prologue,”lines 701-704) based upon the above context, the word paragon best means .

Based upon the context, the word 'paragon' best means "model of excellence".

The word 'paragon' is used to refer to a person that is the best at doing something. However, in this excerpt from the "General Prologue", Chaucer resorts to this word to show irony since the Pardoner is actually a selfish and deceptive man who earns money by selling false relics and indulgences. Therefore, he is  the opposite to what he represents; In other words, he is not the holy man that he pretends to be. The Pardoner is a model of excellence but in the negative sense.  

the present continuous is a verb tense which is mainly used to indicates that an action is in progress at the moment of speaking.  

it is formed using: person + verb to be (am/is/are) +verb + - ing form  

example: i am studying at this moment .

in addition, the present continuous is also used in order to express things that will or will not happen in the near future.

example: i am having dinner with some friends tonight.

the speaker sometimes   uses it   to express that an action is repeated and it causes irritation on the part of the speaker

example: my sister is constantly complaining about everything.