Part A Read the sentences from paragraph 4 below.

After 1900 the forces beneath the earth seemed to fall asleep. As it proved, they were only biding their time. The era was at hand when they were to declare themselves in all their mighty power and fall upon the devoted city with ruin in their grasp.

What does the author's use of the phrase forces beneath the earth seemed to fall asleep in these sentences express?

the relatively harmless character of the earth

the apparent activity of the years before 1900

the commitment of a large city to its own destruction

the lifelike characteristic of the earthquake's power