Unit Two Selected Response - ELA 7th Grade Mrs. SMITH

Read the following passage. Then, answer the question(s).

(1) I had been looking forward to this meeting for five years. It was five years ago that we first discovered that there are others out there, in our universe, living on distant planets. It took months to decode their language, but only weeks to know that these beings would become friends and allies, not foes. The news of their arrival was a lightning bolt from the sky, electrifying the world and lighting up our nights. In the storm of wonder and excitement, new hope began to flood our tired planet, washing away dingy old worries.

(2) We had, of course, been immersed in video communications with the aliens since the beginning. They resembled us, but with unsettling differences, and the video images were as fascinating as a reflection in a fun-house mirror. The aliens’ hair flowed like water and their gray eyes were as still as pebbles. But their basic body structures were the same as ours.They had four limbs, the same as we do. They had fewer attachments, though—no communications implants behind their ears, no telescopic extensions next to their eyes, and no multi-tool structures growing from their hands.

(3) Their transport shuttle was a lantern in the sky, easy to spot even in the early morning. We held our breaths as the shuttle floated to the ground like a butterfly. The long hatch popped open and there they were. We stood stunned, our hearts applauding their arrival with every beat. Their waterfalls of hair, their pebble-like eyes, their four appendages, they were all there. But even though we had the best technology in the universe, a trick of the eye caught us out. In the video images, they had appeared to be a bit taller than us relative to the things in their environment. It appeared, however, that their trees were much, much shorter than ours, because the aliens were much, much shorter than we are. When we finally pulled ourselves together, we bent very, very low, and greeted our visitors warmly. I wondered whether they were equally surprised to meet us.

Which of the following sentences from the story contains a metaphor?

• It took months to decode their language, but only weeks to know that these beings would become friends and allies, not foes. (paragraph 1)

• In the storm of wonder and excitement, new hope began to flood our tired planet, washing away dingy old worries. (paragraph 1)

• We held our breaths as the shuttle floated to the ground like a butterfly.(paragraph 3)

• It appeared, however, that their trees were much, much shorter than ours because the aliens were much, much shorter than we are. (paragraph 3)

Which word best describes the type of figurative language used in the following sentence from the passage?

We stood stunned, our hearts applauding their arrival with every beat.

• Similie

• Metaphor

• Description

• Personification

What does the author most likely mean by "Their transport shuttle was a lantern in the sky" in Paragraph 3?

• The Shuttle was beautiful

• The shuttle looked fragile

• The Shuttle was brightly lit

• The shuttle looked otherworldly

Which choice best describes the phrase in Question 3?

• Simile

• transition

• Metaphor

• personification

Which of the following phrases from the passage are similes and which are metaphors?

I. The news of their arrival was a lightning bolt from the sky (paragraph 1)

II. their gray eyes were as still as pebbles (paragraph 2)

III. the video images were as fascinating as a reflection in a fun-house mirror (paragraph 2)

IV. They had four limbs, the same as we do. (paragraph 2)

V. Their waterfalls of hair (paragraph 3)

• Similes: II and III

  metaphors: I and V

• Similies I, II, III

  Metaphors IV, V

• Similies IV, V

  Metaphors I, II, III

• Similies I, V

  Metaphors II, III

ANALYZE CRAFT AND STRUCTURE

from Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

In the novel Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer is a young boy growing up in Missouri. He has romantic feelings for a girl named Becky Thatcher, but the two quarrel and stop speaking to each other. In this abridged passage, Tom has just returned to school after an adventure. Because of his adventure, the people in his town are all talking about him. Read the passage. Then, answer the question(s).

(1) Tom decided that he could be independent of Becky Thatcher now. Glory was sufficient. He would live for glory. Now that he was distinguished, maybe she would be wanting to “makeup.” Well, let her—she should see that he could be as indifferent as some other people. Presently she arrived. Tom pretended not to see her. He moved away and joined a group of boys and girls and began to talk. Soon he observed that she was tripping gayly back and forth with flushed face and dancing eyes, pretending to be busy chasing schoolmates, and screaming with laughter when she made a capture; but he noticed that she always made her captures in his vicinity, and that she seemed to cast a conscious eye in his direction at such times, too. It gratified all the vicious vanity that was in him; and so, instead of winning him, it only “set him up” the more and made him the more diligent to avoid betraying that he knew she was about. Presently she gave over skylarking, and moved irresolutely about, sighing once or twice and glancing furtively and wistfully toward Tom. Then she observed that now Tom was talking more particularly to Amy Lawrence than to any one else. She felt a sharp pang and grew disturbed and uneasy at once. She tried to go away, but her feet were treacherous, and carried her to the group instead. She said to a girl almost at Tom’s elbow—with sham vivacity:

(2) “Why, Mary Austin! you bad girl, why didn’t you come to Sunday-school?”

(3) “I did come—didn’t you see me?”

(4) “Why, no! Did you? Where did you sit?”

(5) “I was in Miss Peters’ class, where I always go. I saw you.”

(6) “Did you? Why, it’s funny I didn’t see you. I wanted to tell you about the picnic.”

(7) “Oh, that’s jolly. Who’s going to give it?”

(8) “My ma’s going to let me have one.”

(9) “Oh, goody; I hope she’ll let me come.”

(10) “Well, she will. The picnic’s for me. She’ll let anybody come that I want, and I want you.”. . .

(11) And so on, with clapping of joyful hands till all the group had begged for invitations but Tom and Amy. Then Tom turned coolly away, still talking, and took Amy with him. Becky’s lips trembled and the tears came to her eyes; she hid these signs with a forced gayety and went on chattering, but the life had gone out of the picnic, now, and out of everything else; she got away as soon as she could and hid herself . . . .

(12) At recess Tom continued his flirtation with Amy with jubilant self-satisfaction. And he kept drifting about to find Becky and lacerate her with the performance. At last he spied her, butt here was a sudden falling of his mercury. She was sitting cosily on a little bench behind the school house looking at a picture-book with Alfred Temple—and so absorbed were they, and their heads so close together over the book, that they did not seem to be conscious of anything in the world besides. Jealousy ran red-hot through Tom’s veins. He began to hate himself for throwing away the chance Becky had offered for a reconciliation. He called himself a fool, and all the hard names he could think of. He wanted to cry with vexation.

Which is most clearly an example of external conflict in the passage?

• Tom's refusal to give Becky the attention she wishes

• Tom's annoyance with himself for failing to make up with Becky

• Becky's attempt to appear cheerful even after Tom snubs her.

• Becky's accusation that Mary Austin was not in Sunday School.

Which choice BEST identified an internal conflict in the passage?

• Becky's desire for Tom's attention vs Tom's attention to Amy

• Becky's failure to gain Tom's attention vs her hurt feelings

• Tom's desire to show his independence from Becky vs his jealous of Alfred.

• Tom's desire to show his independence from Becky vs his desire to flirt with Amy.

Which quotation for the passage BEST illustrates the conflict identified in Question 7?

• Then Tom turned coolly away, still talking and took Amy with him (paragraph 11)

• Becky's lips trembled and the tears came to her eyes; she hid these signs with a forced gayety and went on chattering, but the life had gone out of the picnic now....... (paragraph 12)

• At recess Tom continued his flirtation with Amy with jubilant self satisfaction (paragraph 12)

• He began to hate himself for throwing away the chance Becky had offered for a reconciliation (paragraph 12).

Which answer best explains one way in which external conflict leads to internal conflict in the passage?

• Tom pretends to flirt with Amy, which conflicts with his desire to go to Becky’s picnic.

• Becky invites others to a picnic, which conflicts with her desire to invite Tom alone.

• Becky invites others to a picnic, which creates a conflict for her between wanting to see Tom and wanting to avoid Amy.

• Tom refuses to pay attention to Becky, which creates a conflict for her between feeling hurt and wanting his attention.

Which quotation from the passage best supports the answer to Question 9?

• She felt a sharp pang and grew disturbed and uneasy at once. She tried to go away, but her feet were treacherous, and carried her to the group instead. (paragraph 1)

• And so on, with clapping of joyful hands till all the group had begged for invitations but Tom and Amy. (paragraph 11)

• Then Tom turned coolly away, still talking, and took Amy with him. Becky’s lips trembled and the tears came to her eyes. . . . (paragraph 11)

• At recess Tom continued his flirtation with Amy with jubilant self-satisfaction. And he kept drifting about to find Becky and lacerate her with the performance. At last he spied her, but there was a sudden falling of his mercury. (paragraph 12)