Nikolai always strived to be a stern man. It was the most apparent in the way he managed to hide a half-smile when he thought so
mething was genuinely funny. He would only pat his young son Andrei on the back if he felt compelled to show love in front of people. Nobody had heard Nikolai sing Andrei to sleep. In fact, even the songs were about warriors, ascetics, and heroes of some kind. Once, when nobody was looking, Nikolai took off his shoes and socks to walk on the morning dew. He even bent low—messing up his crisp suit—to smell an unfolding rose. Nikolai would shock himself by such impulsive acts, and then he would walk about with a tyrant’s expression on his face. Every day on his way home from work, Nikolai crossed a river that forked into two directions. It took him longer to get home the day the river was flooded. That evening, Nikolai stood on the riverbank—right where the river split into two—and watched the two streams merge into one. Rain had erased all boundaries.
6
In this story, "a river that forked into two directions" resembles
A.
Nikolai's dual character.
B.
Andrei's love for Nikolai.
C.
the unfolding rose.
D.
the flood and rain.
Forking rivers or paths are commonly used to express a character's opposing features in literature. In this case, it represents Nikolai's two sides - stern and caring. The river merges into one at the end - implying that his two sides can coexist.
Answer: b. She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively-when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls, singing in the choir.
Explanation: In this sentence (and several other remarks) we learn something that is, plot-wise, very important about Mrs. Wright's past: she used to have a liveliness in her youth (before marrying) that is now gone and at some point in the last 20 years, she has stopped wearing pretty clothes.
