Read the excerpt from an adaptation of "To Build a Fire."
What is the central idea of the excerpt?
The man is unobservant and fails to notice his
surroundings.
The man is new to the area and does not know
anyone there.
The man is practical, but he does not think carefully
about his situation.
The man knows how to dress for the weather, but
he forgot some supplies.
But all this - the mysterious, far-reaching hair-line trail,
the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold,
and the strangeness and weirdness of it all-made no
impression on the man. It was not because he was
used to it. He was a newcomer in the land, a
chechaquo, and this was his first winter. The trouble
with him was that he was without imagination. He was
quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the
things, and not in the significances. He knew it was
cold and uncomfortable, but the cold did not lead him
to meditate upon his own frailty, or immortality, or
man's place in the universe. Fifty degrees below zero
stood for a bite of frost that hurt and that must be
guarded against with mittens, ear-flaps, warm
moccasins, and thick socks. That there should be
anything more to it than that was a thought that never