Question

language development: conventions and style from roughing it, mark twain
the following passage is from roughing it by mark twain. in this passage, twain describes his travels to honolulu, hawaii. read the passage. then, answer the question(s).
(1) when the sun sunk down—the one intruder from other realms and persistent suggestions of them—it was trance - like luxury to sit in the perfumed air and forget that there was any world but these enchanted islands.
(2) it was such ecstasy to dream, and dream—ill you got a bite. a scorpion bite. then the first duty was to get up out of the grass and kill the scorpion, and the next to bathe the bitten place with alcohol or brandy, and the next to resolve to keep out of the grass in future.... then, observing an enemy approaching—a hairy tarantula on stilts—why not set the spittoon on him? it is done, and the projecting ends of his paws give a luminous idea of the magnitude of his reach. then to bed and become a promenade for a centipede with forty - two legs on a side and every foot not enough to burn a hole through a raw - hide.... then wait, and suffer, till all the mosquitoes in the neighborhood have crawled in under the bar, then slip out quickly, shut them in and sleep peacefully on the floor till morning. meantime it is comforting to curse the tropics in occasional wakeful intervals.
(3) then there is the tamarind. i thought tamarinds were made to eat, but that was probably not the idea. i ate several, and it seemed to me that they were rather sour. they pursed up my lips, till they resembled the stem - end of a tomato, and i had to take my sustenance through a quill for twenty - four hours.
(4) they sharpened my teeth till i could have shaved with them, and gave them a wire edge that i was afraid would stay, but a citizen said no, it will come off when the enamel does—which was comforting, at any rate.
which of the underlined phrases is an example of an idiom?
a. it was such ecstasy to dream, and dream—ill you got a bite (paragraph 2)
b. then to bed and become a promenade for a centipede with forty - two legs on a side and every foot not enough to burn a hole through a raw - hide (paragraph 2)
c. i thought tamarinds were made to eat, but that was probably not the idea (paragraph 3)
d. they pursed up my lips, till they resembled the stem - end of a tomato, and i had to take my sustenance through a quill for twenty - four hours (paragraph 3)

Explanation:

An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non - literal meaning attached to the phrase. "It was such ecstasy to dream, and dream - till you got a bite" is an idiomatic expression as it uses language in a non - literal way to convey a particular feeling or experience. The other options are more literal descriptions.

Answer:

A. It was such ecstasy to dream, and dream - till you got a bite (paragraph 2)