Question

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention".

Yoyo didn't need much encouragement. She put her nose to the fire, as her mother would have said, and read from start to finish without looking up. When she concluded, she was a little embarrassed at the pride she took in her own words. She pretended to quibble with a phrase or two, then looked questioningly to her mother. Laura's face was radiant. Yoyo turned to share her pride with her father.

What does the underlined idiom tell the reader about Yoyo?

She was cold as she wrote her speech, so she sat by the fire.
She worked hard to finish her speech for the assembly.
She was proud of the speech once she finished it.
She finished the speech in a very short amount of time.

Answer 1

She worked hard to finish her speech for the assembly.

Explanation: "Put her nose to the fire" (similar to "put her nose to the grindstone") means to work diligently and focus, which matches her reading straight through without looking up.