Item 8
Read the paragraph.

The contestants brought their dishes up to the judges’ table. Now it was time for the judges to taste Scott’s pasta dish. He worried he might have added too much salt or that the dish had grown cold before the judges had a chance to taste it. The first judge took a bite of Scott’s pasta and said nothing. The second judge made eye contact with Scott after tasting his dish and gave him a small smile, but Scott couldn’t tell what she was thinking. The lead judge took a bite and chewed slowly. Then, he spoke.

Archer is working on a paragraph to include in a story he is writing about a boy named Scott who enters his first cooking contest.

Archer wants to capture the disappointment of this moment for Scott.

Which sentence should Archer add to the end of the paragraph to best achieve this effect?

A) “It’s obvious that you really enjoy cooking, but what are some of your other hobbies?”

B) “It will be very difficult to pick a winner of this contest because all of the dishes are unique.”

C) “I like cheese as much as anyone, but it’s completely overpowering all of the other flavors in your dish.”

D) “I can tell that you have worked very hard on perfecting your recipe, and the presentation of the dish is nice.”