An example of external conflict in "the lottery" is:
a. villagers are trying to decide whether or not to stone mrs. tessie hutchinson.
b. the villagers have forgotten the ritual of the original black box.
c. mr. and mrs. adams argue with old man warner about the tradition of the lottery.
d. bill hutchinson stood quietly staring at the slip of paper in his hand with the black spot during the first round of the lottery.

A. Villagers are trying to decide whether or not to stone Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson.

Explanation:

An external conflict within a literary work occurs when there is a problem, a fight or something that a character has to win or overcome and is related to other characters, or to a group of characters, such as a population, for example.

For this reason, we can say that in "The Lottery" an example of external conflict can be seen when villagers are trying to decide whether or not to stone Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson.

the answer is option