Selection: L-23

L-23

Grade level: 12

Word count: 3221 words

Author: Stephen Crane

Synopsis: What will happen to the four men who have been shipwrecked for more than 30 hours?

Excerpt: The light in the north had mysteriously vanished, but the correspondent took his course from the wide-awake captain. Later in the night they took the boat farther out to sea, and the captain directed the cook to take one oar at the stern and keep the boat facing the seas. He was to call out if he should hear the thunder of the surf. This plan enabled the oiler and the correspondent to get respite together. "We'll give those boys a chance to get into shape again," said the captain. They curled down and, after a few preliminary chatterings and trembles, slept once more the dead sleep. Neither knew they had bequeathed to the cook the company of another shark, or perhaps the same shark.

Question: Read this excerpt. What two things does it tell you about the captain's perceptions of the men in the dinghy?

1. The oiler and correspondent are seen as valuable resources by the captain because they are strong.
2. The cook is seen as useful, but lacks considerable strength and skills.
3. The oiler is by far the most diligent worker in the dinghy, but he isn't as strong as the correspondent.
4. The correspondent is the strongest man in the dinghy, but is too lazy to be of much help.
5. The cook should be largely responsible for navigating the dinghy because he is the most experienced sailor.

Selection: L-11

L-11

Grade level: 12

Word count: 2359 words

Author: Diane Lang

Synopsis: Two techie students challenge themselves to develop an innovative means of transportation.

Excerpt: "I'm so sorry, Dad; I wish I could help." Sipping her chocolate malt, a spark ignited inside Ariel, and sitting up straight, she said, "I'm going to create a masterpiece for you, Dad! We have autopilots for airplanes, why not for cars? Brock and I are going to develop a rig for blind people!"

Question: How does Ariel react when her dad tells her he has stage four, diabetic retinopathy?

1. She was sympathetic, but hopeful that he would drive again.
2. She decided to focus on the fine arts, because masterpieces were important to him.
3. She wanted him to have an eye operation that would help him regain his vision.
4. She felt despondent because she knew he would never drive again.

Selection: L-23

L-23

Grade level: 12

Word count: 3221 words

Author: Stephen Crane

Synopsis: What will happen to the four men who have been shipwrecked for more than 30 hours?

Excerpt: The piece of life-preserver lay under him, and sometimes he whirled down the incline of a wave as if he were on a hand sled.

But finally he arrived at a place in the sea where travel was beset with difficulty. He did not pause swimming to inquire what manner of current had caught him, but there his progress ceased. The shore was set before him like a bit of scenery on a stage, and he looked at it and understood with his eyes each detail of it.

Question: At first the correspondent makes good progress as he swims to shore, but then

1. a strong current grabs hold of him.
2. a rope on the lifeboat wraps around his leg.
3. the captain's hand grabs his arm and pulls him under the waves.
4. the cook's life-belt tangles around his neck.

Selection: L-23

L-23

Grade level: 12

Word count: 3221 words

Author: Stephen Crane

Synopsis: What will happen to the four men who have been shipwrecked for more than 30 hours?

Excerpt: Later the correspondent spoke into the bottom of the boat. "Billie!" There was a slow and gradual disentanglement. "Billie, will you spell me?"

"Sure," said the oiler.

This plan enabled the oiler and the correspondent to get respite together. "We'll give those boys a chance to get into shape again," said the captain.

"Boys," said the cook, with the notes of every reluctance in his voice, "she's drifted in pretty close. I guess one of you had better take her to sea again."

"Billie? Billie, will you spell me?"

"Sure," said the oiler.

Question: The author of this selection used the four men in the dinghy to represent different groups that make up a larger society: leaders, followers, decent working men, and philosophical men. Which of the following represented the decent working man?

1. the oiler
2. the correspondent
3. the captain
4. the man on the beach

Selection: L-24

L-24

Grade level: 12

Word count: 2818 words

Author: Geoffrey Chaucer

Synopsis: The General Prologue is the first part of a text written by Geoffrey Chaucer. Here, the first half of the Prologue is presented.

Excerpt: A SERGEANT-AT-LAW, cautious and shrewd, who had been often at consultation, was there also. A prudent and judicious man, or so he seemed as his words were so wise, he had been frequently appointed as a justice in trials by appointment and commission; many were the fees and robes with which he had been presented on account of his great legal knowledge and renown. There was no greater purchaser of land than him, and his dealings were above suspicion; he was the busiest of men, and yet he seemed more busy than he was. He had at his fingertips all the exact terms, cases, and judgments from the time of William the Conqueror; he knew all the statutes by heart, and no man could detect a flaw in his knowledge.

There was a SHIPMAN too, a West-countryman from Dartmouth; he rode upon a horse as well as he was able. He wore a gown of coarse stuff which came down as low as his knee, also a dagger suspended by a lace from his neck under his arm. The hot summer had made his face all brown; he was a fine, hearty-looking fellow. He was not remarkable for tenderness of conscience, seeing that if he were engaged at sea and had got the upper-hand, he always sent his prisoners home by water, but for his skill in reckoning the tides, for knowing the currents, shallows, and sandbanks, for calculating the exact place of the sun and age of the moon, and for his complete art of piloting, there was not his equal between Hull and Carthage. He was a brave and hardy man whose beard many a tempest had shaken, and was well versed with every harbor from Gothland to Cape Finisterre and every creek in Spain and Brittany. His ship was called the Magdalen.

Question: Read these two excerpts. In what way were the Sergeant and the Shipman similar?

1. Both were excellent at their respective trades.
2. Both had been appointed as justices in trials.
3. Both were West-countrymen from Dartmouth.
4. Both had been suspected of illegal dealings.

Selection: L-10

L-10

Grade level: 12

Word count: 2596 words

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Synopsis: Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story gives a whole new meaning to the term "solitary confinement."

Excerpt: My outstretched hands eventually encountered some solid obstruction: a wall, seemingly of stone masonry, very smooth, slimy, and cold. I followed it up, a process which afforded me means of ascertaining the dimensions of my dungeon, that I might make its circuit and return to the point of commencement. My clothes had been exchanged for a wrapper of coarse serge; I tore part of the hem from the robe and placed the fragment at full length at right angles to the wall. In groping my way around the prison, I would encounter this rag upon completing the circuit, or so I calculated. I staggered onward for some time when I stumbled and fell, excessive fatigue induced me to remain prostrate, and sleep overtook me where I lay.

Upon awaking, I found beside me a loaf and a pitcher with water; I was too drowsy to reflect upon this circumstance, but ate and drank with frantic avidity. I resumed my tour around the prison, with much toil coming at last upon the fragment of serge. Up to the period when I fell, I had counted fifty-two paces, upon resuming my walk I had counted forty-eight more when arriving at the serge. There were in all a hundred paces; I presumed the dungeon to be fifty yards in circuit, I had encountered, however, many depressions in the wall, and thus couldn't guess the shape of the dungeon.

Regarding its size I was greatly mistaken, as the entire circuit of its walls did not exceed twenty-five yards. The truth at length flashed upon me -- in my first attempt at exploration I had counted fifty-two paces, I must have been within a few paces of the serge when I fell -- in fact, I had nearly performed the circuit of the dungeon. I then slept, and upon awaking, must have missed the serge, thus supposing the circuit nearly double what it actually was.

I had been deceived, too, in respect to the shape of the enclosure. The angles were simply slight depressions, or niches, at odd intervals, the general shape of the prison was square. What I had taken for masonry revealed itself as iron, or some metal, in massive plates. I noticed the floor, too, which was stone, in the center of which yawned the circular pit from whose jaws I fortuitously, albeit unwittingly, escaped.

Question: The purpose of these two excerpts is to

1. illustrate how disoriented the narrator was in his initial examination of the dungeon.
2. demonstrate how the narrator's excessive fatigue aided his ability to notice subtle details.
3. expose the varied weaknesses of the cell, which were obscured in the initial darkness.
4. analyze the construction of the cell, whose design suggested it was originally intended for animals.