Basketball players commonly use the backboard, the rectangular board behind the basketball hoop, to help them make shots players can bounce, or "bank," the ball off the board and into the hoop. But this was not
the original purpose of backboards. To place the first basketball hoops high off the ground, the inventor of
basketball, James A. Naismith, nailed them to the balcony of the gymnasium. However, when a shot was
taken, fans sitting on the front row of the balcony could interfere with the ball. Naismith attached the hoop to
a backboard to prevent fan interference, not to help players.
Question
According to the passage, which of the following is true of the backboard in basketball?
o It can interfere with players' shots, causing them to miss the hoop.
o It was a part of the very first basketball game.
o Its original purpose was to keep spectators from touching the ball
O It is not commonly used by today's players.

Which lines in this excerpt from act ii of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet reveal that mercutio thinks romeo would be better off if he stopped thinking about love? mercutio: i will bite thee by the ear for that jest. romeo: nay, good goose, bite not. mercutio: thy wit is a very bitter sweeting it is a most sharp sauce. romeo: and is it not well served in to a sweet goose? mercutio: o here's a wit of cheveril, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad! romeo: i stretch it out for that word 'broad; ' which added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose. mercutio: why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now art thou sociable, now art thou romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature: for this drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole. benvolio: stop there, stop there. mercutio: thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair. benvolio: thou wouldst else have made thy tale large. mercutio: o, thou art deceived; i would have made it short: for i was come to the whole depth of my tale; and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer.