N/A — Exam Answers

Read the excerpt from "Binding Memories.” "Ah, the romantic soul!” said my parents skeptically, worried that my business would fail, that I was behind the times. Based on this stanza, how do the speaker’s parents feel about her decision to pursue book publishing?

Read the excerpt from Act III, scene iii of Romeo and Juliet . Friar Laurence: Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man: Affliction is enamour’d of thy parts, And thou art wedded to calamity. What is the meaning of the phrase "thou art wedded to calamity”?

Read this line from the prologue of Romeo and Juliet . A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; What is the most likely reason the prologue reveals this detail about the play?

Which word from the second stanza of "The Bells” does Poe use to best convey the mood of the stanza?

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". "What ees wrrrong with her eh-speech?" Carlos wagged his head at her. His anger was always more frightening in his broken English. As if he had mutilated the language in his fury—and now there was nothing to stand between them and his raw, dumb anger. "What is wrong? I will tell you what is wrong. It show no gratitude. It is boastful. I celebrate myself? The best student learns to destroy the teacher? " He mocked Yoyo's plagiarized words. "That is insubordinate. It is improper. It is disrespecting of her teachers—" In his anger he had forgotten his fear of lurking spies: each wrong he voiced was a decibel higher than the last outrage. Finally, he shouted at Yoyo, "As your father, I forbid you to make that eh-speech!" What does Carlos’ language reveal about his character?

Read the excerpt from "The Scarlet Ibis.” That summer, the summer of 1918, was blighted. In May and June there was no rain and the crops withered, curled up, then died under the thirsty sun. One morning in July a hurricane came out of the east, tipping over the oaks in the yard and splitting the limbs of the elm trees. That afternoon it roared back out of the west, blew the fallen oaks around, snapping their roots and tearing them out of the earth like a hawk at the entrails of a chicken. Cotton bolls were wrenched from the stalks and lay like green walnuts in the valleys between the rows, while the cornfield leaned over uniformly so that the tassels touched the ground. Doodle and I followed Daddy out into the cotton field, where he stood, shoulders sagging, surveying the ruin. When his chin sank down onto his chest, we were frightened, and Doodle slipped his hand into mine. Suddenly Daddy straightened his shoulders, raised his giant knuckly fist, and with a voice that seemed to rumble out of the earth itself began cursing heaven, hell, the weather, and the Republican Party. Doodle and I, prodding each other and giggling, went back to the house, knowing that everything would be all right. Which phrases are examples of sensory imagery that make the details of the setting more vivid? Choose three correct answers.

Read the excerpt from "Say No to GM Food.” These unknown consequences have kept many countries in need of a larger food supply steering clear of importing large amounts of GM food or growing the crops on their soil. Kenya, a country with a known food deficit , has banned GM crops entirely. What is the best meaning of "deficit” in this sentence?

Which is the best comparison of tone in these two essays on genetically modified food?