Read this excerpt from the time machine. then complete the sentences that follow.
and perhaps the thing that struck me most was its dilapidated look. the stained-glass windows, which displayed only a geometrical pattern, were broken in many places, and the curtains that hung across the lower end were thick with dust. and it caught my eye that the corner of the marble table near me was fractured. nevertheless, the general effect was extremely rich and picturesque. there were, perhaps, a couple of hundred people dining in the hall, and most of them, seated as near to me as they could come, were watching me with interest, their little eyes shining over the fruit they were eating. all were clad in the same soft and yet strong, silky material.
fruit, by the by, was all their diet. these people of the remote future were strict vegetarians, and while i was with them, in spite of some carnal cravings, i had to be frugivorous also. indeed, i found afterwards that horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, had followed the ichthyosaurus into extinction. but the fruits were very delightful; one, in particular, that seemed to be in season all the time i was there—a floury thing in a three-sided husk—was especially good, and i made it my staple. at first i was puzzled by all these strange fruits, and by the strange flowers i saw, but later i began to perceive their import.
the description of the broken windows and dusty curtains in the first paragraph foreshadows the time traveller’s later discovery that
a. the eloi are a lethargic and unintelligent race that lacks initiative
b. the eloi are the last remnants of an earlier race that was conquered by invaders
c. the eloi are the slaves of a master race that controls them.
d. the eloi are the prey of a secretive race that lives underground
the time traveller thinks that the diet of fruit
a. a sign that environment will adapt to suit our needs
b. an indication that the eloi passively accept their lot
c. a tolerable outcome that people seem to have adapted to
d. a critique of his own time's carnivorous diet