A diary-like novel tells the story of 13-year-old Clara, who is traveling West with her family in a covered wagon. She records her curious
observations as well as her fears and hardships as they cross rivers,
climb mountain ranges, and encounter unfamiliar people. Although
Clara misses her life back in Boston, she is optimistic about her
family's future as cattle ranchers.
In part of the story, Clara has fun learning to pan for gold in the Colorado
River. Which statement best explains how this plot event develops the theme
that a good attitude can help you get through many challenges?
O A. It shows that there can be good times even within scary
experiences, if you are open to them.
B. It shows that the hope of getting rich quick can create a sense of
excitement and wonder.
C. It shows that children are naive and do not necessarily understand
the true nature of their experiences.
D. It shows that parents who expose their children to dangerous
situations are irresponsible

[1] nothing that comes from the desert expresses its extremes better than the unhappy growth of the tree yuccas. tormented, thin forests of it stalk drearily in the high mesas, particularly in that triangular slip that fans out eastward from the meeting of the sierras and coastwise hills. the yucca bristles with bayonet-pointed leaves, dull green, growing shaggy with age like an old [5] man's tangled gray beard, tipped with panicles of foul, greenish blooms. after its death, which is slow, the ghostly hollow network of its woody skeleton, with hardly power to rot, makes even the moonlight fearful. but it isn't always this way. before the yucca has come to flower, while yet its bloom is a luxurious, creamy, cone-shaped bud of the size of a small cabbage, full of sugary sap. the indians twist it deftly out of its fence of daggers and roast the prize for their [10] own delectation why does the author use the words "bayonet-pointed" (line 4) and "fence of daggers" (line 9) to describe the leaves of the yucca tree? . to create an image of the sharp edges of the plant to emphasize how beautiful the plant's leaves are to explain when and where the plant grows to show how afraid the author is of the plant