Choosing Language — Unit test Answers

Read the excerpt from Judith Ortiz Cofer’s poem “El Olvido.” a bare, cold room with no pictures on the walls, a forgetting place where she fears you will die of loneliness and exposure. Jesús, María, y José, she says, el olvido is a dangerous thing.Which strategy would be most helpful in enhancing the reader’s comprehension of the poem?

Read the excerpt from “How the Internet and Other Technologies Came About.”In a scenario of two dazed boxers lying flat on their backs, slowly regaining consciousness, the winner of World War III would be that country which could stand on its feet first (and so go on to win World War VI). Therefore, the pentagon’s priority was to provide scientists with a way to rebuild the country as fast as possible, unimpeded by unnecessary restrictions.Which type of rhetoric is used most in this excerpt to convince readers of the author’s point of view?

Read the excerpt from Gary Soto’s story "Like Mexicans."My grandmother gave me bad advice and good advice when I was in my early teens. For the bad advice, she said that I should become a barber because they made good money and listened to the radio all day. “Honey, they don’t work como burros,” she would say every time I visited her. She made the sound of donkeys braying. “Like that, honey!” For the good advice, she said that I should marry a Mexican girl. “No Okies, hijo”—she would say— “Look, my son. He marry one and they fight every day about I don’t know what and I don’t know what.” For her, everyone who wasn’t Mexican, black, or Asian were Okies. The French were Okies, the Italians in suits were Okies. . . . she lectured me on the virtues of the Mexican girl.What inference can be made about the grandmother’s point of view in this excerpt?

Read the excerpt from Rudolfo Anaya’s essay “Take the Tortillas Out of Your Poetry.”Tortillas and poetry. They go hand in hand. Books nourish the spirit, bread nourishes our bodies. Our distinct cultures nourish each one of us, and as we know more and more about the art and literature of the different cultures, we become freer and freer. . . . I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like to sample different ethnic foods, the breads of many many groups; just as many of us enjoy sampling books from different areas of the world. I travel to foreign countries, and I know more about myself as I learn more about my fellow human beings. Censorship imposes itself in my path of knowledge, and that activity can be justified by no one.Which phrase from the excerpt uses formal English?

Read the excerpt from Julia Ortiz Cofer’s poem "El Olvido."It is dangerousto spurn the clothes you were born to wearfor the sake of fashion; dangerousto use weapons and sharp instrumentsyou are not familiar with; dangerousto disdain the plaster saintsbefore which your mother kneelspraying with embarrassing fervorthat you survive in the place you have chosen to live:The items listed in this excerpt symbolize

What best summarizes the central idea of the passage from "How the Internet and Other Technologies Came About"?

Look at the diagram.This diagram is best used for helping a reader

Read the excerpt from “Like Mexicans.”We talk for an hour and had apple pie and coffee, slowly. Finally, we got up with Carolyn taking my hand. Slightly embarrassed, I tried to pull away but her grip held me. I let her have her way as she led me down the hallway with her mother right behind me. . . . Carolyn waved again. I looked, back, waving. . . . Her people were like Mexicans, only different.Which best explains how Soto’s text structure helps establish his voice in the excerpt?

Read the excerpt from "How the Internet and Other Technologies Came About."Tanks and submarines were easily simulated, since looking through goggles wasn’t very much different from looking through a pair of binoculars or a periscope. Since the first head-mounted display was built for the Pentagon in 1968, primitive versions of virtual reality have since proliferated to video arcades around the country.Which information from the excerpt best supports the inference that certain video games resulted from issues related to national security?

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." And sure enough, the following week there we were in front of this astonished stockbroker, and I was sitting there red-faced and quiet, and my mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken English.What can be inferred from the excerpt?

What best summarizes the central idea of the passage from "Like Mexicans"?

Read the historical fact to make a text to world connection. The Cold War (1947-1991) was fought to contain the spread of communism and deter nuclear attack; subsequently it created a stockpiling of arms and munitions.Then, read the excerpt from Michio Kaku’s book Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century.There was also a sense of urgency. The Pentagon was worried that the shattered remains of the Soviet Union might be rebuilt before the United States. Following a nuclear war, there would be a race to see who could rebuild their country first. In a scenario of two dazed boxers lying flat on their backs, slowly regaining consciousness, the winner of World War III would be that country which could stand on its feet first (and so go on to win World War IV). Therefore, the Pentagon’s priority was to provide scientists with a way to rebuild the country as fast as possible, unimpeded by unnecessary restrictions.Which detail from the excerpt of Michio Kaku’s book provides the most cultural context about the Cold War?

Read the excerpt from “First Generation” of Dreaming in Cuban.She considers the vagaries of sports, the happenstance of El Líder, a star pitcher in his youth, narrowly missing a baseball career in America. His wicked curveball attracted the major league scouts, and the Washington Senators were interested in signing him but changed their minds. Frustrated, El Líder went home, rested his pitching arm, and started a revolution in the mountains.Read the excerpt from “Like Mexicans.”We talked for an hour and had apple pie and coffee, slowly. Finally, we got up with Carolyn taking my hand. Slightly embarrassed, I tried to pull away but her grip held me. I let her have her way as she led me down the hallway with her mother right behind me. . . . Carolyn waved again. I looked, back, waving. . . . Her people were like Mexicans, only different.Which best states how the structures of the excerpts are similar?

Read the excerpt from “Speaking Arabic.”At a neighborhood fair in Texas, somewhere between the German Oom-pah Sausage Stand and the Mexican Gorditas booth, I overheard a young man say to his friend, “I wish I had a heritage. Sometimes I feel—so lonely for one.” And the tall American trees were dangling their thick branches right down over his head.Which best explains how Nye’s text structure helps establish her voice in the excerpt?

Which excerpt from Leslie Marmon Silko’s story "The Man to Send Rain Clouds" contains a simile?

Which phrase best defines the denotative meaning of a word?

Which choice best defines a word’s connotative meaning?

Read the quote from Leslie Marmon Silko’s story "The Man to Send Rain Clouds."The priest stared down at his scuffed brown loafers and the worn hem of his cassock. "For a Christian burial it was necessary."His voice was distant, and Leon thought that his blue eyes looked tired."It's O.K., Father, we just want him to have plenty of water."The priest sank down into the green chair and picked up a glossy missionary magazine. He turned the colored pages full of lepers and pagans without looking at them."You know I can't do that, Leon. There should have been the Last Rites and a funeral Mass at the very least."Based on this excerpt, what can be inferred about Father Paul’s feelings?

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue."Those tests were constructed around items like fill-in-the-blank sentence completion, such as “Even though Tom was ______, Mary thought he was _____.” And the correct answer always seemed to be the most bland combinations of thoughts, for example, “Even though Tom was foolish, Mary thought he was ridiculous.” Well, according to my mother, there were very few limitations as to what Tom could have been and what Mary might have thought of him. So I never did well on tests like that. What can be inferred from the excerpt?

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue."Yet some of my friends tell me they understand 50 percent of what my mother says. Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking pure Chinese. But to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It’s my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world. How does Tan build a central idea of her story in the excerpt?