Reading Comprehension: My Story Excerpt

Which of the following best compares and contrasts a memoir and a poem about the same event?

• A memoir provides a factual, personal account, while a poem uses figurative language and emotion.

• A memoir is always fictional, while a poem is always non-fictional.

• Both memoirs and poems are written in rhyme.

• A poem provides more factual details than a memoir.

Read the excerpt from "American Indian Civil Rights." One of the most sweeping blows to the American Indian community occurred in 1830 when President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. As a result, the government negotiated with tribes to move them to land west of the Mississippi River. The government then acquired their previously inhabited land. Some tribes reluctantly went along with the act. Which phrase from the excerpt uses a strong emotional connotation to help the author emphasize the tragedy that the American Indians suffered?

• sweeping blows

• community occurred

• government negotiated

• reluctantly went

Read the excerpt from "My First March." A group in the back started fanning themselves and singing the song "Heatwave," making everyone laugh and sing along. The author conveys the joy in the excerpt through the use of

• an allusion.

• anaphora.

• a metaphor.

Telling an excerpt from a child's perspective helps the reader to share the child's

• amazement.

• boredom.

• confusion.

• impatience.

Which sentence from "American Indian Civil Rights" best describes the conflict the author develops in the text?

• Most experts agree that is was over ten thousand years ago, well before European settlers began exploring this region of the world.

• Relationships between the Europeans and American Indians turned hostile, and rights were one by one stripped away from American Indians.

• One of the most sweeping blows to the American Indian community occurred in 1830 when President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act.

• Over the years, American Indian activists have valiantly fought for reform and for the government to honor certain treaty obligations.

Objective: Cite textual evidence to support inferences. Which excerpt from "Code Talkers" best illustrates that the Navajo code talkers were quick-thinking and precise?

• The code was comprised of two components. First, Navajo words were chosen to represent specific, frequently used military terms for which there was no direct equivalent in the Navajo language.

• During the famous battle of Iwo Jima, six Navajo code talkers operated continuously, transmitting each message without a single mistake.

• The code talkers’ work has also been recognized in popular culture. The movie Windtalkers and the novel Code Talker both offer fictional accounts of the code talkers’ experiences.

• Although American Indian soldiers had effectively used their languages to create and transmit secret messages during World War I, military leaders were reluctant to use the code a second time, fearing that it would no longer be effective.

Read the excerpt from "The Rosetta Stone." Then chance stepped in. In 1798, Napoleon went to Egypt to protect its trade interests. In addition to an army, he brought along Egyptian scholars who were charged with copying the inscriptions and studying the architecture. The following year, the French bolstered their defenses by rebuilding a fort in the town of Rosetta. In the midst of the fortification, the Rosetta Stone was discovered. Ironically, this large stone tablet was found not by one of the scholars but by a soldier. Luckily, he recognized that the inscriptions must have value. Militarily, Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign was a disaster—the British decimated the French navy—but historically, it was of long-lasting importance.

• problem and solution

• chronological order

• list form

• comparison and contrast

What is one key difference between "The Quinceanera" and "The Smithville Gazette: Neighborhood Thief Strikes Again"?

• the bus stop setting

• the main character

• the jewelry store setting

• the salesperson character

Analyze how dialogue reveals character.

• By showing characters' thoughts directly

• By describing the setting in detail

• By revealing characters' personalities and motivations through their speech

• By focusing only on the plot events

Read the passage from "Racing the Storm." Behind them, black clouds brewed, bearing down on them at a breakneck speed. Which mood does the alliteration create?

• excitement

• sadness

• playfulness

• danger