The sentence is c because which wasnt needed
Answer:
The word "protracted" means lasting longer than expected, or unusually long, so what protracted most clearly means based on the context of the excerpt is how the time period of celestial motion studies must have lasted unusually long.
Answer: c) He feels that he and Hillary were equals and that they could not have climbed Everest without each other's help.
In the excerpt, the author argues that Hillary is a fine man and his friend, and he is not offensive to him at any point. So it would be inaccurate to claim that he refers to him as a liar and a cheat.
He also makes it clear that he does not think Hillary is "superior" to him, or that he is weak. The only accurate thing is to say that they were both equals, and they helped each other out, but that he believes Hillary does not portray him that way in his account.
