Rosetta Stone

In The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone, James Cross Giblin makes his ideas clear to readers best through his

• confidence and style.

• courage and success.

• tone and viewpoint.

• format nd objectives.

Read the line of text from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone.

But many experts would say that this rather small piece of rock was more valuable than any of the larger objects in the room.

In this line of text, the author makes his viewpoint clear about the

• reign of Pharaoh Amenophis III who discovered the Rosetta Stone.

• reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II who discovered the Rosetta Stone.

• Rosetta Stone’s use of hieroglyphs to describe life in ancient Egypt

• Rosetta Stone’s use of hieroglyphs to explain weather patterns.

Read the excerpt from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone by James Cross Giblin.

However they obtained it, the Greeks couldn’t resist adding their own original "explanations" to the definitions. For example, a Greek writer named Horapollo said correctly that the picture of a goose stood for the word "son." But then he explained that this was because geese took special care of their young, which was completely inaccurate.

Which part of a strong argument is the final sentence of the excerpt?

• the counterclaim

• the evidence

• the reason

• the claim

In The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone, the author uses opinions and evidence to clearly communicate his viewpoint by exposing the

• inaccuracies of other scholars.

• greed of invading armies.

• unfair treatment of the pharaohs.

• validity of earlier scientists’ ideas.

Read the excerpt from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone.

Near the entrance to the long, high-ceilinged room stand two magnificent granite statues of Pharaoh Amenophis III, who ruled Egypt about 1400 B.C. Farther on is a colossal head of Pharaoh Ramesses II dating back to 1250 B.C. And beyond it, resting on a simple base, is a slab of black basalt, a colossal rock.

Which words in the excerpt best show that Giblin thinks the room is important?

• entrance and room

• long and high-ceilinged

• magnificent and colossal

• simple and slab

Read the excerpt from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone.

Next to the statues and the head, the slab seems unimpressive at first glance. It is roughly the size of a tabletop—three feet nine inches long, two feet four and a half inches wide, and eleven inches thick. But many experts would say that this rather small piece of rock was more valuable than any of the larger objects in the room. For it is the famed Rosetta Stone, which gave nineteenth-century scholars their first key to the secrets of ancient Egypt.

Which words in the excerpt best show that Giblin views the Rosetta Stone as very important?

• statues and unimpressive

• more valuable and famed

• rather small and piece of rock

• larger objects and scholars

In Giblin’s view, which group’s initial determination helped solve the mystery of the Rosetta Stone?

• Greeks

• Egyptians

• Romans

• French

Which sentence from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone includes an opinion?

• The writings of Horapollo circulated widely throughout Europe and influenced the study of hieroglyphs for centuries to come.

• By the time the visitors from Greece arrived, no living Egyptian knew how to read the hieroglyphic writing of his ancestors.

• Looking at a certain group of symbols—which actually stood for the name of a pharaoh—Kircher let his imagination run wild.

• At the top are fourteen lines of hieroglyphs—pictures of animals, birds, and geometric shapes.

The author of The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone makes his views clear to the reader

• by using the second person point of view.

• by describing his own experiences.

• by avoiding the use of counterclaims.

• by using a mix of fact and opinion.

Read the excerpt from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone by James Cross Giblin.

A few genuine advances in understanding the hieroglyphs were made during the 1700s. The French scholar C. J. de Guignes observed that groups of hieroglyphs in Egyptian texts were often enclosed by an oval outline, which he called a cartouche. "Cartouche" is a French word that originally meant a cartridge, and the line around the hieroglyphs had a similar shape. De Guignes guessed rightly that the cartouches in hieroglyphic inscriptions were intended to draw attention to important names, probably the names of Egyptian rulers.

Based on this excerpt, what is the author’s view of the progress made in the 1700s?

• A French scholar first used the term “cartouche” to describe hieroglyphs.

• Scholars had some success understanding the meanings of the hieroglyphs.

• By the 1700s, scholars had given up trying to figure out the hieroglyphs.

• Hieroglyphs in Egyptian texts were often enclosed within an oval shape.