Question

the planet mars, i scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world. it must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course. the fact that it is scarcely one seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling to the temperature at which life could begin. it has air and water and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence. \yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no writer, up to the very end of the nineteenth century, expressed any idea that intelligent life might have developed there far, or indeed at all, beyond its earthly level. nor was it generally understood that since mars is older than our earth, with scarcely a quarter of the superficial area and remoter from the sun, it necessarily follows that it is not only more distant from times beginning but nearer its end. in general, readers today have a better understanding of science than readers in 1898. how would the tone of the passages narrator have affected readers in 1898 versus readers today? a. they would have been hopelessly confused by the narrators vocabulary b. they would have been frightened by the level of science

Explanation:

In 1898, readers had less scientific knowledge. The narrator's tone, which seems matter - of - fact about Mars's characteristics and the lack of understanding of life on Mars at the time, would have been more novel and perhaps more impactful. Today, with more scientific literacy, the tone might seem more ordinary. The passage doesn't suggest extreme confusion or fear as in options A and B.

Answer:

(No options C and D are provided, but based on the above analysis, options A and B are incorrect. If there were more appropriate options, we would choose the one that reflects the difference in impact due to the change in scientific understanding over time.)