The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Part 7: Thematic Development — Unit test Answers

Examine the public service ads. This first ad is from 1985.This second ad is from 2015.

Read the passage from a debate speech.The current trade situation in this nation is unacceptable. We continue to lose money to other nations, while those nations prosper. I have a detailed plan to get our country—and its people—back on the right track. My opponent, who uses her time to spread lies and rumors while eating nice dinners bought by you taxpayers, does not even have a plan. I question her priorities.

What reasons does the author give to support the claim that it is difficult for a message to move people to take action? Select two options.

Which quotations from the excerpt provide evidence to support the claim that governments have responded to criticism delivered through social media? Select three options.

Read the two passages.Passage 1Violence in video games is unavoidable. More than half of the top video games contain some element of violence. Does this lead to violence in the real world? Logical people know the answer, and the facts prove it. Between 1994 and 2004, video game sales increased by 204 percent. During that same time period, the arrest rate for juveniles committing violent crimes decreased by 63 percent. These facts make it obvious that video games are not a problem.Passage 2The majority of video games contain violence. Children playing these games leads directly to acts of violence. Several studies, including a 2014 study by the Journal of the American Medical Association, have shown a correlation between persistent video game use and aggressive behavior. While my own children play video games, they do not play games labeled "Mature.” Simply avoiding these games and allowing children to play the thousands of other available games is a logical way to avoid a potential problem.

Examine the excerpt from a public service campaign website. Which words from this campaign best indicate the target audience?

How does the writer best use evidence to support the claim? Select three options.

Read the excerpt from "Social Media Made the Arab Spring, But Couldn't Save It" by Jessi Hempel.Five years ago this week, massive protests toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, marking the height of the Arab Spring. Empowered by access to social media sites like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, protesters organized across the Middle East, starting in December 2010 in Tunisia, and gathered together to speak out against oppression, inspiring hope for a better, more democratic future. Commentators, comparing these activists to the US peace protesters of 1968, praised the effort as a democratic dawn for an area that had long been populated by autocracies. In a photo collection published by the New York Times a few months later, Irish writer Colum McCann wrote: "The light from the Arab Spring rose from the ground up; the hope is now that the darkness doesn’t fall.”The darkness has fallen. Half a decade later, the Middle East is roiling in violence and repression. Activists are being intimidated into restraint by governments that are, with the exception of Tunisia, more totalitarian than those they replaced, if any government as such really exists at all. Meanwhile, militants have harnessed the same technology to organize attacks and recruit converts, catapulting the world into instability. Instead of new robust democracies, we have a global challenge with no obvious solution. The Arab Spring carried the promise that social media and the Internet were going to unleash a new wave of positive social change. But the past five years have shown that liberty isn't the only end toward which these tools can be turned.Activists were able to organize and mobilize in 2011 partly because authoritarian governments didn’t yet understand very much about how to use social media. They didn’t see the potential, says NYU professor of politics Joshua Tucker, a [principal] investigator at the Social Media and Political Participation Lab at New York University. "There are a lot of reasons the people in power were slow to pick up on this,” he adds. "One of the things about not have a free press is it is harder to learn what was going on in the world.”

Read the passage.(1) Ask young people today if they know of anyone who has had smallpox, and they might ask, "What’s smallpox?” (2) That is because this disease was eradicated from the planet decades ago, thanks to vaccinations. (3) Despite the obvious effectiveness of vaccination, opponents of this procedure argue that humans are better off fighting diseases on their own without adding anything potentially harmful to their bodies. (4) Still, the American Academy of Pediatrics says that vaccines can be 99 percent effective, and the Centers for Disease Control claims that, over a 10-year period, vaccines allowed 322 million children to avoid illnesses. (5) So the next time someone tells you that vaccines are poisoned apples that will lead to a fate like Snow White’s, counter their argument with the facts. (6) The bottom line is that vaccines are safe to use and save lives.

Read the passage.(1) Ask young people today if they know of anyone who has had smallpox, and they might ask, "What’s smallpox?” (2) That is because this disease was eradicated from the planet decades ago, thanks to vaccinations. (3) Despite the obvious effectiveness of vaccination, opponents of this procedure argue that humans are better off fighting diseases on their own without adding anything potentially harmful to their bodies. (4) Still, the American Academy of Pediatrics says that vaccines can be 99 percent effective, and the Centers for Disease Control claims that, over a 10-year period, vaccines allowed 322 million children to avoid illnesses. (5) So the next time someone tells you that vaccines are poisoned apples that will lead to a fate like Snow White’s, counter their argument with the facts. (6) The bottom line is that vaccines are safe to use and save lives.

Project Yellow Light is holding a contest to get ideas for a texting-while-driving prevention campaign.What would be the best to include to make an ethical appeal to the audience?

Read the passage.The cost of health care is rising in America. The amount that an average family must pay for insurance is simply unaffordable. I know this because my family is an average American family—and we are worried. The people who make decisions about health care do not seem to think about the effect of the rising costs on hardworking people like my husband and me.

Read the excerpt from "The Role of Social Media in the Arab Uprisings" by Heather Brown, Emily Guskin, and Amy Mitchell.Almost immediately after the Arab uprisings began, there was debate over the role and influence of social media in the ouster of Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the imminent overthrow of [Egyptian president Hosni] Mubarak . In covering what some deemed the Facebook or Twitter revolutions, the media focused heavily on young protesters mobilizing in the streets in political opposition, smartphones in hand. And since then, the violent and sectarian unrest in Syria has brought increased attention to the role of citizen journalism.Social media indeed played a part in the Arab uprisings. Networks formed online were crucial in organizing a core group of activists, specifically in Egypt. Civil society leaders in Arab countries emphasized the role of "the internet, mobile phones, and social media" in the protests. Additionally, digital media has been used by Arabs to exercise freedom of speech and as a space for civic engagement.Now, research is emerging that reexamines in a more detailed way the role that social media played in the Arab uprisings.

Which quotations give specific evidence in support of the claim? Select three options.

Read the passage.The cost of health care is rising in America. The amount that an average family must pay for insurance has increased by 3 percent in just two years. For families buying insurance on an exchange or privately, the increase is an astounding 25 percent. At this rate, health care, which includes visits to a typical family doctor, specialists for anything from a knee injury to cancer, and the emergency room, will be unaffordable for most Americans in 10 years or sooner. I know this because my family is an average American family—and we are worried.

Which statements best evaluate the evidence in this excerpt? Select two options.

Read the two passages.Passage 1The need for standardized testing in education is a sensitive topic to some. Many fear that the use of these tests with students of all ages would lead to a decline in both academic growth and innovation; however, if standardized testing continues to be a reliable and objective source of measuring student achievement, we must conclude that the means justify the end. We can simply state the results of a 100-year analysis of testing research for proof: 93 percent of studies on student testing found a favorable outcome for student achievement.Passage 2When the Brookings Institution, a 100-year-old organization made up of experts in education and government, reports that up to 80 percent of standardized test score improvements were temporary and did not lead to improvements in learning, we must realize that student testing is not working. I have visited several schools during testing time, so I can personally vouch for the negative effect that standardized tests have on students’ emotions. Standardized testing is unnecessary and must end.

Examine the public service ads. This first ad is from 1944. This second ad is from 2013.

Read the passage from a speech by President Barack Obama.Good afternoon. Mr. Secretary General; Your Excellencies, we are here because, right now, in crowded camps and cities around the world, there are families—from Darfur in Chad, Palestinians in Lebanon, Afghans in Pakistan, Colombians in Ecuador—who’ve endured years—in some cases, decades—as refugees, surviving on rations and aid, and who dream of someday, somehow, having a home of their own.We’re here because, right now, there are young girls . . . like my daughters . . . who are just as precious and just as gifted—like the 16-year-old refugee from Myanmar that I met in Malaysia—who’ve suffered unspeakable abuse . . . girls who pray at night that someone might rescue them from their torment.

Read the excerpt from "The Role of Social Media in the Arab Uprisings" by Heather Brown, Emily Guskin, and Amy Mitchell.Twitter, Facebook and other new media offer ways for the Arab-American news media to reach audiences, but also pose a threat to smaller outlets. In addition to keeping up with the online presence of larger news organizations, Arab-American media are forced to compete with user-generated content that is rapidly available to audiences. The utility of social media in accessing information became clear during the Arab uprisings and events such as Egypt’s parliamentary and presidential elections. However, [Suzanne] Manneh of New America Media points out that the credibility of this information is difficult to verify "depending on where it’s from, to whom it’s attributed, [and] especially when various events are happening very quickly."Arab-American news outlets find they must compete with this abundance of online content in order to evolve alongside readers who are increasingly turning to the internet for information.