Mystery and Suspense - Test Test Answers

Enzo read this passage from "The Smithville Gazette: Neighborhood Thief Strikes Again.” Another episode in the recent spate of neighborhood thefts occurred on Saturday at Ferguson’s department store. Several pieces of jewelry were taken at approximately 12:30 in the afternoon. Mrs. Jane Dickson, the employee working the jewelry counter reported that she did not initially see the theft, but realized shortly before 1 p.m. that several necklaces were missing from inside the jewelry case, which she had accidentally left unlocked while moving away to help another customer. Instead of taking notes on the central idea, Enzo copied the passage down exactly. What is the best way to revise the passage into notes that reveal the central idea?

What central idea do "The Quinceanera" and "The Smithville Gazette: Neighborhood Thief Strikes Again" share?

Read the passage from "The Quinceanera.” So there I was at the jewelry counter in Ferguson’s department store, surrounded by stroller-driving moms and crying babies. I had to hurry. Maritza’s party was tonight and, more importantly, I was meeting my friends at the movies at 1:00. It would be the only part of the day I would actually get to enjoy, and I was really looking forward to it. Which phrase from the passage most helps to create the mood?

Heidi has a writing assignment to connect The Code Book to her own life. Which line from her assignment best demonstrates Heidi’s connection with the text?

Read the excerpt from The Code Book. Other attacks include the use of viruses and Trojan horses. Eve might design a virus that infects PGP software and sits quietly inside Alice's computer. When Alice uses her private key to decrypt a message, the virus would wake up and make a note of it. The next time that Alice connects to the Internet, the virus would surreptitiously send the private key to Eve, thereby allowing her to decipher all subsequent messages sent to Alice. One way to better connect with this excerpt is to

Peter is writing about this excerpt from The Code Book . A variation on the Trojan horse is a brand-new piece of encryption software that seems secure, but which actually contains a backdoor , something that allows its designers to decrypt everybody's messages. In 1998, a report by Wayne Madsen revealed that the Swiss cryptographic company Crypto AG had built backdoors into some of its products, and had provided the U.S. Government with details of how to exploit these backdoors. As a result, America was able to read the communications of several countries. Which of Peter’s lines shows that he is using personal experience to understand the reading?

Lucy is writing about this excerpt from The Code Book . Only a small fraction of the information flowing around the world is securely encrypted, and the remainder is poorly encrypted, or not encrypted at all. This is because the number of Internet users is rapidly increasing, and yet few of these people take adequate precautions in terms of privacy. In turn, this means that national security organizations, law enforcers and anybody else with a curious mind can get their hands on more information than they can cope with. Which of Lucy’s lines best shows that she has made a personal connection to the reading?

Which elements must be included to make a claim effective? Choose three correct answers.

This question has two parts. First, answer Part 1. Then, answer Part 2. Part 1 Read the excerpt from The Code Book . Cryptanalysts have tried to find a shortcut to factoring, a method that drastically reduces the number of steps required to find p and q , but so far all attempts to develop a fast-factoring recipe have ended in failure. Mathematicians have been studying factoring for centuries, and modern factoring techniques are not significantly better than ancient techniques. Indeed, it could be that the laws of mathematics forbid the existence of a significant shortcut for factoring. What is the central idea of this paragraph?

Cleo is writing an essay arguing that her school should open at 8:30 a.m. instead of 7:30 because it would benefit the student body. Which claim is the most effective for her argument?

Part 2 Which quotation from the excerpt best supports the correct answer to Part 1?

Read the claim and paragraph. (1) Homework has more negative effects on children and teenagers than positive effects. (2) Hours of schoolwork after the school day is over intrude on students’ family lives, cause unnecessary stress, and take away from time participating in other enriching activities. (3) In addition, studies show that for children below high-school age, there is no relationship between homework and how a student performs on a test, and for high-school students, the relationship is nearly insignificant. (4) Although homework might not have a major effect on test scores, some say that it teaches students other important life lessons. (5) However, no conclusive study has shown that homework improves students’ self-discipline, time-management skills, or sense of independence. (6) Therefore, schools should seriously reconsider revising homework guidelines, and teachers should only assign homework when it is truly necessary. Which sentence contains a rebuttal to the counterclaim in the paragraph?

Read the paragraph. (1) Dogs are great pets for families because they teach children many important life lessons. (2) A dog must be walked and fed at certain times during the day. (3) When a child is in charge of these tasks, he or she learns to be dependable and disciplined. (4) Helping to take care of a dog might interfere with homework or other activities, but it’s essential for children to have some responsibility. (5) In addition, dogs are loyal, playful, loving companions. Which is the best revision of sentence 4 to eliminate contradictory information?

Which claim is the most effective for the argument that the minimum age to get a driver’s license should be changed to 18?

Which sentence contains an element of bias?

Read the passage from "Annabel Lee." But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we— Of many far wiser than we— And neither the angels in Heaven above Nor the demons down under the sea Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; When the author provides the details about the angels and demons, he is

Which sentence contains an element of bias?

Read the passage from "Annabel Lee.” And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsmen came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea. The word choice in the passage creates a mood of

Which evidence from "The Rosetta Stone” supports the claim that Thomas Young played a key role in helping to decipher the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone?

Which is the best definition of bias ?

If someone were to describe "The Rosetta Stone” to a friend, he or she would most likely compare it to

Which is an example of internal conflict?

Review the excerpt from Lee Child’s "A Simple Way to Create Suspense". I learned that fact in my first job. I worked in television production from 1977 until 1995, and the business changed radically during that time, mainly because of one particular invention. Compare to this excerpt from the NPR interview with Karin Slaughter. And being a Southern author, you know, I grew up with Flannery O'Connor, and I love reading her essays because she was such a—not just a wonderful writer, but she was wonderful at talking about writing. Which is true about the two excerpts?

The mood of a story is the

Review the statement by Karin Slaughter in her NPR interview. And you have to make sure that the reader cares enough about these characters so that when bad things happen, they want to read along. What comparison can be made between Slaughter’s idea and Lee Child’s views in "A Simple Way to Create Suspense"?

To identify the central idea of a text, readers must

In "Racing the Storm,” the author creates suspense through pacing, which is the

Read the excerpt from "Code Talkers.” Although American Indian soldiers had effectively used their languages to create and transmit secret messages during World War I, military leaders were reluctant to use the code a second time, fearing that it would no longer be effective. The Japanese and German governments had sent students to the United States specifically to learn certain American Indian languages. The Navajo language, however, was so complex that few people outside the Navajo Nation itself could speak it. In 1942, it was estimated that only thirty non-Navajos spoke the language worldwide. Which questions would improve the reader’s ability to understand the military leaders’ fear that the code would no longer be effective? Choose two correct answers.

Read the excerpt from "Code Talkers.” The use of Navajo code was so successful that its existence was kept secret until 1968 so that the Marines could continue to use it, if necessary. Two decades later, many of the code talkers were recognized for their service. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan declared August 14 Navajo Code Talkers Day, and in 2000 President Bill Clinton awarded the Congressional Medal to the first twenty-nine code talkers. In the years since, code talkers from the Navajo and thirty-two other American Indian tribes have been awarded the medal. The author’s purpose in this paragraph was to

Read the paragraph. (1) Baseball is unique because it is the only sport in America that does not have a time clock—although tennis and softball are not timed, either. (2) Instead, games last for nine innings, unless there is a tie after the ninth, in which case they go extra innings. (3) Nine-inning games last an average of three hours. (4) Extra innings tack on time to an already long game, but the end is always the most exciting part. (5) Most people in the US watch baseball and are fans of their hometown team. Which sentence should be revised to eliminate conflicting information?

Read the excerpt from "Lather and Nothing Else." I went on lathering his face. My hands began to tremble again. The man could not be aware of this, which was lucky for me. But I wished he had not come in. Probably many of our men had seen him enter the shop. And with the enemy in my house I felt a certain responsibility. Which statement about the barber is correct?

To improve understanding of an informational paragraph, which questions are best to ask? Choose three correct answers.

Read the excerpt from "Lather and Nothing Else" He went on talking. He evidently took it for granted that I was on the side of the existing regime. "The people must have gotten a scare with what happened the other day,” he said. "Yes,” I replied, as I finished tying the knot against his nape, which smelt of sweat. "Good show, wasn’t it?” "Very good,” I answered, turning my attention now to the brush. The man closed his eyes wearily and awaited the cool caress of the lather. How does this conversation build suspense in the story?

Which reason best supports Zimmermann’s claim in The Code Book that "cryptography is about political power”?

This question has two parts. First, answer Part 1. Then, answer Part 2. Part 1 Read the excerpt from The Code Book . However, as with every technology, there is a dark side to encryption. As well as protecting the communications of law-abiding citizens, encryption also protects the communications of criminals and terrorists. Currently, the police use wiretapping as a way of gathering evidence in serious cases, such as organized crime and terrorism, but this would be impossible if criminals used unbreakable ciphers. As we enter the twenty-first century, the fundamental dilemma for cryptography is to find a way of allowing the public and business to use encryption in order to exploit the benefits of the Information Age without allowing criminals to abuse encryption and evade arrest. There is currently an active and vigorous debate about the best way forward, and much of the discussion has been inspired by the story of Phil Zimmermann, a man whose attempts to encourage the widespread use of strong encryption have panicked America's security experts, threatened the effectiveness of the billion-dollar National Security Agency, and made him the subject of an FBI inquiry and a grand jury investigation. Identify the author’s claim in this excerpt.

Read the excerpt from The Code Book . By this stage, sending a PGP encrypted message is becoming quite complicated. The IDEA cipher is being used to encrypt the message, RSA is being used to encrypt the IDEA key, and another stage of encryption has to be incorporated if a digital signature is required. However, Zimmermann developed his product in such a way that it would do everything automatically, so that Alice and Bob would not have to worry about the mathematics. To send a message to Bob, Alice would simply write her e-mail and select the PGP option from a menu on her computer screen. Next she would type in Bob's name, then PGP would find Bob's public key and automatically perform all the encryption. At the same time PGP would do the necessary jiggery-pokery required to digitally sign the message. Upon receiving the encrypted message, Bob would select the PGP option, and PGP would decrypt the message and verify the author. Nothing in PGP was original—Diffie and Hellman had already thought of digital signatures and other cryptographers had used a combination of symmetric and asymmetric ciphers to speed up encryption—but Zimmermann was the first to put everything together in one easy-to-use encryption product, which was efficient enough to run on a moderately sized personal computer. Which fact most effectively supports the claim that PGP can be used by an ordinary person?

Part 2 Which sentence or phrase best supports the correct answer to Part 1?

Read the excerpt from "The Enigma Machine.” Cryptologists looked for cribs, which are repeated expressions in messages. Sloppy operators would repeat phrases like "nothing to report" or "weather forecast" ( Wettervorhersage ), which served as clues. If there were no cribs to be found, the British would send out false information about, say, British mines planted in a given area. The Germans might then send messages with the name of that area, which would provide clues about deciphering that code. Which is the meaning of the word cryptologists ?

Which excerpt from "The Enigma Machine” supports the claim that German soldiers accidentally helped the Allies figure out the Enigma codes?

This question has two parts. First, answer Part 1. Then, answer Part 2. Part 1 Read the paragraph from “A Simple Way to Create Suspense.” Trusting such a simple system feels cheap and meretricious while you’re doing it. But it works. It’s all you need. Of course, attractive and sympathetic characters are nice to have; and elaborate and sinister entanglements are satisfying; and impossible-to-escape pits of despair are great. But they’re all luxuries. The basic narrative fuel is always the slow unveiling of the final answer. What is the central idea of this paragraph?

Part 2 Which sentence best supports the correct answer to Part 1?

Which will be most helpful as Duncan re-reads his notes to find the central idea of the interview?