Question

read the selection, and choose the best answer to each question.

sea slugs
by melissa ambrovitz

1. imagine eating a purple grape and turning purple! if you were a sea slug, that’s exactly what would happen. actually, sea slugs gravitate towards foods such as sea anemones, hydroids, sponges, and jellyfish, but if one of the morsels they devour happens to be purple, or some other color, the slug will automatically change to that hue.

1. sea slugs store the pigments from their food in specialized cells called chromatophores. changes in the shapes and sizes of the cells cause the sea slugs to change color. camouflaged, the slug can crawl around on its favorite food without being detected by enemies.

read this phrase from paragraph 3:

slimy mucus that smells and tastes horrible

what impact does this phrase have on the tone of the passage?
a. it builds a playful and humorous attitude about the slime.

b. it reveals a negative and repulsed attitude about the slime.

c. it creates an indifferent and unbiased attitude about the slime.

d. it maintains an objective and informative attitude about the slime.

Explanation:

The phrase "slimy mucus that smells and tastes horrible" uses descriptive language to show a negative view of the slime (since "horrible" implies dislike). Option A is wrong as there's no playfulness. Option C is wrong as "indifferent" would mean no strong feeling, but the description is negative. Option D is wrong as "objective" would be neutral, but this is a negative judgment. So the phrase reveals a negative/repulsed attitude.

Answer:

B. It reveals a negative and repulsed attitude about the slime.