While crossing the Nile, "the scenery and motion were so monotonous that Salva might have slept, except he was afraid that if he did, he might fall over the side." Based on context, what is the meaning of the word "monotonous"?

• beautiful

• challenging

• threatening

• boring

Salva "kept himself awake by counting the strokes of Uncle's paddle and trying to gauge how far the canoe traveled with every twenty strokes." Based on context, what is the meaning of the word "gauge"?

• to go quickly

• to estimate

• to slow down

• to believe

In the desert, "nothing green could survive except tiny evergreen acacia bushes, which somehow endured the long winter months with almost no water." Based on context, what is the meaning of the word "endure"?

• to weaken

• to be lifeless

• to be dehydrated

• to carry on or last

"The first day in the desert felt like the longest day Salva had ever lived through. The sun was relentless and eternal." Based on context, what is the meaning of the word "relentless"?

• never-ending

• not lasting long

• beautiful

• not strong

"Early that afternoon, they came across the first evidence that the desert was receding: a few stunted trees near a shallow pool of muddy water." Based on context, what is the meaning of the word "receding"?

• coming into view

• hot and dry

• fading away

• challenging

While at the refugee camp, Salva "began pushing and stumbling past people...He could still see the vivid spot of orange- yes, it was a headscarf-the woman's back was to him, but she was tall, like his mother." Based on context, what is the meaning of the word "vivid"?

• multicolored

• bright or clear

• small

• unfamiliar

Salva starts to believe that his family members must have died, and in this moment, "He felt as though he were standing on the edge of a giant hole--a hole filled with the black despair of nothingness." Based on context, what is the meaning of the word "despair"?

• determination

• confidence

• hopelessness

• motivation

When everyone was forced to leave Ethiopia, "immediately, there was chaos. It was as if the people ceased to be people and instead became an enormous herd of panicked, stampeding two-legged creatures." Based on context, what is the meaning of the word "cease"?

• to begin

• to change

• to stop

• to become nervous

"It was the rainy season. Swollen by the rains, the Gilo's (river's) current would be merciless." What is the meaning of "merciless"?

• calm

• cruel

• beautiful

• depressing