The Briefcase - Comprehension

1A: In lines 43-44, when the professor’s papers are described as “a thousand doves flailing against the walls of the alley” the author most likely means...

• that the professor carried birds around.

• the papers spilled out and blew all over.

• the professor was a messy person.

• the chef didn’t know what to do with the briefcase.

1B: The evidence that best supports your response above is . . .

• The chef ran after them all, stopped them with his feet and arms, herded them back into the case.

• Pages of numbers, or arrows and notes, and hand-drawn star maps.

• Here were business cards: a professor of physics.

• Envelops showed his name and address.

• B, C, & D.

2A: In lines 61–63, the narrator says that the chef “knew this: he had moved from his line of men, creating a vacuum—one that had sucked the good professor in to fill the void.” The author chose the words vacuum and void because they . . .

• create alliteration and a musical quality.

• refer to concepts in the field of physics.

• are words that a professional chef would use often.

• have special meaning in the context of a revolution.

2B: The 2 pieces of evidence that best support your response to part A are . . . .

• “The chef knew nothing of physics.”

• “He understood chemistry only insofar as it related to the baking time of bread…”

• “His knowledge of biology was limited to deboning chickens…”

• And what did he know at all of moving bodies and gravity?

• “The question at the end, a good one.”

“Whereas: If it was we who turn, how can we so flagrantly leave behind that which has warmed us and given us light? If we are moving, then each turn is a turn away. Each revolution a revolt.”

3A: In this passage, “flagrantly” most likely means

• secretively

• quickly

• excitedly

• blatantly

3B: The words or phrases that best reveal this meaning are:

• “... leave behind that which has warmed us and given us light?”

• “Each revolution is a revolt.”

• “If we are moving, then each turn is a turn away.”

• “Whereas: If it is we who turn . . . ““Whereas: If it is we who turn . . . “