PLEASE HELP ASAP!

Select the correct text in the passage.
Which part of this excerpt from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens hints that Oliver was not expected to live very long?
It cannot be expected that this system of farming would produce any very extraordinary or luxuriant crop. Oliver Twist's ninth birthday found him a pale
thin child, somewhat diminutive in stature, and decidedly small in circumference. But nature or inheritance had
implanted a good sturdy spirit in Oliver's
breast. It had had plenty of room to expand, thanks to the spare diet of the establishment; and perhaps to this circumstance
may be attributed his
having any ninth birth-day at all. Be this as it may, however, it was his ninth birthday; and he was keeping it in the coal
-cellar with a select party of
two
other young gentleman, who, after participating with him in a sound thrashing, had been locked up for atrociously
presuming to be hungry, when Mrs.
Mann, the good lady of the house, was unexpectedly startled by the apparition of Mr. Bumble, the
beadle, striving to undo the wicket of the garden-
gate.



Answer :

Nytex

The passage that hints Oliver Twist was not expected to live very long is:

"But nature or inheritance had implanted a good sturdy spirit in Oliver's breast. It had had plenty of room to expand, thanks to the spare diet of the establishment; and **perhaps to this circumstance may be attributed his having any ninth birthday at all**."

This suggests that Oliver's survival to his ninth birthday might be considered surprising, given the conditions he endured, which were not conducive to a child's growth and well-being. The phrase "having any ninth birthday at all" implies that his reaching this age is an unexpected outcome.