Read the excerpt from Billy Collins’s “Man Listening to Disc.”In fact, I would saymy delight at being suffusedwith phrases from his saxophone—some like honey, some like vinegar—is surpassed only by my gratitudeto Tommy Potter for taking the timeto join us on this breezy afternoonwith his most unwieldy bassand to the esteemed Arthur Taylorwho is somehow managing to navigatethis crowd with his cumbersome drums.Which of the following suggestions would best enhance a reader’s understanding of this poem?
Read the opening lines from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Death by Black Hole.”Without a doubt, the most spectacular way to die in space is to fall into a black hole. Where else in the universe can you lose your life by being ripped apart atom by atom?Read the beginning stanza from Billy Collins’s “Man Listening to Disc.”This is not bad—ambling along 44th Streetwith Sonny Rollins for company,his music flowing through the soft calipersof these earphones,The beginnings of these two pieces are similar because they both
Read the excerpt from “Death by Black Hole.”If you were made of rubber then you would just stretch in response. But humans are composed of other materials such as bones and muscles and organs. Your body would stay whole until the instant the tidal force exceeded your body’s molecular bonds. (If the Inquisition had access to black holes, this, instead of the rack, would surely have become the stretching device of choice.)Which sentence from the excerpt supports the idea that falling into a black hole would be a violent death?
Read the excerpt from “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.Read the stanza from “Man Listening to Disc.”This is not bad—ambling along 44th Streetwith Sonny Rollins for company,his music flowing through the soft calipersof these earphones,Which statement best summarizes the two excerpts?
Read the excerpt from Billy Collins’s “Man Listening to Disc.”And if any of you are curiousabout where this aggregation,this whole battery-powered crew,is headed, let us just saythat the real center of the universe,the only true point of view,is full of the hope that he,the hub of the cosmoswith his hair blown sideways,will eventually make it all the way downtown.What message does Collins convey in this excerpt?
Which excerpt from Billy Collins’s “Man Listening to Disc” best supports the idea that the speaker uses the music to isolate himself from others?
Which excerpt from “Man Listening to Disc” best supports the idea that when the speaker listens to music he is the center of his own world?
Which statement best explains how Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Death by Black Hole” and Billy Collins’s “Man Listening to Disc” present differing views about the universe?
Read the excerpt from “Man Listening to Disc.”to Tommy Potter for taking the timeto join us on this breezy afternoonwith his most unwieldy bassand to the esteemed Arthur Taylorwho is somehow managing to navigatethis crowd with his cumbersome drums.And I bow deeply to Thelonious Monkfor figuring out a wayto motorize—or whatever—his huge pianoso he could be with us today.Which of the following additional features would best enhance the reader’s understanding of this excerpt?
Read the excerpt from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Death by Black Hole.”Black holes are regions of space where the gravity is so high that the fabric of space and time has curved back on itself, taking the exit doors with it. Another way to look at the dilemma: the speed required to escape a black hole is greater than the speed of light itself. . . . light travels at exactly 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum and is the fastest stuff in the universe. If light cannot escape, then neither can you, which is why, of course, we call these things black holes.Which of the following features would best enhance the reader’s understanding of this excerpt?
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