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 connotative meaning of fault lines in this excerpt?
Answer
A
something amusing and impressive
B
something familiar and interesting
C
something powerful and threatening
D
something harmless and pleasant
Explanation
A fault line is a break in the Earth’s crust where earthquakes can occur. In the excerpt, “fault lines” refers metaphorically to the tensions and divisions created by world wars, so it suggests something powerful and threatening. The correct choice is “something powerful and threatening.”
AI-written and checked against the verified answer.