Question

passage title: the long run of words
1when the clock struck 6:00 a.m., the library was silent except for the rhythmic scratch of a pencil and the faint creak of an old leather chair. i had decided—rather dramatically—that today would be the day i tested my reading stamina. no phone within reach, no laptop balanced on my knees. just me, a thick biography of maya angelou, and a promise to finish at least one hundred pages without surrendering to distraction.
2at first, the challenge felt simple enough. ive read for years—novels, essays, articles—but i realized within the first twenty minutes that id trained my mind for short bursts, not long marathons. the sentences in this book werent rushed. they lingered. they asked me to think, to connect the history of the civil rights movement to the rhythm of angelous poetry, to pause over her childhood hardships before turning the page.
3this was my first real encounter with literary nonfiction. unlike the textbooks i read for school, this writing felt alive. the author used vivid imagery and personal anecdotes, yet the details were factual. it wasnt fiction—it was a life, a history, told with the craft of a storyteller. i learned that literary nonfiction can blend the truth of journalism with the voice of literature, and reading it required a deeper kind of focus.
4by the forty - page mark, my concentration wavered. i found myself rereading sentences, my mind slipping away to unrelated thoughts: what i might eat for lunch, whether my phone had buzzed. but the longer i stayed, the more my mind adjusted. each chapter pulled me further into

1. what is the central idea of the passage?

reading literary nonfiction is easier than reading fiction.
maya angelous biography is the most important book the narrator has read.
reading is a skill that cannot be improved with practice.
building reading stamina requires patience and focus.

Explanation:

The passage describes the narrator's attempt to test their reading stamina by reading a biography of Maya Angelou. It emphasizes the challenges faced in maintaining focus and the need for patience and focus to build reading stamina. The other options are either not the main point (comparison between non - fiction and fiction, importance of the book) or incorrect (reading can be improved with practice).

Answer:

Building reading stamina requires patience and focus.