Excerpt from the Wing in the Willows

First Read: Comprehension

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

As the selection from The Wind in the Willows opens, why have Rat and Mole come to Badger’s house?

• They need his advice.

• They are lost in the snow.

• They were invited to dinner.

• They were driven there by Toad.

First Read: Comprehension

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

In the beginning of the selection from The Wind in the Willows, how does Badger change when Rat announces himself and Mole?

• He changes from cross to solemn.

• He changes from calm to nervous.

• He changes from cheerful to annoyed.

• He changes from suspicious to welcoming.

First Read: Comprehension

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

In this selection from The Wind in the Willows, what is Rat’s difficulty with Toad?

• He wishes that Toad were more careful with his money.

• He wishes that Toad would hire him as a driver.

• He is very worried about Toad's bad driving.

• He thinks that Toad's coach-house is a mess.

First Read: Selection Vocabulary

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

Read this sentence from The Wind in the Willows. Pay special attention to scores, a word that can have several meanings.

It seemed a place where heroes could fitly feast after victory, where weary harvesters could line up in scores along the table and keep their Harvest Home with mirth and song, or where two or three friends of simple tastes could sit about as they pleased and eat and smoke and talk in comfort and contentment.

What is the most likely meaning of scores?

• groups of around twenty

• numbers of points or goals

• marks made to keep a record

• written musical compositions

First Read: Selection Vocabulary

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

What does the context suggest is the most likely meaning of resumed in this sentence from The Wind in the Willows?

Conversation was impossible for a long time; and when it was slowly resumed, it was that regrettable sort of conversation that results from talking with your mouth full.

• almost forgotten

• started again

• discussed

• silenced

First Read: Selection Vocabulary

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A

What does the context suggest is the most likely meaning of strenuous in this sentence from The Wind in the Willows?

No animal, according to the rules of animal-etiquette, is ever expected to do anything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately active during the off-season of winter.

• kind

• startling

• energetic

• informative

Part B

Which phrase from the context best supports the answer to Part A?

• rules of animal-etiquette

• ever expected

• moderately active

• the off-season

Close Read: Analyze the Text

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

Read this sentence from The Wind in the Willows.

In the embracing light and warmth, warm and dry at last, with weary legs propped up in front of them, and a suggestive clink of plates being arranged on the table behind, it seemed to the storm-driven animals, now in safe anchorage, that the cold and trackless Wild Wood just left outside was miles and miles away, and all that they had suffered in it a half-forgotten dream.

Which sentence best explains what is indicated by “a suggestive clink of plates”?

A.

B.

C.

D.

• Badger is setting the table for his guests.

• Badger has taken the opportunity to clean up.

• Badger is eating as he listens to Rat and Mole.

• Badger is hinting that Rat and Mole should do the dishes.

Close Read: Analyze the Text

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

Read this final sentence in the selection from The Wind in the Willows.

The Badger's winter stores, which indeed were visible everywhere, took up half the room—piles of apples, turnips, and potatoes, baskets full of nuts, and jars of honey; but the two little white beds on the remainder of the floor looked soft and inviting, and the linen on them, though coarse, was clean and smelt beautifully of lavender; and the Mole and the Water Rat, shaking off their garments in some thirty seconds, tumbled in between the sheets in great joy and contentment.

What is the most important information that this sentence gives about Badger?

• Badger trusts his guests not to eat the food he has stored.

• Badger expects Rat and Mole to work for their shelter.

• Badger is tidy and organized and a magnificent host.

• Badger is too poor to have a separate guest room.

Close Read: Analyze the Text

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A

According to Rat in the selection from The Wind in the Willows, why does Toad refuse to hire someone to drive him around?

• Toad does not understand the rules of the road.

• Toad lacks the money to hire a trustworthy driver.

• Toad is stubbornly sure that he drives perfectly well.

• Toad thinks that a hired driver might damage his car.