Read the excerpt from Richard Wright’s Black Boy . Hunger stole upon me so slowly that at first I was not aware of what hunger really meant. Hunger had always been more or less at my elbow when I played, but now I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at me gauntly. The hunger I had known before this had been no grim, hostile stranger; it had been a normal hunger that had made me beg constantly for bread, and when I ate a crust or two I was satisfied. But this new hunger baffled me, scared me, and made me angry and insistent. Whenever I begged for food now my mother would pour me a cup of tea which would still the clamor in my stomach for a moment or two; but a little later I would feel hunger nudging my ribs, twisting my empty guts till they ached. I would grow dizzy and my vision would dim. I became less active in my play, and for the first time in my life I had to pause and think of what was happening to me. Which best describes why Wright includes this anecdote?
In “Ambush,” which sentence best reflects the idea that O’Brien is more concerned with emotional truth than factual truth?
Read the excerpt from Brown v. Board of Education . Reargument was largely devoted to the circumstances surrounding the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. The Supreme Court studies the Fourteenth Amendment to determine
Read the excerpt from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Death by Black Hole.” If you stumbled upon a black hole and found yourself falling feet-first toward its center, then as you got closer, the black hole’s force of gravity would grow astronomically. Curiously, you would not feel this force at all because, like anything in free fall, you are weightless. What you do feel, however, is something far more sinister. While you fall, the black hole’s force of gravity at your two feet, they being closer to the black hole’s center, accelerates them faster than does the weaker force of gravity at your head. The difference between the two is known officially as the tidal force, which grows precipitously as you draw nearer to the black hole’s center. For Earth, and for most cosmic places, the tidal force across the length of your body is minuscule and goes unnoticed. But in your feet-first fall toward a black hole the tidal forces are all you notice. Which sentence from the excerpt best supports the idea that falling into a black hole would be excruciatingly painful?
Read the excerpt from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Death by Black Hole.” But there is more bad news. All parts of your body are moving toward the same spot—the black hole’s center. So while you’re getting ripped apart head to toe, you will also extrude through the fabric of space and time, like toothpaste squeezed through a tube. To all the words in the English language that describe ways to die (e.g., homicide, suicide, electrocution, suffocation, starvation) we add the term “spaghettification.” In this excerpt, Tyson conveys his complex ideas by
Read the excerpt from part 5 of Zeitoun . The kids fear water, yes, and when a pipe burst last year there were screams and nightmares, but slowly they’re growing stronger. For them he has to be strong, and he needs to look forward. He needs to feed them, to hold them close, and he needs to show them that God had a reason for their trials. He tells them that perhaps God, by allowing him to be jailed, saved him from something worse. Why does the author include these musings?
Read the excerpt from part 5 of Zeitoun . For many of his clients, it took time for the insurance money to come through, for the FEMA money to appear, for any number of complications to work themselves out. But now things are moving. The city is rising again. Since Hurricane Katrina, Zeitoun A. Painting Contractor LLC has restored 114 houses to their former states, or improved versions thereof. What is the meaning of the excerpt?
Read this excerpt from part 5 of Zeitoun . It was a test, Zeitoun thinks. Who among us could deny that we were tested? But now look at us, he says. Every person is stronger now. Every person who was forgotten by God or country is now louder, more defiant, and more determined. They existed before, and they exist again, in the city of New Orleans and the United States of America. What assumption does the narrator make in this excerpt?
Read the excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. How does King conclude this claim?
Read the excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation. Why does the author include these sentences?
Read the passage from “The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica.” all wanting the comfort of spoken Spanish, to gaze upon the family portrait of her plain wide face, her ample bosom resting on her plump arms, her look of maternal interest as they speak to her and each other of their dreams and their disillusions— In this passage, the words “ample” and “plump” are
Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation . The restaurant opens for business at seven o’clock, and for the next hour or so, Elisa and the manager hold down the fort, handling all the orders. As the place starts to get busy, other employees arrive. Elisa works behind the counter. She takes orders and hands food to customers from breakfast through lunch. When she finally walks home, after seven hours of standing at a cash register, her feet hurt. She’s wiped out. She comes through the front door, flops onto the living room couch, and turns on the TV. And the next morning she gets up at 5:15 again and starts the same routine. How does the description of Elisa’s daily routine support the author’s claim that the fast food industry seeks out teenage employees?
Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation . Instead of relying upon a small, stable, well-paid, and well-trained workforce, the fast food industry seeks out part-time, unskilled workers who are willing to accept low pay. Teenagers have been the perfect candidates for these jobs, not only because they are less expensive to hire than adults, but also because their youthful inexperience makes them easier to control. Which of the following choices best presents a counterclaim to the argument presented in this excerpt?
Why does the author most likely use the antonyms "lavish" and "shabby"?
What does the analogy highlight?
Read the excerpt from Flannery O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.” Mr. Shiftlet was so shocked that for about a hundred feet he drove along slowly with the door stiff open. A cloud, the exact color of the boy’s hat and shaped like a turnip, had descended over the sun, and another, worse looking, crouched behind the car. Mr. Shiftlet felt that the rottenness of the world was about to engulf him. He raised his arm and let it fall again to his breast. “Oh Lord!” he prayed. “Break forth and wash the slime from this earth!” The turnip continued slowly to descend. After a few minutes there was a guffawing peal of thunder from behind and fantastic raindrops, like tin-can tops, crashed over the rear of Mr. Shiftlet’s car. Which is a metaphor?
Which statement best compares the structure of "Harlem" and "The Weary Blues"?
Read the excerpt from “Take the Tortillas Out of Your Poetry.” My friend had concluded that if he took his language and culture out of his poetry, he stood a better chance of receiving a fellowship. He took out his native language, the poetic patois of our reality, the rich mixture of Spanish, English, pachuco and street talk which we know so well. In other words, he took the tortillas out of his poetry, which is to say he took the soul out of his poetry. Which best explains how Anaya’s tone establishes his voice in the excerpt?
Read the line from “Child of the Americas.” An immigrant and the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants The author’s word choice suggests a feeling of
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