Comparing Genres: Biography and Editorial

Question 1

Read the excerpt from Enrique’s Journey.Two gangsters had overheard his description and kicked him mercilessly. "Next time, we kill you," the gangsters told him. The teenager, afraid for his life, asked to be deported.Read the excerpt from "Children of the Drug Wars."We should also make it easier for children to apply as refugees when they are still in Central America, as we have done for people in Iraq, Cuba, countries in the former Soviet Union, Vietnam and Haiti. Those who showed a well-founded fear of persecution wouldn’t have to make the perilous journey north alone.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

D: The excerpt from Enrique’s Journey tells a story about what happened to one victim, and “Children of the Drug Wars” uses words that create an emotional response to persuade readers to take action.

Question 2

Read the excerpt from "Children of the Drug Wars.”By sending these children away, "you are handing them a death sentence,” says José Arnulfo Ochoa Ochoa, an expert in Honduras with World Vision International, a Christian humanitarian aid group. This abrogates international conventions we have signed and undermines our credibility as a humane country. It would be a disgrace if this wealthy nation turned its back on the 52,000 children who have arrived since October, many of them legitimate refugees.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

A: They draw attention to the opinion that the United States is not doing enough to help these children.

Question 3

Read the excerpt from Enrique’s Journey.He was five years old when his mother left him. Now he is almost another person. In the window glass, he sees a battered young man, scrawny and disfigured.It angers him, and it steels his determination to push northward.Read the excerpt from "Children of the Drug Wars."Children from Central America have been making that journey, often without their parents, for two decades. But lately something has changed, and the predictable flow has turned into an exodus. Three years ago, about 6,800 children were detained by United States immigration authorities and placed in federal custody; this year, as many as 90,000 children are expected to be picked up.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

D: In the first excerpt, the author uses narrative techniques and figurative language, while in the second excerpt, the author includes facts to persuade.

Question 4

Read the excerpt from Enrique’s Journey.He was five years old when his mother left him. Now he is almost another person.Read the excerpt from "Children of the Drug Wars."Children from Central America have been making that journey, often without their parents, for two decades.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

A: Both point out the tragic nature of situations in which children make journeys without their parents.

Question 5

Read the excerpt from Enrique’s Journey.Enrique greets the dawn without incident. The stars recede. The sky lightens behind the mountains to the east, and mist rises off the fields on both sides of the tracks. Men trot by on burros with tin milk containers strapped to their saddles, starting their morning deliveries.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

D: The author uses setting to show a sense of accomplishment.

Question 6

Read the excerpt from "Children of the Drug Wars.”By sending these children away, "you are handing them a death sentence,” says José Arnulfo Ochoa Ochoa, an expert in Honduras with World Vision International, a Christian humanitarian aid group. This abrogates international conventions we have signed and undermines our credibility as a humane country. It would be a disgrace if this wealthy nation turned its back on the 52,000 children who have arrived since October, many of them legitimate refugees.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

A: “handing them a death sentence”

Question 7

Read the excerpt from "Children of the Drug Wars."If many children don’t meet strict asylum criteria but face significant dangers if they return, the United States should consider allowing them to stay using humanitarian parole procedures we have employed in the past, for Cambodians and Haitians. It may be possible to transfer children and resettle them in other safe countries willing to share the burden.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

A: to express an opinion about US asylum policies

Question 8

Read the excerpt from Enrique’s Journey.During his first attempts north, a chance meeting saved Enrique from the worst of the gangs. As he set out on his trip, he noticed another teenager, a gangster named El Brujo, at the bus station in Honduras waiting to go to the Mexican border. Enrique doesn’t like gangs. But as the two spent hours traveling through Honduras and Guatemala together, they became friends. On their first train ride through Chiapas, El Brujo introduced Enrique to a dozen other MS members, among them Big Daddy, who is skinny and short; El Chino (the Chinaman), who has slanted eyes; and El Payaso (the Clown), who has a big mouth and eyes. On subsequent trips, when he was deported, he always stuck with one of these gang members to protect himself from any attacks.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

B: It shows that Enrique is resourceful.

Question 9

In Enrique’s Journey, Sonia Nazario tells readers about Enrique’s emotional journey as he tries to leave Honduras. Why does writing about this in the form of a biography support her purpose?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

D: She is able to give an objective account about one part of Enrique’s life.

Question 10

How does the meaning of the underlined word, prowl, support the author’s purpose in this excerpt? Select two options.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

C: It indicates that the gangsters are looking for vulnerable people.; E: It supports the idea that the gangsters are involved in criminal activities.

Comparing Genres: Biography and Editorial Answers

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