This particular excerpt makes part of the bigger poem "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls", written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow between 1807 and 1822. In essence, this particular poem makes reference to the process of life, death and rebirth, through the image of the ocean, its movements, its activities and its effects on life. The poem is short, only three stanzas long, and most of it shows the sadness of life as it comes and then ebbs away, marking with it the time limitation on life.
In this particular excerpt of the poem, Longfellow is making reference to how natural events, like the flow of the sea, affect human beings, their lives, and links the two things, human life, and nature, by giving an almost human characteristic to the ebb and flow of the sea. This is why, the correct answer here is B: Human beings are challenged by events in the natural world.
Amy Tan (author of the Joy Luck Club) has written an absolutely terrific piece on what a well educated daughter (Tan) thinks of her mother's "spirited" English. It is an essay that is a masterpiece of its kind.
She explains in detail why her mother's English and how it is written doesn't matter. Her mother has other qualities that her language emphasizes. What matters is how well her mother is able to express herself ignoring all the usual rules of syntax.
From Tan's description, I have to say that C is the best answer.
If the lady speaks only Chinese, the meaning of the phrase means absolutely nothing. It is just sounds. D is wrong.
B is possible, but it would not be true for every idiomatic phrase. So I wouldn't pick B.
A has the same problem as D. I would stick with C
if its written by a the person or another person
Answer:
1. the summary
2. analysis reasons and evidence
3. biography
