Excerpt from plugged in, but tuned out: the evil influence of ear buds darrell thomas i. invasion of the body snatchers: have you noticed a change in the world around you recently? have you seen how more and more people are walking around with little rectangles in their hands or pockets with long wires plugged straight into their ears? at the grocery store yesterday, i counted at least twenty people completely lost in the music provided by their ever-present cell phones. it’s as if the old science-fiction movie invasion of the body snatchers was coming true; we are being overtaken by pod people. so at the risk of appearing to be a crotchety old man complaining about the “good ole days,” i have to make a stance against the evil influences of the cell phone and ear-bud phenomena on our society. why does the author begin his article with two rhetorical questions? a)to make the reader angry and likely to agree with him b)to make it more likely that he will be taken seriously c) to invite the reader to see the relevance of his subject d) to raise legitimate questions that everyone wonders about

Which lines in this excerpt from act ii of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet reveal that mercutio thinks romeo would be better off if he stopped thinking about love? mercutio: i will bite thee by the ear for that jest. romeo: nay, good goose, bite not. mercutio: thy wit is a very bitter sweeting it is a most sharp sauce. romeo: and is it not well served in to a sweet goose? mercutio: o here's a wit of cheveril, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad! romeo: i stretch it out for that word 'broad; ' which added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose. mercutio: why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now art thou sociable, now art thou romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature: for this drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole. benvolio: stop there, stop there. mercutio: thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair. benvolio: thou wouldst else have made thy tale large. mercutio: o, thou art deceived; i would have made it short: for i was come to the whole depth of my tale; and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer.