Question

After he had shown us his garden, Peter trundled a load of watermelons up the hill in his wheelbarrow. Pavel was not at home. . . . Peter put the melons in a row on the oilcloth-covered table and stood over them, brandishing a butcher knife. Before the blade got fairly into them, they split of their own ripeness, with a delicious sound. He gave us knives, but no plates, and the top of the table was soon swimming with juice and seeds. I had never seen anyone eat so many melons as Peter ate. He assured us that they were good for one—better than medicine; in his country people lived on them at this time of year. He was very hospitable and jolly. Once, while he was looking at Antonia, he sighed and told us that if he had stayed at home in Russia perhaps by this time he would have had a pretty daughter of his own to cook and keep house for him. He said he had left his country because of a “great trouble.”
What is the tone of the phrase “swimming with juice and seeds” in paragraph 3 of Passage 1?
A. carefree and joyful
B. grim and uneasy
C. approving
D. solemn

Answer 1

A. carefree and joyful

The phrase emphasizes sensory abundance and a messy, pleasurable scene (juice and seeds everywhere), matching the jovial, hospitable mood of Peter and the group's enjoyment rather than anything grim, solemn, or merely approving.