Read the excerpt from "A Quilt of a Country." Once these disparate parts were held together by a common enemy, by the fault lines of world wars and the electrified fence of communism. With the end of the cold war there was the creeping concern that without a focus for hatred and distrust, a sense of national identity would evaporate, that the left side of the hyphen—African-American, Mexican-American, Irish-American—would overwhelm the right. What is the denotative meaning of fault lines in this excerpt?
Answer
A
long cracks in the surface of the earth
B
breaks in modern American society
C
areas of defense in times of war
D
lines that are drawn when placing blame
Explanation
Denotatively, fault lines are long cracks or fractures in the earth’s crust, where sections of the ground meet or shift. In the excerpt, the author uses “fault lines” figuratively to describe divisions in society, but the question asks for the word’s literal meaning. Therefore, “long cracks in the surface of the earth” is correct.
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