Can someone me with the meaning of the two similes in stolen rivers

Can someone me with this english question

Based on structural elements what type of expository text does this excerpt from a 1917 congressional address by president woodrow wilson exemplify

Aman lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment building. every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. in the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator -- or if it was raining that day -- he goes back to his floor directly. otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up two flights of stairs to his apartment.