Read the following excerpt from sandra cisneros’s story "mericans." after all that dust and dark, the light from the plaza makes me squinch my eyes like if i just came out of the movies. my brother keeks is drawing squiggly lines on the concrete with a wedge of glass and the heel of his shoe. my brother junior squatting against the entrance, talking to a lady and man. they’re not from here. ladies don’t come to church dressed in pants. and everybody knows men aren’t supposed to wear shorts. “¿quieres chicle? ” the lady asks in a spanish too big for her mouth. the irony in this excerpt contributes most to which of the following themes? a) it is always preferable to forget the past and focus on the future. b) it is possible for people to be connected to more than one culture. c) it is very easy to learn two different languages if one works hard. d) it is always easier to criticize people before getting to know them.

b) It is possible for people to be connected to more than one culture.

In this excerpt it shows that the lady and man are not native to the area. The speaker comments on the way they are dressed ad how the woman pronounces  the question in Spanish to show how they are different. There is nothing in the passages to suggest forgetting the past or learning different languages. While D seems like it could be true, we don't actually know if the speaker has any intention of getting to know the lady and man. Option B is the best because they are in America but the cultural differences the speaker is noticing are those of a hispanic culture.

wordsworth tends to see nature as 'out there'; a presence which surrounds humans, and contributes to human life, but is different from humans. if you look at a typical wordsworth poem (there was a boy, ye knew him well ye rocks) - wordsworth talks about nature as something that needs to be learned about and understood, nature is different from us.  

if you look at a byron poem (the isles of greece is a good one) - byron looks at nature mainly for what it already means to man. wordsworth will look at a landscape and see the mountains, trees, valleys, and rivers as almost spiritual presences - wordsworth wants to get to know nature.  

byron will look at the same landscape and he will want to know who lives there, what are the villages? are there any farms or mines, is there some history?  

wordsworth looks at nature for what it is; byron is forever asking what it means.  

wordsworth thinks that humans are part of nature; byron thinks that nature is part of being human

it is partly in consequence of such facts, that slaves, when inquired of as to their condition and the character of their masters, almost universally say they are contented, and that their masters are kind. the slaveholders have been known to send in spies among their slaves, to ascertain their views and feelings in regard to their condition. the frequency of this has had the effect to establish among the slaves the maxim, that a still tongue makes a wise head. they suppress the truth rather than take the consequences of telling it, and in so doing prove themselves a part of the human family. if they have any thing to say of their masters, it is generally in their masters' favor, especially when speaking to an untried man. i have been frequently asked, when a slave, if i had a kind master, and do not remember ever to have given a negative answer; nor did i, in pursuing this course, consider myself as uttering what was absolutely false; for i always measured the kindness of my master by the standard of kindness set up among slaveholders around us. moreover, slaves are like other people, and imbibe prejudices quite common to others. they think their own better than that of others. many, under the influence of this prejudice, think their own masters are better than the masters of other slaves; and this, too, in some cases, when the very reverse is true. indeed, it is not uncommon for slaves even to fall out and quarrel among themselves about the relative goodness of their masters, each contending for the superior goodness of his own over that of the others."