The Obligation to Endure by Rachel Carson

In the first paragraph, Carson suggests that humans' ability to alter the environment is...

• a. awesome and salutary

• b. recent and ironic

• c. ineffectual and slight

• d. promising and hopeful

• e. momentary and short-lived

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Paragraph 2 contains each of the following except...

• a. appeal to authority

• b. personification

• c. metaphor

• d. counterargument

• e. parallelism

Each of the following phrases presents a noun from paragraph 2 preceded by its modifier except...

• a. dangerous materials

• b. disturbing magnitude

• c. irrevocable pollution

• d. evil chain

• e. irreversible chain

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.5

In paragraph 2 Carson characterizes pollution of the natural world as each of the following except...

• a. destructive

• b. inevitable

• c. gradual

• d. insidious

• e. powerful

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Each of the following shifts is presented as we move from paragraph 2 to 3 except...

• a. past to present

• b. destruction to proliferation

• c. irreversibility to evolution

• d. death to life

• e. artificial to natural

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

One rhetorical function of paragraph 3 is to....

• a. provide substantive evidence for the claim about the evils of pollution

• b. call into question evidence previously presented by opponents

• c. present a counterargument in order to strengthen a previous position

• d. anticipate a possible objection and acknowledge its limited validity

• e. move the argument into a new and expanded area for consideration

Paragraph 4 is notable for the presence of each of the following except...

• a. parallel structure

• b. compound sentence structure

• c. juxtaposition and antithesis

• d. declarative sentence structure

• e. periodic structure

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.6

CCSS.RL.8.3

The tone in paragraphs 1-4 might be best described as...

• a. knowledgeable and pedantic

• b. sardonic and elevated

• c. authoritative and urgent

• d. mournful and admonitory

• e. objective and detached

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

What is Carson's purpose in paragraphs 1-4?

• a. to convince readers through argument that humans' effects on the environment pose a significant threat

• b. to deny via counterargument a widely held scientific theory about the nature of the universe

• c. to frighten readers into accepting her scientific theories by using apocalyptic imagery

• d. to anticipate through careful discernment of the scientific record the future claims that would be made by the environmental movement

• e. to inform readers about certain natural processes by citing evidence from the historical record