Read the passage from Gulliver's Travels . The method is this: in an acre of ground you bury, at six inches distance and eight deep, a quantity of acorns, dates, chestnuts, and other mast or vegetables, whereof these animals are fondest; then you drive six hundred or more of them into the field, where, in a few days, they will root up the whole ground in search of their food, and make it fit for sowing, at the same time manuring it with their dung: it is true, upon experiment, they found the charge and trouble very great, and they had little or no crop. However it is not doubted, that this invention may be capable of great improvement. Which excerpt from the passage is the best example of understatement?
Answer
A
in an acre of ground you bury, at six inches distance and eight deep, a quantity of acorns, dates, chestnuts
B
then you drive six hundred or more of them into the field, where, in a few days, they will root up the whole ground
C
they found the charge and trouble very great, and they had little or no crop
D
it is not doubted, that this invention may be capable of great improvement
Explanation
Understatement deliberately makes something sound less important or serious than it is. The passage says the method produced “little or no crop,” yet concludes that the invention “may be capable of great improvement,” treating its failure as if it were a promising starting point. That ironic optimism makes choice D the best example.
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