The way he is burning the candle at both ends, he will soon be a pauper. The underlined phrase means

The correct answer is Option A (To be extravagant).

Key Points:
• English idiomatic expressions and contextual meaning.
• 'To burn the candle at both ends' traditionally means to exhaust one's resources or energy recklessly, or to squander wealth rapidly and lavishly.
• Since the sentence links this action to becoming a 'pauper' (an extremely poor person), the contextual meaning is 'to be extravagant' / squandering resources wastefully.
• Key Takeaway: 'Burning the candle at both ends' in a financial context means spending extravagantly.