Unreliable narrator

What did Percy see one of the old ladies do?

• Take out her false teeth.

• Snip the yarn.

• Throw the yarn ball.

• Yell at the other old ladies.

How did Miss Plimsole react when John told his story?

• She suddenly looked pale.

• She sent him to the principal's office.

• She laughed at him.

• She sent him home.

What secret of James' horrifies Oliver?

• The bruises that Richard gave him
• He killed Richard
• He slept with Meredith

What was unusual about the McNab house?

• It had a swimming pool in the living room

• There was a hole in living room ceiling

• The basement like a dungeon

• It had no front door

According to Stanley, how did he end up with the sneakers?

• They fell from the sky.

• He found the shoes in the street.

• His great great grandfather stole them.

• Another student gave them to him.

What happens when the police show up at Noah's house?

• they arrest Paine

• they question Paine for several hours

• they tell Paine that Shelly's been arrested

• they give Paine back his belongings

From which state was Ephraim?

• Virginia

• Mississippi

• New York

• Ohio

PROSE FICTION: The Lessons of Wilderness Living

Members of modern society are fortunate to enjoy

many conveniences once unheard of or reserved for the

elite. Imagine, if you can, only one day without running

water. It strains the mind to think of all the daily rituals

5 one would have to change if the tap suddenly went dry.

People today take electricity for granted, too. Lately,

I’ve realized that while reliance on modern technol-

ogy can improve the efficiency and quality of life, it

also keeps people from learning meaningful lessons

10 about living with the earth. The conservation ethics that

I gained this summer while working at a hunting lodge

I could not have learned elsewhere.

The lodge is located on a massive, little known

lake in northern Canada, closer to the Arctic Circle than

15 it is to the U.S. border. Every spring, the lodge reopens

to welcome scores of dedicated anglers itching to dip

a line in the nearby pristine creeks. By summer, the

small lodge fills to capacity with eager hunters. On the

guided treks, these men and women primarily chase

20 migratory birds and caribou, but I have seen plenty

of other unique game come back to the lodge kitchen

for preparation. Every hunter agrees that what one

finds at the lodge is a truly luxurious hunting experience.

Many people are surprised to find the lodge is totally

25 self-sufficient, with the exception of the food staples it

receives by small airplane. For a whole season, I was

“off the grid,” totally dependent on the lodge to provide

me with heat, light, water, and sanitation.

When I asked the owner why he built his

30 modern-looking log lodge so far beyond the reach of

civilization, he replied, “I didn’t really like hunting any-

where the sewer line ran.” Or electricity or telephone

or the water main, I thought to myself. The boss is

a peculiar man, but I see why he had no reservations

35 about setting up shop so deep in the wilderness. He

had learned to love it years ago when he was an elite

mountain soldier in the army. He always mentioned that

life wasn’t as difficult in the sub-arctic wilderness as

people think. Of course, he had a lodge to run, and

40 not everyone was as hardy as he. His creative solutions

to the lack of infrastructure are impressive.

The first necessity of employees and guests is

clean water for cooking, eating, and washing. A nearby

creek feeds a large pump that draws the water through a

45 particulate filter and into a large holding tank. A much

smaller pipe takes some of this water through a series of

purification devices. Inside, every sink has three taps:

two blue and one red. Guests are used to the

blue ones, drinkable hot and cold water, but the red one

50 always requires an explanation. My contribution over

the summer was to design a sign for each sink explain-

ing the ways one could use the unpurified water from

the red tap that came directly from the holding tank.

Showering and cleaning are the most important uses,

55 but “red” water is also useful for the garden or to give to

the dogs.

The roof of the lodge is layered with solar cells

to take advantage of the bright, clear summer sky.

On average, the 10-room lodge can generate the

60 same amount of power as a conventional two-bedroom

apartment uses. Naturally, this poses challenges. The

biggest conservation measure I could see was total lack

of electronics, with the exception of the computer in

the back office, which I’ve never seen turned on. The

65 ceiling of every room has a large skylight, eliminating

the need for electric light during the day. At night, a

limited set of high-efficiency fluorescent bulbs illumi-

nates the corridors and public spaces. Staff is equipped

with flashlights for use in closets, outside, or in other

70 unlit spaces. Interestingly, the low lighting seems to fos-

ter an “early to bed, early to rise” mentality among the

guests, who always rave about how rested they feel after

a week’s stay.

Guests and staff alike stay warm with heavy

75 woolen blankets, or, as my boss once quipped, “personal

insulating devices.” A full-circle fireplace in the center

heats the main space. Smoke floats up the chim-

ney while the heavy stainless steel hood reflects heat

to all corners of the room. When guests close their

80 room doors at night, they can barely hear the high-speed

electric impellers that draw warmth from the fire into the

rooms.

The lodge is a model of efficiency in an often-

unforgiving territory. My summer there taught me to

85 budget more carefully my consumption of water and

power. It is such discipline that will be necessary in the

future when costs of these commodities might be so high

that civilization can no longer take their abundance for

granted.

Which of the following conclusions about the relationship between the narrator and the boss is best supported by the details in the passage?

• The narrator does not fully grasp the boss's rationale for having such an isolated lodge, but admires his ingenuity nonetheless.

• The boss largely ignores the narrator and the rest of the workforce, focusing instead on the guests, but the narrator does not resent him for it.

• The boss is very shy and the narrator obliges him with privacy.

• The narrator is an inquisitive person whose frequent questions irritate the boss.

Who or what was Virgie?

• Ephraim's mother

• Judge Holton's wife

• A little girl lost in the woods

• The horse Finis was riding

What was Winston's reaction to the discovery of the rat?

• He would inform Mr. Charrington and ask him for a discount

• He was scared and horrified

• He was strangely comforted, as it reminded him of his childhood