The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world.H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, 1898What is the tone of the passage?A.Jealous and resentfulB.Funny and jokingC.MiserableD.Calm and intelligentSUBMITarrow_backPREVIOUS

The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world.H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, 1898What evidence leads you to believe that the tone of the passage is calm and intelligent?A.Misleading or completely false informationB.Scientific-sounding words and facts about MarsC.Excessive punctuation and mixed-up wordsD.Short sentences and easy-to-understand language

ad this excerpt from H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds:The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world. It must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course. The fact that it is scarcely one seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling to the temperature at which life could begin. It has air and water and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence.Yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no writer, up to the very end of the nineteenth century, expressed any idea that intelligent life might have developed there far, or indeed at all, beyond its earthly level. Nor was it generally understood that since Mars is older than our earth, with scarcely a quarter of the superficial area and remoter from the sun, it necessarily follows that it is not only more distant from time's beginning but nearer its end. The secular cooling that must someday overtake our planet has already gone far indeed with our neighbour. Its physical condition is still largely a mystery, but we know now that even in its equatorial region the midday temperature barely approaches that of our coldest winter. Its air is much more attenuated than ours, its oceans have shrunk until they cover but a third of its surface, and as its slow seasons change huge snowcaps gather and melt about either pole and periodically inundate its temperate zones. That last stage of exhaustion, which to us is still incredibly remote, has become a present-day problem for the inhabitants of Mars. The immediate pressure of necessity has brightened their intellects, enlarged their powers, and hardened their hearts. And looking across space with instruments, and intelligences such as we have scarcely dreamed of, they see, at its nearest distance only 35,000,000 of miles sunward of them, a morning star of hope, our own warmer planet, green with vegetation and grey with water, with a cloudy atmosphere eloquent of fertility, with glimpses through its drifting cloud wisps of broad stretches of populous country and narrow, navy-crowded seas.And we men, the creatures who inhabit this earth, must be to them at least as alien and lowly as are the monkeys and lemurs to us. The intellectual side of man already admits that life is an incessant struggle for existence, and it would seem that this too is the belief of the minds upon Mars. Their world is far gone in its cooling and this world is still crowded with life, but crowded only with what they regard as inferior animals. To carry warfare sunward is, indeed, their only escape from the destruction that, generation after generation, creeps upon them.Which lines best contributes to the suspense built in the passage?A.The immediate pressure of necessity has brightened their intellects, enlarged their powers, and hardened their hearts.B.The secular cooling that must someday overtake our planet has already gone far indeed with our neighbour.C.It has air and water and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence.D.Its physical condition is still largely a mystery, but we know now that even in its equatorial region the midday temperature barely approaches that of our coldest winter.SUBMITarrow_backPREVIOUS

The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world. It must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course. The fact that it is scarcely one seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling to the temperature at which life could begin. It has air and water and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence. "Yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no writer, up to the very end of the nineteenth century, expressed any idea that intelligent life might have developed there far, or indeed at all, beyond its earthly level. Nor was it generally understood that since Mars is older than our earth, with scarcely a quarter of the superficial area and remoter from the sun, it necessarily follows that it is not only more distant from time's beginning but nearer its end.In general, readers today have a better understanding of science than readers in 1898. How would the tone of the passage's narrator have affected readers in 1898 versus readers today?A.It would have seemed far too complicated to understand.B.It would have seemed more insulting, since the narrator seems to belittle the readers.C.It would have seemed more credible, since the narrator speaks with scientific authority.D.It would have seemed more frightening, since the narrator is so knowledgeable about science.SUBMITarrow_backPREVIOUS

this passage:It must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course. The fact that it is scarcely one seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling to the temperature at which life could begin.H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, 1898What makes the tone of the passage formal and scientific?A.The narrator uses puns or wordplay to talk about the Martians.B.The narrator mentions death and destruction several times.C.The narrator speaks quickly and in concise sentences.D.The narrator quotes facts about Mars and sounds well educated.SUBMITarrow_backPREVIOUS

Read this passage:It must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course. The fact that it is scarcely one seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling to the temperature at which life could begin.H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, 1898What is the tone of the passage?A.Hysterical and emotionalB.Formal and scientificC.Frightened and confusedD.Happy and carefreeSUBMITarrow_backPREVIOUS