Answer:
"contagious' the plants that have faded over winter
The phrases or sentences in the above excerpt from Kurt Vonnegut's "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" which demonstrates the use of irony is:
“The television screens showed, from left to right, the stretch of desert which was the rocket target,”
“Ninety minutes before H-hour the radios announced that the rockets were ready, that the observation ships had backed away to what was thought to be a safe distance,”
Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" is an example of postmodernism because of the use of irony on a serious topic.
He expresses his feelings about the war with his personal experience. His reaction to the war, bombings and the ills of scientific advancement brought distress in his life. He accepted the deaths as the result of the war in a very casual manner. Throughout the stories, he uses irony and sarcasm to bring the effects of the war in a different look. Using irony and sarcasm to describe serious topics like war and destruction is one of the characteristics of postmodern literature.
Among the sentences in the excerpt from Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, I think the statement that shows that Ivan Ilyich has realized the hypocrisy of his earlier life is: "Ivan Ilyich knows quite well and definitely that all this is nonsense and pure deception, but when the doctor, getting down on his knee, leans over him, putting his ear first higher then lower, and performs various gymnastic movements over him with a significant expression on his face, Ivan Ilyich submits to it all as he used to submit to the speeches of the lawyers, though he knew very well that they were all lying and why they were lying." This is because in his earlier life before he was terminally ill, he too also submitted to the lawyers in order to work his way up on the social ladder.
<span>The Spanish Inquisition
</span>The Spanish Inquisition certainly inspired many of the stories and themes of Don Quixote.<span> </span>
