Two Ways of Seeing a River

Two Ways of Seeing a River

Multiple Choice

This question has two parts. First, answer part A. Then, answer part B. Part A

1A. Which statement best describes the steamboat pilot’s view of the river?

• He assesses its navigation obstacles.

• He finds it mysterious and wonderful.

• He appreciates its beauty and majesty.

• He is deeply afraid of its many dangers.

Multiple Choice

1B. Part B

Which quote from the text best supports your answer in part A?

• “Now when I had mastered the language of this water and had come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition.”

• “All the grace, the beauty, the poetry had gone out of the majestic river!”

• “There were graceful curves, reflected images, woody heights, soft distances; all over the whole scene, far and near, the dissolving lights drifted steadily, enriching it, every passing moment, with new marvels of coloring.”

• “All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat.”

Multiple Choice

Which description provides the best evidence of the author’s feelings about the river in the days before he became a pilot?

• The author uses vivid visual images.

• The author writes in long sentences.

• The author narrates in a neutral tone.

• The author addresses the reader directly.

Multiple Choice

3A. Read the central idea and the directions that follow.

A worker learns to view a job with practical understanding.

Select two details from the text that support the central idea

• “. . . in the middle distance the red hue brightened into gold, through which a solitary log came floating, black and conspicuous . . .”

• “ . . . a clean- stemmed dead tree waved a single leafy bough that glowed like a flame . . .”

• “ . . . over the whole scene, far and near, the dissolving lights drifted steadily . . .”

• “ . . . that floating log means that the river is rising, small thanks to it . . .”

• “. . . the lines and circles in the slick water over yonder are a warning that that troublesome place is shoaling up dangerously. . .”

Multiple Choice

3B. Read the central idea and the directions that follow.

A worker learns to view a job with practical understanding.

Select two details from the text that support the central idea.

• “. . . in the middle distance the red hue brightened into gold, through which a solitary log came floating, black and conspicuous . . .”

• “ . . . a clean- stemmed dead tree waved a single leafy bough that glowed like a flame . . .”

• “ . . . over the whole scene, far and near, the dissolving lights drifted steadily . . .”

• “. . . the lines and circles in the slick water over yonder are a warning that that troublesome place is shoaling up dangerously. . .”

• “Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart.”

Multiple Choice

Which central idea is best illustrated by the author’s final sentences about doctors?

• Knowing the facts makes you powerful.

• Knowledge that is not useful is not important.

• Having practical skills is important to earning a living.

• Experiences lose their mystery once they become familiar.

Multiple Choice

5A. This question has two parts. First, answer part A. Then, answer part B. Part A Read the sentences from the text.

Now when I had mastered the language of this water and had come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition. But I had lost something, too.

What does the word acquisition most likely mean?

• a gain

• an idea

• a discovery

• an emotion

Multiple Choice

5B.

Part B Which phrase from the first paragraph best supports your answer in part A?

• “. . . I had lost something . . .”

• “. . . mastered the language of this water . . .”

• “. . . come to know every trifling feature . . .”

• “. . . I knew the letters of the alphabet . . .”

Open Ended

Write three words that provide clues to the meaning of rapture.

I stood like one bewitched. I drank it in, in a speechless rapture. The world was new to me, and I had never seen anything like this at home. But as I have said, a day came when I began to cease from noting the glories and the charms which the moon and the sun and the twilight wrought upon the river’s face; another day came when I ceased altogether to note them