Ead the excerpt from "Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge" by Hon. Seth Low, Mayor of the City of Brooklyn. In the course of the construction of the Bridge a number of lives have been lost. Does it not sometimes seem as though every work of enduring value, in the material as in the moral world, must needs be purchased at the cost of human life? Let us recall with kindness at this hour the work of those who labored here faithfully unto the death, no less than of that great army of men who have wrought, year in and year out, to execute the great design. Let us give our meed of praise to-day to the humblest workman who has here done his duty well, no less than to the great engineer who told him what to do.

Which of the following best summarizes the central idea of this excerpt?

The mayor gently lectures on the importance of speaking kindly about those who have died.
The mayor commemorates and gives praise to those who were killed while building the bridge.
Low gives a monotonous explanation of the costs of the materials that were purchased for the bridge.
Low remembers those humble men who labored intensely and faithfully to execute this dream.

The mayor commemorates and gives praise to those who were killed while building the bridge

Explanation:

They mayor praises the workers in the passage and talks sadly about those that were killed while building the bridge.

i think the answer is d.

1.   in sonnet 18, the speaker wants to describe the beauty of his love, but can’t find the words to do so. the speaker says “then in mid-utterance the lay was lost” when he tries to think of the words to describe his love’s beauty.   through his defeat of finding words to describe his love, he shows his love for her.

2.   instead of describing how perfect his love is or comparing her to other beautiful things, he says she is average and there is nothing special about her.   at the last 2 lines of the poem, the volta changes the poem by saying that even though his love is average in beauty, his love for her is special and unique. so instead of praising her throughout the whole poem, he contrasts her average characteristics with his special love for her.

3.   the beloved asked the speaker to describe how he feels about her. she begins to describe what she feels but "drop the torch" and says that she can't do it because the words "hid in me out of reach." the the speaker says "nay, let the silence of my womanhood command my woman-love to thy belief" and that her silence will have to be the answer to his question.