Is the - ing verb form in the following sentence a participle or gerund?

he isn't interested in lifeguarding this year.

answer: "the beating heart symbolizes the narrator's conscience, or his sense of guilt and wrongdoing" so its b

explanation:

"to look at him, or hear him describe it, he had no guilt. however, poe decided to symbolize this man's subconscious guilt through the heartbeat."

answer: inference

explanation:

an inference can be understood as a conclusion to which a person is able to get based on reasoning. it is the same as a deduction, a guess, an assumption.   in the sentence presented, the conjunction "but" gives the readers an idea of contrast, and, therefore, allows them to induce that despite the opponent's characteristics, andrea had something different that made her win.

in my opinion, anyone should be allowed to marry as long as it's not going against any laws. though i kind of contradict myself because i know that in some states and countries, gay marriage isn't legal yet- hopefully you get my point.

an old man was walking on the street when a car was about to hit him matt murdock daredevil pused the old man out of the way and was hit instead.