It implies that Winter is a curse, as something evil and harmful that is invoked upon(whichever group of people the story talks about). Its definitley in a negative connotation
Since puerile and mature are opposites the best answer is d since moribund which means inactive compared to it's opposite, lively.
Is there an article or essay attached to this? I assume its a speech, but which one?
Plagiarism is when you copy someone else's work (usually word by word) and you do not acknowledge that you where not the person who wrote it, also, you do not cite where you received that info from. That is why we have copyright laws, where the author can choose whether to establish a penalty if copied.