Question

Read the excerpt from "The Ballad of the Ducks" by Andrew Barton. Then, answer the question that follows. The railway rattled and roared and swung With jolting and bumping trucks. The sun, like a billiard red ball, hung In the Western sky: and the tireless tongue Of the wild-eyed man in the corner told This terrible tale of the days of old, And the party that ought to have kept the ducks. Which sentence best paraphrases the stanza above?

(A) A man sits in the corner and tells a tale while those around him play pool.

(B) An exhausted man at a party one night is narrating a story about a train ride.

(C) An old man is sitting in the corner with a group of ducks and tells them a story.

(D) During a rough train ride at sunset, a talkative man begins to tell a story.​

Answer 1

Answer: D

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

The sentence that best paraphrases the stanza above is:

(D) During a rough train ride at sunset, a talkative man begins to tell a story.

The stanza describes a train ride with jolting and bumping trucks, while the sun hangs in the Western sky. The "wild-eyed man in the corner" tells a story about "the days of old" and "the party that ought to have kept the ducks." The sentence that best captures the essence of this description is (D) During a rough train ride at sunset, a talkative man begins to tell a story.