Read the following passage:
everyone waited anxiously for the lottery of fairness and
benevolence to start. the stakes were high this year. there
was no chance of anyone forgetting his or her number or
missing the drawing numbers were tattooed on our
forearms. attendance was mandatory. as we peered
around at the armed soldiers who surrounded us, we
wondered who the winner would be. who would take on
the punishment for all of our crimes? there were hardly
any crimes - nothing to steal, too tired to fight - but still,
the punishments would be harsh. we all hoped it wouldn't
be someone young
which two central ideas in this story are most closely related?
a. the dangers of gambling and unchecked government power
b. the cruelty of chance and the abuse of power
c. willingness to fight injustice and the downfall of civilization
d. security in numbers and the consequences of crime

Which theme do all rivers run to the sea and maus share?

The greatest gift the sumerians gave the world was the invention of writing. the sumerians were wealthy people. they needed some way to keep track of what they owned. they began drawing pictures. they used a reed as a pen. they drew on soft pieces of clay. the soft clay was then dried in the sun. the tablet became a permanent record. later, the sumerian drawings changed into wedge-shaped symbols. this kind of writing is called cuneiform. by putting symbols together, the sumerians could write entire sentences.

Hich line in this excerpt from jonathan swift's "a modest proposal" uses the rhetorical device of irony? and secondly, (there being a round million of creatures in humane figure throughout this kingdom, whose whole subsistence put into a common stock, would leave them in debt two million of pounds sterling), adding those who are beggars by profession, to the bulk of farmers, cottagers and labourers, with their wives and children, who are beggars in effect; i desire those politicians who dislike my overture, and may perhaps be so bold to attempt an answer, that they will first ask the parents of these mortals, whether they would not at this day think it a great happiness to have been sold for food at a year old, in the manner i prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual scene of misfortunes, as (they have since gone through, by the oppression of landlords, the impossibility of paying rent without money or trade, the want of common sustenance, with neither house nor cloaths to cover them from the inclemencies of the weather,) and the most inevitable prospect of intailing the like, or greater miseries, upon their breed for ever. i profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that( i have not the least personal interest in endeavouring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the publick good of my country,) by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich.( i have no children, by which i can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing. reset next)