What’s the point of all the squishing of words and parenthetical clauses in each stanza ?

the following key ideas correctly express the key sentence.

restate key idea: most people can learn to swim in ten short lessons.

restate key idea: the majority of water-accident victims require mouth-to-mouth breathing.

restate key idea: an empty, tightly closed gallon jug will support a tired swimmer.  

restate key idea: first aid is to prevent accidents as well as assist in rescue.

explanation: the key idea needs to have the same topic as the key sentence (drowning and safety).

the answer is five curious-looking beans

the correct answer is a "it describes nora and mrs. linde's relationship". opcions b and d are not related to the content of the passage in any way. option c could be appropiate but it does not fully capture the effect of the dialogue, while option a is quite appropiate, since the dialogue not only exemplifies the relationship between the characters, but it also captures the effect in the excerpt. we get to know that mrs linde bosses around and already knows nora.