Benchmark Practice 1

Read the paragraph below and choose the writer’s tone.

Obesity continues to grow in the United States despite our national interest in being thin and fit. More than 60% of adults in the U. S. are now estimated to be overweight or obese. More than 300,000 people die from health problems related to excessive weight each year.

• hostile

• objective

• pessimistic

• optimistic

What would be an appropriate meaning for the phrase "clasping remembered beauty"?

• Imagining future events

• Recalling past events

• Creating current events

• Forgetting past events

Which detail supports the idea that a clock is considered a novelty during a specific time period?

• “From the start, I did not like the idea of getting out in the cold and observing the stars in winter time, so as to see when to get up.”

• “We went together to the watchmaker in Tarnobrzeg and bought a clock for four ducats, with the understanding that he was to bring it over in the evening and hang it for us.”

• “They would listen for the ticking under the window; and in time their elders began to come, too, to look at the clock.”

• “Later on, the nearer neighbors, who had some date to keep, would come to the window day or night and ask what time it was.”

What is the impact of the metaphors “the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side” in paragraph 2?

• They remind consumers that lies have led to economic ruin.

• They provide a bleak depiction of the nation’s financial state.

• They create an image of a once prosperous country after war.

• They establish how disappointing the nation’s harvests have been.

Which line from the selection shows that the author wishes to persuade readers?

• “It is, however, a challenge that such societies must meet if they are to enjoy the material benefits that a market economy can provide.”

• “It is an increase in the average price level of the goods and services produced and sold in an economy.”

• “Inflation has sometimes been described as an increasing amount of money chasing a shrinking number of goods.”

• “Entrepreneurs and investors respond to the new economic freedom by starting new businesses and competing to provide goods and services.”

Rules are very important. They help keep things running smoothly. Rules let you know what you can and cannot do whether you are playing a game or explaining how to act in class. You should follow rules; they help people get along.
What is the author's purpose?

• to entertain with a story about people who follow the rules
• to inform about the rules of games
• to persuade people to follow the rules
• to explain the rules of chess

The main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work is its...

• theme

• personification

• author's purpose

• tone

The author's attitude conveyed by a piece of literature is...

• theme

• tone

• author's purpose

• main idea

Read this quotation from paragraph 1 of the excerpt from The Piano Shop on the Left Bank.

I was nervous, almost spellbound; suddenly this great impractical hulk was the gateway to a territory from which I had been absent for too long. Something said “Yes!” before I even touched the keyboard.

What is the narrator’s purpose for including this description?

• To explain where he is shopping for a piano

• To highlight his doubts about wanting a piano

• To show how he exaggerates when describing events

• To reveal the strength of his desire to play the piano again

Read this quotation from paragraph 10.

What could happen if you allowed yourself to step outside the cages and breathe in the fresh air of your freedom?

Based on the quotation, the author views her high-school years as a source of —

• transition

• confinement

• order

• discipline