Read this excerpt from The Great Fire. Most stood by watching the yellow-orange flames leaping from roof to roof and listening to the horrible crackle pop of dry pine being consumed. Fires were extremely common back then and thought to be as exciting and dramatic as a night at the theater. Which central idea does this excerpt support? A. Many mistakes contributed to the spread of the fire and prevented it from being put out. B. The fire spread because the firefighters were not equipped to handle such a massive blaze. C. Many residents aided the firefighters by carrying furniture and helping their neighbors escape. D. Residents were used to fires and did not think that this one was different from any others.

Javier is writing a literary analysis of the secret garden. read this introduction to his essay. frances burnett’s “the secret garden” explores the challenges of a sickly, self-centered little girl named mary lennox. after mary’s parents die of cholera, she moves from india to england to live at her uncle’s estate in yorkshire. while living at the old estate, mary discovers an abandoned garden that belonged to her deceased aunt. tending to the neglected garden brings mary joy, and her health improves. through mary’s transformation, burnett presents nature as a symbol of rebirth and healing. which piece of textual evidence should javier use to support the claim made in the introduction? a. “‘it’s in the garden no one can go into,’ she said to herself. ‘it’s the garden without a door. he lives in there. how i wish i could see what it is like! ’” b. “in india she had always felt hot and too languid to care much about anything. the fact was that the fresh wind from the moor had begun to blow the cobwebs out of her young brain and to waken her up a little.” c. “mary felt lonelier than ever when she knew she was no longer in the house. she went out into the garden as quickly as possible, and the first thing she did was to run round and round the fountain flower garden ten times.” d. “‘it isn’t a quite dead garden,’ she cried out softly to herself. ‘even if the roses are dead, there are other things alive.’”