Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare

According to “Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare,” what is sleep paralysis?

• a condition in which a sleeper is incapable of dreaming

• a condition in which a sleeper walks and talks while asleep

• a condition in which a sleeper feels awake but cannot move

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What does the author of “Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare” mean by

describing sleep paralysis as a “waking nightmare”?

• The sleeper wakes up screaming and flailing around in bed but does not

  know why.

• The sleeper gains awareness but remains unable to move and experiences

  terror.

• The sleeper has the same bad dream night after night until he or she is

  afraid to go to sleep.

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In the following excerpt from “Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare,” what is

the most likely meaning of hallucination? Choose based on context clues in the

passage.

Taken together, the symptoms of sleep paralysis may explain stories of “alien

abduction” in recent years, or being harassed by demons in ages past. (The

hallucination of an intruder would account for the presence of an “alien” or

“demon.”)

• a memory of a real-life experience

• a vision of something that is not real

• a story about people who are not real

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Part A What does the context suggest is the most likely meaning of suffocate

as it is used in this excerpt from “Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare”?

Sleep paralysis is also sometimes called “Old Hag syndrome,” for an evil creature

thought to suffocate people in their sleep by sitting on their chests.

• prevent sleeping

• prevent breathing

• prevent awakening

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Part B Which group of words from the excerpt is a context clue that most

clearly supports the answer to Part A?

• called “Old Hag syndrome”

• sitting on their chests

• in their sleep

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Part A Based on “Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare,” choose the words

that best describe how someone might feel during an episode of sleep paralysis.

• annoyed; impatient

• anxious; hurried

• terrified; trapped

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Part B Which excerpt from “Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare” best

supports the answer to Part A?

• It’s believed to be an unintended side effect of dreaming; when you

  dream, your brain sends a signal to your muscles to go limp....

• “It is a feeling of panic, entrapment and desperation so horrifying that I

  have difficulty describing its magnitude.”

• “One cannot simply tell me to ‘wake up’ and tap me on the arm.”

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Read this excerpt from “Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare.”

Cultures around the world have different words for these terrifying nocturnal

experiences—the Japanese call it kanashibari, which means “bound up with metal.”

Which excerpt from the selection best explains why kanashibari is a good

name for sleep paralysis?

• But people who suffer from sleep paralysis find themselves paralyzed and

  fully aware of their predicament.

• “Knowing that it will end eventually is of no comfort. Every second is

  hell.”

• Because sleep paralysis affects about 5 percent of the population, it could

  happen to you someday.

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In “Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare,” what is the author’s purpose for

including quotations from Lori Ball, the woman from Ohio who suffers from

sleep paralysis?

• to show that people react differently to the symptoms of sleep paralysis

• to show that very few people actually suffer from sleep paralysis

• to show that sleep paralysis is a real and terrifying condition

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