What does "do not burden yourself with trivial matters" mean?

Read this excerpt from the exposition in "the monkey's paw." father and son were at chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire. what is one piece of information you can infer about the story from this sentence? a. the father in the story is possessed, so he probably says insane things a lot. b. the woman in the story is knitting, so the characters probably don't have good clothes to wear. c. the father is playing chess with the son, but the son is not old enough to know the rules. d. since the father likes taking risks in a game, he might like taking risks in life as well.

Buckminster boy. she glared at him. "lizzie, i swear to you, as sure as i'm standing right here—that's a lie. every bit of it. every single bit." "my granddaddy said it was a lie, too." she leaned her head to one side and looked at him steadily. "so why haven't you been down to the island? " "so only you get to ask questions now? " "yes." she waited. "i haven't been down to the island because my father believes that you were using me to you stay on malaga island." "well," she said slowly. "well." "i didn't believe it, either." the sea breeze lay at their feet panting, hoping they would play with it again. based on what turner and lizzie say, which is the best conclusion that can be drawn? they are angered by the lies the adults have been spreading. neither of them is able to fully trust what the other is claiming. each trusts the other and cares a great deal about their friendship. both are worried about the troubles their friendship may bring.

Read this paragraph from chapter 5 of the prince. there are, for example, the spartans and the romans. the spartans held athens and thebes, establishing there an oligarchy: nevertheless they lost them. the romans, in order to hold capua, carthage, and numantia, dismantled them, and did not lose them. they wished to hold greece as the spartans held it, making it free and permitting its laws, and did not succeed. so to hold it they were compelled to dismantle many cities in the country, for in truth there is no safe way to retain them otherwise than by ruining them. and he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget. and whatever you may do or provide against, they never forget that name or their privileges unless they are disunited or dispersed, but at every chance they immediately rally to them, as pisa after the hundred years she had been held in bondage by the florentines. what idea is stressed in the passage? the desire for liberty the establishment of an oligarchy the dismantling of an acquired state the tendency toward rebellion