Which sentence includes a detail that reveals the technology of the setting?
Which sentence includes a detail that shows the historical background of the setting?
Read the excerpt from "American History.” In August, Eugene and his family had moved into the only house on the block that had a yard and trees. I could see his place from my window in El Building. In fact, if I sat on the fire escape I was literally suspended above Eugene’s backyard. It was my favorite spot to read my library books in the summer. Until that August the house had been occupied by an old Jewish couple. Over the years I had become part of their family, without their knowing it, of course. I had a view of their kitchen and their backyard, and though I could not hear what they said, I knew when they were arguing, when one of them was sick, and many other things. I knew all this by watching them at mealtimes. I could see their kitchen table, the sink and the stove.
Read the excerpt from "American History.”I once read in a Ripley’s Believe It or Not column that Paterson, New Jersey, is the place where the Straight and Narrow (streets) intersect. The Puerto Rican tenement known as El Building was one block up from Straight. It was, in fact, the corner of Straight and Market; not "at” the corner, but the corner. At almost any hour of the day, El Building was like a monstrous jukebox, blasting out salsas from open windows as the residents, mostly new immigrants just up from the island, tried to drown out whatever they were currently enduring with loud music.
Read the excerpt from "American History.” We had been given "free” exercise time and had been ordered by our P.E. teacher, Mr. DePalma, to "keep moving.” That meant that the girls should jump rope and the boys toss basketballs through a hoop at the far end of the yard. He in the meantime would "keep an eye” on us from just inside the building.It was a cold gray day in Paterson. The kind that warns of early snow. I was miserable, since I had forgotten my gloves and my knuckles were turning red and raw from the jump rope.
Read the excerpt from "American History.” It always amazed me how Paterson, the inner core of the city, had no apparent logic to its architecture. Small, neat, single residences like this one could be found right next to huge, dilapidated apartment buildings like El Building. My guess was that the little houses had been there first, then the immigrants had come in droves, and the monstrosities had been raised for them—the Italians, the Irish, the Jews, and now us, the Puerto Ricans, and the blacks.
Read the excerpt from "American History.” A little scared, I headed for El Building. There was an eerie feeling on the streets. I looked into Mario’s drugstore, a favorite hangout for the high school crowd, but there were only a couple of old Jewish men at the soda bar, talking with the short order cook in tones that sounded almost angry, but they were keeping their voices low. Even the traffic on one of the busiest intersections in Paterson—Straight Street and Park Avenue—seemed to be moving slower.
Read the excerpt. The sky was overcast, and the wind was insistent. But the sand was warm, the sea was a soothing shade of green, and the deserted shoreline had a remote feel despite the sound of rush-hour traffic. Sandy, the oldest sister, tried and failed to light the small camp stove. Maribel zipped up her jacket, pulled the hood over her head, and went over to help with the camp stove. Madeline, the youngest of the three sisters, waded into the chilly water up to her knees.
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