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-26

L-26

Grade level: 12

Word count: 2743 words

Author: Virginia Woolf

Synopsis: What goes on in a public garden on a lovely summer day? A lot more than you may think.

Excerpt: Like most people of their station they were frankly fascinated by any signs of eccentricity betokening a disordered brain, especially in the well to-do; but they were too far off to be certain whether the gestures were merely eccentric or genuinely mad.

Question: Based upon the following excerpt, the word "betokening" most closely means

1. indicating.
2. denying.
3. practicing.
4. discarding.

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: When he achieved safe ground he fell, striking the sand with each particular part of his body. It was as if he had dropped from a roof, but the thud was grateful to him. It seems that instantly the beach was populated with men with blankets, clothes, and flasks, and women with coffeepots and all the remedies sacred to their minds. The welcome of the land to the men from the sea was warm and generous, but a still and dripping shape was carried slowly up the beach, and the land's welcome for it could only be the different and sinister hospitality of the grave.

Question: Based on this excerpt, which expression would you expect to see on the correspondent's face when he reaches the shore?

1. pained but relieved
2. calm and confident
3. anguished and angry
4. nervous but satisfied

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.