read the passage and answer the questions.
"everyday things"
often, we do not scrutinize the little things that make our lives easier. we do not really recognize the value of the simple luxuries we enjoy today. when was the last time you thought about how much easier your life is because of . . the wooden pencil in your hand? living in a land of plenty like america makes us easy prey for ingratitude. we should show some appreciation for the little everyday things, like wooden pencils, that make written communication easier.
the wooden pencil first dates back to 17th century europe. the first wooden pencils were eraserless. imagine the anxiety of making mistakes! it was not until the american civil war years that erasers were added to wooden pencils. lead pencils date back to early roman times, when romans wrote with lead styluses. we still call them "lead" pencils, but actually, what is inside the modern–day pencil is graphite. early pencils were merely long sticks of graphite inserted into wooden sticks that had been hollowed out by hand. pencils were not mass–produced until 1662 in nuremberg, germany. in 1762, george washington used a three–inch pencil to survey the ohio territory. in 1812, william monroe, a cabinetmaker of concord, massachusetts, began to mass–produce wooden pencils in america.
even the color of the pencil today is significant. in the 19th century, china was renowned for producing the best graphite in the world. pencil makers in the u. s. wanted to convey to consumers that they only used chinese graphite. therefore, they painted them yellow, a color the chinese associate with respect and royalty. this way, american manufacturers let their buyers know that they used chinese graphite exclusively. it is amazing how such a tradition has a profound effect on something as mundane, yet important, as pencil production. seventy–five percent of all pencils produced in america today are yellow. now that you know the history of that little, yellow–painted graphite stick in your hand, remind yourself once in a while to be for the everyday things that people so long ago did without.
microwave ovens
i never thought about my microwave oven until it stopped working one day. i pressed start and then a strange silence, not a steady, busy hum, ensued. it was an essential part of my 20–minute lunch period until the day it retired unannounced. for a week, i battled with messy saucepans and sticky wooden spoons to heat my lunch each day. when i finally bought a new microwave, i vowed never to take for granted this great convenience of modern life.
what connotation does exclusively have, as it is used in the following sentence from "everyday things"?
this way, american manufacturers let their buyers know that they used chinese graphite exclusively.
group of answer choices
solely
snobbishly
completely
elitist

Which of the following is often true of reinterpretations of traditional stories in different media, such as painting or sculpture? o a. the main plot of the story changes. b. the perspective changes. o c. the characters stay the same. d. the theme differs. submit

Read this excerpt from the lady of shalott by alfred, lord tennyson. in which three lines does the poet reveal the monotomy of the lady’s existence

Monsters of the deep the ocean is full of mysteries and amazing creatures. since the first sailors left their home shores and set off for adventure, stories have been told of the strange and wondrous beasts encountered on the open ocean. with only glimpses and imagination-enhanced stories to go on, humans have made many an interesting creature into a monster. the truth is, the ocean's scariest creatures inhabit such extreme depths that humans are rarely, if ever, threatened by them. that does not mean they are not the stuff of nightmares. consider, if you will, the following frightful fiends. atlantic hagfish part eel, part sea snake, this sea serpent may have inspired many stories. lacking the scales that most fish have, the hagfish secretes the most amazing slime to protect itself. this slime may be used to suffocate predators. the slime includes small fibers that make it almost impossible to remove. but the hagfish's truly horrific nature lies in what it does to its prey, not its predators. with an excellent sense of smell that compensates for almost total blindness, the hagfish will locate and latch on to a victim. with a circle of razor sharp teeth, the hagfish bores a hole into the side of its now-doomed prey. once the hole is complete, the hagfish just welcomes itself inside for a meal of fish innards. it essentially eats its prey from the inside out. like other deep-sea monsters, however, hagfish are seldom a nuisance to humans. they live most of their lives at depths of up to 5,600 feet. in fact, they prefer a soft sea bottom so they can quickly bury themselves to hide from threats. gulper eel another, more hideous, fiend of the deep is the gulper eel. this creepy critter is part eel and part giant pouch. like a pelican's enormous pouch-shaped mouth, the mouth of the gulper eel can open quite wide to gulp prey. it has a long tail tipped with a glowing organ that is used to lure in prey. in part to its tail, the gulper can reach up to six feet in length. because its tail is so thin, it is not able to pursue prey with any speed, but it can scoop up hundreds of small crustaceans or shrimp in one bite. often swimming through these prey groups with its mouth wide open, its large jaws allow it to feed on squid and other creatures much larger than itself. gulper eels have only been studied because they sometimes get caught in the nets of fishermen. the depths they inhabit make it quite difficult for scientists to study them. they can go as deep as 6,000 feet, well beyond the abilities of humans to pursue them. vampire squid perhaps the most frightening of the deep-sea monsters is also the smallest. the vampire squid reaches lengths of only six inches. it is also one of the most ancient of the deep-sea monsters. scientists believe it to be the last surviving member of its order. to see the vampire squid is to wonder how many kinds of sea creatures have been mashed into this one odd-looking spook. part squid, part octopus, and part fish, the vampire squid has features of all of these. first, it has large fins at the top of its head that look like ears. flapping like dumbo, the squid uses these fins to get around. it also has tentacles and a large bulbous head like an octopus. its arms, however, are connected by webbing that allows it to form a cloak around itself when frightened. like the octopus, it can change its colors, even making its cloak so dark that it appears invisible. remarkably, it has the largest eyes compared to its body size of any creature on earth. despite its mere six-inch length, its eyes are as big as those of a large dog. with its glowing orbs of eyes and its disappearing tricks, it's no wonder it's named after one of the most feared creatures of legends and folklore: the vampire. these creatures make one wonder not just about the odd members of the deep-sea community, but also what mysterious things inhabit the regions never visited by humans. what may be lurking in the deepest, darkest corners of the deep blue seas? one thing we know for certain, much like the outrageous monsters we conjure in our worst nightmares, the deep ocean is an equally imaginative source of shock, awe, and outright fright. what are the key differences between the atlantic hagfish and the gulper eel? use details and quotations from the text to support your answer.