In modern society, people are spending too much time using technological devices. now, read the counterclaim. proponents of technology point out the way it has improved communication. they note that less than a century ago, it took months to communicate with someone on the other side of the world. now it takes only seconds. which is the best rebuttal to the counterclaim? a. these supporters have a point, especially when you consider how dangerous it used to be to try to travel over great distances. b. but these supporters ignore the fact that people do not always use their gadgets to reach out and, instead, allow technology to isolate them. c. however, people can use all sorts of technology to communicate, with new models of cell phones and computers appearing regularly. d. communication is very important to progress in society, and technology is one part of advancing our ability to connect.

What to the slave is the fourth of july? by frederick douglass fellow-citizens—pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am i called upon to speak here to-day? what have i, or those i represent, to do with your national independence? are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that declaration of independence, extended to us? and am i, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings, resulting from your independence to us? but, such is not the state of the case. i say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. i am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. the blessings in which you this day rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. the rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. the sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. this fourth of july is yours, not mine. you may rejoice, i must mourn. to drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, i hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are to-day rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. if i do forget, if i do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth! " to forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before god and the world. my subject, then, fellow-citizens, is american slavery. i shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. standing there, identified with the american bondman, making his wrongs mine, i do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this fourth of july. whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. what is one of the lessons douglass impresses on his listeners? a) the nation should not rejoice until everyone has freedom. b) he must speak on the fourth of july in order to bring change. c) for him to join the celebration would be treason. d) he can see the perspective of slaves and citizens with equal clarity.

Read the passage from animal farm. "that was part of the arrangement! " cried squealer. "jones's shot only grazed him. i could show you this in his own writing, if you were able to read it. the plot was for snowball, at the critical moment, to give the signal for flight and leave the field to the enemy. and he very nearly succeeded—i will even say, comrades, he would have succeeded if it had not been for our heroic leader, comrade napoleon. do you not remember how, just at the moment when jones and his men had got inside the yard, snowball suddenly turned and fled, and many animals followed him? and do you not remember, too, that it was just at that moment, when panic was spreading and all seemed lost, that comrade napoleon sprang forward with a cry of 'death to humanity! ' and sank his teeth in jones's leg? surely you remember that, comrades? " exclaimed squealer, frisking from side to side. now when squealer described the scene so graphically, it seemed to the animals that they did remember it. at any rate, they remembered that at the critical moment of the battle snowball had turned to flee. but boxer was still a little uneasy. how does the characterization of squealer support the author’s purpose? squealer's dramatic accusations draw parallels between him and stalin’s propagandists. squealer's uncertainty shows that he is not a reliable ally of napoleon and is ineffective with messaging. squealer's ability to get the animals to listen to him shows that any animal can rise to be a leader in time. squealer's humble interactions with the animals reflect the importance of equality and cooperation.

Which two lines in this excerpt from leo tolstoy's the death of ivan ilyich together use symbolism to indicate that death is approaching?