Click to read the passage from "The Nose,' by Nikolai Gogol. Then answer the question.
Which word best conveys the mood of the passage, based on its first
sentence?
A. Matter-of-fact
B. Suspenseful
C. Bizarre
D. Romantic

even though there may be variations in human emotions over time, the poem “ a contribution to statistics” by wislawa symborska suggests that the only unchangeable characteristic is mortality.

the author poses a distinction between the approximate and non-approximate numbers which correspond to our need for certainty in life and the difficulty of achieving it. our efforts to measure the exact often fail because the world is not always clearly structured .the poem seems to imply   that the only thing that is certain and has an exact number is death.  

biographical remarks present the shifting perception and re-interpretation of figures projected by the authors, or by the society represented by the authors. the portrayals in biographical accounts thus reflect the turning view-of-value in course of history. this paper particularly explores the ways in which “heretical” figures are represented in their biographical accounts, focusing on arabic zindīq poets who flourished in the 2nd century a.h. and are known for their extreme or heretic behavior. it will be discussed that the marks of their heretical deeds are presented in different ways, and the actuality of their activity, such as the association with the early theological thinkers (or mutakallimūn in arabic), is occasionally replaced by more narrativized and unrealistic anecdotes in later sources, the tales being reproduced to underscore the value of poets such as humor or quick-wittedness. the anecdotes also can highlight the qualities of their opponents who appear as their refuters. the chronological tracing of their biographical information from multiple sources reveals the fluctuating value of discourses of “heresy,” mirroring the turning religious reality and the imagined quality of the figures lived in the early period. the paper eventually aims to historically contextualize the functions of “speaking-about-heretics” as a subject of narratives, which works as a tool for writers to express manifold contemporar