Please help with these 2, and i repeat TWO, questions.

Read the excerpt from the odyssey; 'o cyclops! would you feast on my companions? puny am i, in a caveman's hands? how do you like the beating that we gave you, you d(arn)ed cannibal? eater of guests under your roof! zeus and the gods have paid you! ' according to this excerpt, odysseus (a)is fearful of the cyclops. (b)is prideful and overly confident. (c)has been weakened by the cyclops. (d)has regrets about staying on the island.

13 points : ) which two aspects of scrooge's character does this excerpt from a christmas carol by charles dickens reveal? "i wish to be left alone," said scrooge. "since you ask me what i wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. i don’t make merry myself at christmas and i can't afford to make idle people merry. i to support the establishments i have mentioned—they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there." "many can’t go there; and many would rather die." "if they would rather die," said scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. besides—excuse me—i don't know that." "but you might know it," observed the gentleman. his stingy attitude and conduct his distrust of government institutions his indifference to others' suffering his support for the community

Plz asap read this sentence from paragraph 3 of the article. the boys and girls are merely asked to obtain the signatures of ten friends or relatives. how does the word "merely" affect the meaning of the sentence? a- it suggests that asking people to subscribe to the washington times is something negative. b- it implies that obtaining ten signatures is not a requirement for receiving a prize. c- it downplays the fact that to win the prize, children must ask people to subscribe to the washington times. d- it emphasizes that children receive the prize only if they obtain ten signatures.