Read the following passage from the beginning of charles dickens' 1854 novel hard times. in the passage, mr. gradgrind, a successful businessman and leader of coketown, tells the headmaster of coketown's school what kind of education he wants the school to provide: 'now, what i want is, facts. teach these boys and girls nothing but facts. facts alone are wanted in life. plant nothing else, and root out everything else. you can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. this is the principle on which i bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which i bring up these children. . ' the scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a school-room, and the speaker's square forefinger emphasized his observations by underscoring every sentence with a line on the schoolmaster's sleeve. the emphasis was by the speaker's square wall of a forehead, which had his eyebrows for its base, while his eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves, overshadowed by the wall. the emphasis was by the speaker's mouth, which was wide, thin, and hard set. the emphasis was by the speaker's voice, which was inflexible, dry, and dictatorial. . the speaker's obstinate carriage, square coat, square legs, square shoulders, — nay, his very neckcloth, trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp, like a stubborn fact, as it was, — all the emphasis. make a prediction. based on the passage, what themes, or central ideas, do you think will be developed in the novel? describe at least two. then explain why you think these themes will be developed. be sure to use specific details from the passage to support your ideas.

(20 points) passage: this year will be a record-breaking year for storms 1it looks like 2012 will be a year for the record books. thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes have increased across the country. the storms' high winds and heavy rains are making history. early tornado and hurricane seasons 2in march, not usually a busy month for tornadoes, the south and midwest had a large number of twisters. warm weather made conditions ripe for the creation of tornadoes. on some days, twisters dropped from the sky by the dozen. 3hurricane season also came early. two tropical storms hit the southeast in may. two more strong storms followed in june. severe thunderstorms 4many states that have escaped tornadoes and hurricanes have had severe thunderstorms. these giant storms dumped several inches of rain and caused flooding across the northeast and midwest. 5the end of hurricane season is months away, and this year's storm count and rainfall amounts could leave 2011 in the dust. forecasters say the wet, windy weather might stick around until fall. labor day parade rained out 6there is no joy in green town, where the annual labor day parade was called off because of heavy rain. the town's mayor says the parade hasn't been rained out in fifty years. 7a strong band of thunderstorms hit green town on sunday. more than two inches of rain fell each hour. by monday morning, main street looked more like a creek than a parade route. mayor nora bell said she had to call off the parade. "the heavy rains have created a serious safety issue in green town," she said. 8the loss of the labor day parade is green town's second disappointment this summer. in may, the memorial day parade was also called off because of rain. "this must be one of the wettest summers in history," mayor bell said. 9according to the national weather service, mayor bell is right. this summer will break rainfall records in green town and across the country. question: who would obtain the most useful information from the passage? a) someone planning a holiday picnic. b) someone interested in documenting annual meteorological patterns. c) an advocate for the green town labor day parade. d) someone who wishes to do research on the alleged truth of the "global warming" phenomenon.