From a Long Way Home

In the selection from A Long Way Home what are the narrator's reasons for looking for his long-lost home? Choose two options.

• to question his elders

• to understand his past

• to reclaim his inheritance

• to reconnect with his family

What is the first landmark found by the narrator of the selection from A Long Way Home that makes him believe that he may have found his destination?

• a school

• a windmill

• an alleyway

• a water tower

Why can the narrator now "narrow the search field?"

• he recognizes one of the irregular paths out of Howrah Station

• he feels confident that faraway places do not connect to Howrah Station

• he guesses that his home was less than 15 hours from Howrah Station

• he realizes that the winding paths from Howrah Station do not extend very far

In the selection from A Long Way Home, what is especially difficult about the narrator's search?

• the search covers a huge area

• the search is in a foreign country

• the narrator no longer speaks Hindi

• the narrator remembers no landmarks

In the selection from A Long Way Home, how does the narrator feel about his search?

• he is certain that he will find his former home

• he feels that he has embarked on a foolish quest

• he worries that his family members are no longer alive

• he struggles to manage and communicate his conflicting emotions

Choose the author's reflection that best reveals an important insight he has in his quest to find his childhood home in the selection from A Long Way Home.

• I haven't lived by the sea, although I couldn't rule out that I'd lived near it. And I hadn't lived in the mountains.

• So I had some vague thoughts on likely regions, and some ways of identifying "Ginestlay" and the "B" place if I found them.

• I didn't know how a girlfriend would take to the time-consuming quest..But Lisa understood the personal and growing importance of the search, and was patient and supportive.

• As it dawned on me that I could turn this into a painstaking, deliberate task that simply required dedication, something clicked inside...seeing it almost as much an intellectual challenge as an emotional quest, I threw myself into solving it.

Read the following passage from the selection from A Long Way Home. Weeks and then months passed with my spending hours at a time every couple of nights on the laptop. Bryon made sure I spent other nights out in the real world so I didn't become an Internet recluse. Memoirs reveal what an author feels and thinks. Which of the following statements best reveals the author's feeling about his roommate Bryon?

• he resented Bryon for making him get out of the house

• he thought Bryon should spend less time partying

• he appreciated Bryon's friendship

• he was jealous of Bryon's life

Which sentence from the selection from A Long Way Home is the best example of the author's use of descriptive details about his emotions?

• I watched as the town unpixelated before my eyes. It was quite small, too small surely. But with a child's perspective..

• I finished work with Dad at five pm and by five-thirty I would be back at the laptop, slowly advancing along train tracks and studying the towns they led to.

• I thought my Indian friends from college might be able to help, especially Amreen, whose father would likely have a more educated guess, so I got in touch with them.

• The first time I zoomed in on Howrah Station, looking at the rows of ridged gray platform roofs and all the tracks spilling out of it like the fraying end of a rope, I was amazed and shocked that I'd once trod barefoot along these walkways.

Read the following passage from the selection from A Long Way Home. Identify phrases the authors uses that are detailed descriptions of place. Choose two options.

• rang no bells

• maze of alleys where my family lived

• the little rectangular roof of my childhood home

• the correct location

Read the following excerpt from A Long Way Home.

Could it be-perhaps it was the ring road I used to be able to see from the platform! Was it possible? I closed my eyes and went back twenty four years in time to when I would walk to the station's exit and see the ring road with an island in the middle. I thought to myself, this is unique; I haven't seen this before.

Which word best describes the mood the author creates in this excerpt?

• calm

• fear

• excitement

• confusion