Selection: K-11

K-11

Grade level: 11

Word count: 2375 words

Author: Diane Lang

Synopsis: Acceptance and compassion go a long way in helping people with Tourette Syndrome.

Excerpt: No excerpt is available for this question.

Question: What is the main idea of this selection?

1. People with Tourette Syndrome need understanding and acceptance from friends, relatives, and the general public.
2. Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder for which there are some medical treatments but no known cure.
3. Children suffering from Tourette Syndrome should have a place to go to sympathize with one another.
4. People with Tourette Syndrome can learn to control their repetitive movements and sounds.

Selection: K-4

K-4

Grade level: 11

Word count: 2496 words

Author: Diane Lang

Synopsis: A skilled snowboarder takes a big chance when he cruises the slopes in avalanche territory.

Excerpt: Still, with all his daredevil ways, I never believed he'd risk his life in unchartered territory. As I said, he was a creature of habit and had his favorite sanctuaries. But after the initial investigation and then the exhaustive rescue operations, and still no trace of my brother, I knew the rescue team was searching in vain. Evidently, Jake had decided to test his endurance and cruise the adjacent Maroon Bowl.

Question: What was the most important clue leading to Jake's rescue?

1. the deduction of his sister that he took the challenge of the Maroon Bowl
2. the Gortex jacket with the tracking reflector left behind in the locker
3. the signal from Jake's cell phone before the battery went dead.
4. the ski pass scanned Friday at 12:04 p. m. at the base of the Highlands

Selection: K-4

K-4

Grade level: 11

Word count: 2496 words

Author: Diane Lang

Synopsis: A skilled snowboarder takes a big chance when he cruises the slopes in avalanche territory.

Excerpt: Even if the victim can draw a breath, his exhalations will begin to make any available air less accessible by coating the snow surface around his mouth with ice.

Poisoned by carbon dioxide emissions, most victims begin to lose consciousness within four minutes, which is a good thing, as they will use air at a slower rate. Brain damage may set in after eight minutes. Within 25 minutes, half of buried victims will die. If Jake were buried within the ice, the chances that he was alive were non-existent.

Question: According to this selection, if Jake was buried beneath the avalanche, he

1. would have only the slightest chance of survival.
2. would survive if his exhalations were slow and measured.
3. would need a pocket of air to remain alive for a day.
4. would be better off if he became unconscious for a few hours.

Selection: K-11

K-11

Grade level: 11

Word count: 2375 words

Author: Diane Lang

Synopsis: Acceptance and compassion go a long way in helping people with Tourette Syndrome.

Excerpt: While my parents were compassionate and concerned, they were deficient in knowledge about Tourette Syndrome and the symptomatic obsessive-compulsiveness that accompanies the complex disorder, reasoning that if they consulted the right specialist, this healer would rid me of my affliction and transform me into a "normal" kid. Ever since my diagnosis at age seven, they were persistent in dragging me to clinics for neuroimaging studies, such as magnetic resonance or computerized tomography, electroencephalogram studies, and blood tests, unknowingly chipping away at my self-worth.

Question: Maddie's parents took her to many clinics for tests so that she could be like a "normal" child. How did these visits make Maddie feel?

1. lacking in her capacity as a person
2. more comfortable about her disorder
3. appreciative of her parent's concern
4. fearful of doctors and medical tests

Selection: K-4

K-4

Grade level: 11

Word count: 2496 words

Author: Diane Lang

Synopsis: A skilled snowboarder takes a big chance when he cruises the slopes in avalanche territory.

Excerpt: "Hey! Over there, about 30 degrees to the left of the snowslide -- footprints!" The helicopter glided westward and sure enough there were footprints leading to a rough structure tucked in between a stand of evergreens.

Question: In the last part of the selection, which sentence signals a major change in the action?

1. About 30 degrees to the left of the snowslide -- footprints!
2. Over there; he shouldn't die, he saved me.
3. The two men were taken out by stretchers.
4. That's a good omen for us, young lady.

Selection: K-23

K-23

Grade level: 11

Word count: 2412 words

Author: Anton Chekhov

Synopsis: A wager between a banker and a lawyer yields an unexpected result.

Excerpt: During the first year of solitary imprisonment, the lawyer, judging from his frantic short notes, suffered terribly from loneliness and boredom; from his cell day and night came the sound of the piano. He was sent books of whimsical character: novels with complicated yet preposterous love interests, stories of crime and fantasy, comedies, and so on.

In the second year the piano was abandoned and the lawyer requested only classic literature.

In the second half of the sixth year, the prisoner began zealously to study languages, philosophy, and history; in the space of four years about six hundred volumes were purchased at his request.

Later, after the tenth year, the lawyer sat immovable before his table and read only the New Testament; the banker found it peculiar that a man who in four years had mastered six hundred erudite volumes should have spent nearly a year examining one book, easy to understand and by no means thick.

Question: Place these characterizations of the lawyer's years of solitary imprisonment in order, from first to last.

1. He played the piano as he suffered from loneliness and boredom.
2. He requested only classic literature.
3. He intensively studied languages, philosophy, and history.
4. He read only the New Testament.

Selection: K-33

K-33

Grade level: 11

Word count: 2751 words

Author: Ambrose Bierce

Synopsis: When a man thinks he sees a snake under his bed, his fear and anxiety grow with each passing moment.

Excerpt: The man groaned; the snake made neither sound nor motion, but its eyes were two dazzling suns and the reptile itself was wholly concealed by them.

It was a stuffed snake; its eyes were two shoe buttons.

Question: Read these excerpts from the selection. In which two ways do they work together?

1. The first uses a metaphor to describe the snake's eyes.
2. The second shows how the human imagination can easily augment reality.
3. The first uses foreshadowing to describe the snake's eyes.
4. The second shows how realistic toys can frighten children.
5. Both excerpts show how people often have a fear of snakes.

Selection: K-9

K-9

Grade level: 11

Word count: 2324 words

Author: Guinevere Tobias

Synopsis: Supporters of Gustave Whitehead are challenging the Wright brothers' place in aviation history.

Excerpt: The Herald's account was accompanied by a lithograph drawn by the reporter. A photograph was said to have been taken, but none was printed in the newspaper and no copies of it remain today. This photograph and its absence from the newspaper story have provoked much debate over the last few years. Some aviation experts asserted that it -- and Whitehead's flight -- were frauds because there was no photographic evidence, while others cite the photograph as proof of the flight's legitimacy.

Question: What might have happened if the Bridgeport Herald had published a photograph of Whitehead's flight instead of a lithograph drawing?

1. Whitehead would have had evidence that he was the first to fly a heavier-than-air plane.
2. The supporters of the Wright brothers would have called the photograph a fraud.
3. A photo would have shown how the design of Whitehead's plane differed from the one in the lithograph.
4. The photographer would have been asked by the Wright brothers to photograph their plane too.

Selection: K-14

K-14

Grade level: 11

Word count: 2134 words

Author: Nancy McCloskey

Synopsis: Citizens selected for jury duty learn about the importance of protecting individual rights.

Excerpt: Assizes were made up of 12 local "free and lawful men" who, under oath, made decisions based on their personal knowledge of the true property owner or heir. They dealt with civil, not criminal, cases and were different from modern civil juries in that the jurors were "self-informing." This means that panel members used their pre-existing knowledge as a basis for their decisions.

Question: Based on this excerpt, assize jurors were different from jurors in civil trials today because they

1. already knew the details of the case.
2. heard cases involving property issues.
3. were composed of 12 lawful men and women.
4. based their decisions only on evidence presented during trial.

Selection: K-12

K-12

Grade level: 11

Word count: 2299 words

Author: Peter Kupfer

Synopsis: Jobs was neither an engineer nor a programmer but was a visionary when it came to computers.

Excerpt: While working at Hewlett-Packard as a summer intern, Jobs met another electronics geek, Steve Wozniak, who would become his future business partner and co-founder of Apple. Jobs briefly attended Reed College, but he dropped out after one semester because he was concerned that college expenditures were eating up his parents' savings. He continued auditing classes at Reed while crashing with friends.

Question: Jobs dropped out of college because

1. he was concerned about straining his family's finances.
2. he did not have the patience to attend classes.
3. he got a job as an intern at Hewlett-Packard.
4. he was too busy running his own company.