MEeeLITERARY TEXT
from Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
Read the excerpt from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Then, answer the following question(s).
[B]eing born in a workhouse… was the best thing for Oliver Twist that could by possibility have occurred. The fact is, that there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of respiration,—a troublesome practice, but one which custom has rendered necessary to our easy existence; and for some time he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather unequally poised between this world and the next: the balance being decidedly in favor of the latter. Now, if, during this brief period, Oliver had been surrounded by careful grandmothers, anxious aunts, experienced nurses, and doctors of profound wisdom, he would most inevitably and indubitably have been killed in no time. There being nobody by, however, but a pauper old woman… and a parish surgeon, who did such matters by contract; Oliver and Nature fought out the point between them. The result was, that, after a few struggles, Oliver breathed, sneezed, and proceeded to advertise to the inmates of the workhouse the fact of a new burden having been imposed upon the parish, by setting up as loud a cry as could reasonably have been expected from a male infant who had not been possessed of that very useful appendage, a voice, for a much longer space of time than three minutes and a quarter.
1)
Based on the context of the passage, what is the meaning of the underlined phrase “poised between this world and the next”?
A) between living and dying
B) between despair and hope
C) between sleeping and waking
D)between abandonment and love

Which phrase from the passage provides the best context clue for the meaning of the phrase, "poised between this world and the next?"
A) [B]eing born in a workhouse… was the best thing for Oliver Twist that could by possibility have occurred.
B) [I]f, during this brief period, Oliver had been surrounded by careful grandmothers, anxious aunts, experienced nurses, and doctors of profound wisdom, he would most inevitably and indubitably have been killed in no time.
C) Oliver and Nature fought out the point between them.
D) [Oliver] proceeded to advertise to the inmates of the workhouse the fact of a new burden having been imposed upon the parish…

What does the narrator mean in saying, “there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of respiration”?
A)Oliver was crying loudly.
B)Oliver was missing his grandmother and his aunts.
C)Oliver was not breathing at first.
D) Oliver did not want to be in a workhouse.