Question

Read the following sentence from the story "The Balek Scales".

There on the table stood the great Balek scales, an old-fashioned, ornate bronze-gilt contraption, which my grandfather's grandparents had already faced when they were children, their grubby hands holding their little baskets of mushrooms, their paper bags of hayflowers, breathlessly watching the number of weights Frau Balek had to throw on the scale before the swinging pointer came to rest exactly over the line, that thin line of justice which had to be redrawn every year.

The speaker used the images in this sentence to most likely imply that the scales ____.

a. have never moved from their original location.
b. are intimidating to those who stand before them.
c. have been handed down through many generations.
d. are antiquated in their ability to accurately measure.

Answer 1

The correct answer would be option C: "have been handed down through many generations". The speaker gave many examples in the excerpt of how his grandfather's grandparents had used the Balek scales such as: "their grubby hands holding their little baskets of mushrooms", to show that the scales are a family relic and where passed down until they reached the speaker.

The speaker does not say or imply that the scales have never moved, nor that those that use them feel frightened or intimidated. He also never says anything that implies that the scales do not work, therefore options A, B and D are incorrect.

Answer 2

The correct answer among all the other choices is c. have been handed down through many generations. The speaker used the images in this sentence to most likely imply that the scales have been handed down through many generations. Thank you for posting your question. I hope this answer helped you. Let me know if you need more help.