Use the passage below: Though he gained fame as a magician and escape artist, Harry Houdini, born Ehrich Weisz, was also a well-known skeptic of spiritual practices. After his mother died in 1913, he tried to contact her through a medium at a séance and saw through the medium's sleight-of- hand tricks.
He launched a public campaign against so-called mystics. His 1923 book, A Magician Among the Spirits, accused mediums of defrauding grieving people and explained how common séance illusions were performed. He put his stage show on hold that year to go on a lecture tour supporting the book.
By 1925, he was offering $10,000 to any medium whose tricks he couldn't figure out. He never had to pay up. Which of the following statements explains why Houdini never had to pay out on his $10,000 wager?
A. His book didn't make enough money to fund the wager.
B. He saw through the mediums' sleight-of-hand tricks.
C. He explained how mediums performed common séance illusions.
D. He was never fooled by a medium who challenged him.

D. He was never fooled by a medium who challenged him.

Explanation:

So, the whole point of the passage is to show how Harry Houdini could tell the behind the scenes of these magic tricks. The question is which of the statements explains why he never paid his $10,000 wager? Let's go over the answers. (before reading through each of my answer explanations, first read the answer that I am talking about.)

A. This answer is saying that his book wasn't successful enough for him to pay $10,000. This is false. As we can see from the later part of the text, Houdini "put his stage show on hold that year to go on a lecture show supporting the book." How would he go on tour about his book if the book wasn't successful and popular? The passage even continues saying that 2 years later he put up his $10,000 wager on any magician who he couldn't understand their form of magic. Houdini's book was obviously popular so he definitely had enough money to pay for the wager if he lost.

B. While this does make sense that Houdini saw through the sleight of hand tricks, that is too specific. Not all magic is about sleight of hand(moving your hands around with objects to pretend to do magic). Some magics don't really have to do with sleight of hand, like mind reading. Houdini must have seen all different types of magic, not just sleight of hand.

C. While this could make sense for why Houdini never had to pay his $10,000 wager, it doesn't exactly mean that he explained the tricks correctly. This statement says that Houdini explained how the common illusions were preformed, but it doesn't say that he explained them correctly. Plus, some of the seance illusions must have been more complex and not "common illusions."

D. Now, this statement makes perfect sense. Houdini was never fooled by another magician's magic. He was never fooled by any medium(much broader in scope), which makes sense for why he never paid $10,000.

answer: the correct answer is b. an essay that connects the writer's experience with a topic of significance and of reader interest.

explanation: the key words are here "personal experience" since personal essays give insights about peoples' experiences in life and introduce us in their unique world that can be or not to related to our lives but interests us because we are human beings and share the same condition universally.  

the speech this question is referring to is president kennedy's special message to the congress on urgent national needs, may 25, 1961

kennedy responds in a very direct and concrete way to those thinking that communism is a positive system:

"yet their aggression is more often concealed than open. they have fired no missiles; and their troops are seldom seen. they send arms, agitators, aid, technicians and propaganda to every troubled area. but where fighting is required, it is usually done by others--by guerrillas striking at night, by assassins striking alone--assassins who have taken the lives of four thousand civil officers in the last twelve months in vietnam alone--by subversives and saboteurs and insurrectionists, who in some cases control whole areas inside of independent nations." (kennedy)

president kennedy presents communism as cowardly, as a hidden and treacherous weapon that strikes from the shadows like thieves, he represents the system as not even being capable of showing and open and overt attack or confrontation. to finish up the response, he expresses that the system attacks even a country's idependence and freedom.