Practice Test

Question 1

Read the excerpt from The Great Gatsby . Twenty miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs, identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay, jut out into the most domesticated body of salt water in the Western hemisphere, the great wet barnyard of Long Island Sound. They were not perfect ovals—like the egg in the Columbus story, they are both crushed flat at the contact end—but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual confusion to the gulls that fly overhead. To the wingless a more arresting phenomenon is their dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size. I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. The use of words such as “fashionable,” “superficial,” “bizarre,” and “sinister” provide

Revolt · Accepted Answer

B: a sense of artificiality in the world the narrator finds himself in.

Question 2

Read the excerpt from Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby . The silhouette of a moving cat wavered across the moonlight, and turning my head to watch it, I saw that I was not alone—fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbor’s mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars. Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens. The appearance of Gatsby from the shadows suggests that

Revolt · Accepted Answer

A: he is a man of mystery and secrets.

Question 3

Read the excerpt from Wiesel’s All Rivers Run to the Sea . No, let us go no further. Decency and custom forbid it. I said it earlier, when speaking of my grandfather: In Jewish tradition a man’s death belongs to him alone. Let the gas chambers remain closed to prying eyes, and to the imagination. We will never know all that happened behind those doors of steel. Read the text and study the images from Spiegelman’s Maus . Open image in full-screen view Which theme is addressed in both excerpts?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

D: Some truths are too difficult to fathom if one has not experienced them.

Question 4

Read the excerpt from Elie Wiesel’s All Rivers Run to the Sea . It is unbelievable how fast people adapt. It hurts to admit it, but within hours of first breathing the cattle car’s nauseating air, we began to feel at home. ‘Home’ was the edge of the wooden plank I sat on as I dreamed of the Jewish exiles of antiquity and the Middle Ages. More curious than afraid, I thought of myself as their brother. Mixed into my sadness there was undeniable excitement, for we were living a historic event, a historic adventure. Which best describes the author at this point in his life?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

B: He is too young and naive to truly understand what is happening.

Question 5

In part two of Trifles , what symbolic impact is made when Susan Glaspell includes quilting as a part of Mrs. Wright’s lifestyle?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

A: It reinforces the idea that Mrs. Wright fulfilled many of the roles considered common for women during this time.

Question 6

Read the excerpt from part two of Trifles . COUNTY ATTORNEY (as one turning from serious things to little pleasantries ) : Well, ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or knot it? MRS. PETERS: We think she was going to--knot it. COUNTY ATTORNEY: Well, that’s interesting, I’m sure. (Seeing the birdcage.) Has the bird flown? MRS. HALE: ( putting more quilt pieces over the box .) We think the--cat got it. Which idea is suggested by this excerpt?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

B: The women are going to hide what they have discovered to protect Mrs. Wright.

Question 7

Read the excerpt from part one of Trifles . HALE: “Why—where is he?” says I, not knowing what to say. She just pointed upstairs—like that ( himself pointing to the room above ). What does the word “pointing” mean in this stage direction?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

D: indicating

Question 8

Which excerpt from part one of Trifles contains a stage direction that contributes to the character development of Mrs. Hale?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

C: MRS. HALE:  I’d hate to have men coming into my kitchen, snooping around and criticizing. ( She arranges the pans under sink which the Lawyer had shoved out of place .)

Question 9

Read the following scene from Trifles . COUNTY ATTORNEY: Let’s talk about that later, Mr. Hale. I do want to talk about that, but tell now just what happened when you got to the house. HALE: I didn’t hear or see anything; I knocked at the door, and still it was all quiet inside. I knew they must be up, it was past eight o’clock. So I knocked again, and I thought I heard somebody say, “Come in.” I wasn’t sure, I’m not sure yet, but I opened the door—this door (indicating the door by which the two women are still standing), and there in that rocker— (pointing to it ) sat Mrs. Wright. ( They all look at the rocker.) What would be one advantage of watching this scene as opposed to reading it?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

D: The audience would actually watch all of the characters turn to stare at the rocker, which could enhance the mood of the scene.

Question 10

Read the following scene from Trifles . MRS. HALE (a bruptly moving toward her .) Mrs. Peters? MRS. PETERS: Yes Mrs. Hale? (At upstage right door.) MRS. HALE: Do you think she did it? MRS. PETERS (in a frightened voice .) Oh, I don’t know. What is one possible advantage of hearing the characters’ voices as opposed to silently reading the scene?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

C: It helps listeners keep track of which woman is speaking.

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