Where does the story take place?

The Call of The Wild

by Jack London

Bill opened his mouth to speak, but changed his mind. Instead, he pointed towards the wall of darkness that pressed about them from every side. There was no suggestion of form in the utter blackness; only could be seen a pair of eyes gleaming like live coals. Henry indicated with his head a second pair, and a third. A circle of the gleaming eyes had drawn about their camp. Now and again a pair of eyes moved, or disappeared to appear again a moment later. The unrest of the dogs had been increasing, and they stampeded, in a surge of sudden fear, to the near side of the fire, cringing and crawling about the legs of the men. In the scramble one of the dogs had been overturned on the edge of the fire, and it had yelped with pain and fright as the smell of its singed coat possessed the air. The commotion caused the circle of eyes to shift restlessly for a moment and even to withdraw a bit, but it settled down again as the dogs became quiet. “Henry, it’s a blame misfortune to be out of ammunition.”

Which sentence states a theme of the passage?

Aesop Fable: The Flies & the Honey

A jar of honey was turned over and the sticky sweetness flowed out on the table. The sweet smell of the honey soon brought a large number of Flies buzzing around. They did not wait for an invitation. No, indeed; they settled right down, feet and all, to gorge themselves. The Flies were quickly smeared from head to foot with honey. Their wings stuck together. They could not pull their feet out of the sticky mass. And so they met their end, giving their lives for the sake of a taste of sweetness.

Select the sentence that supports the theme.

Aesop Fable: The Flies & the Honey

A jar of honey was turned over and the sticky sweetness flowed out on the table. The sweet smell of the honey soon brought a large number of Flies buzzing around. They did not wait for an invitation. No, indeed; they settled right down, feet and all, to gorge themselves. The Flies were quickly smeared from head to foot with honey. Their wings stuck together. They could not pull their feet out of the sticky mass. And so they met their end, giving their lives for the sake of a taste of sweetness.

What is the author’s main claim in the passage?

Excerpt from Is Technology Making Us Lazy? By Jacob Nelson

Is technology making us lazy? The answer is in how we use technology. How many Netflix shows have you binge watched in the last month? How many hours do you spend hopelessly scrolling on the internet? According to Reader’s Digest, binge watching may be worse than we think. Research from the American Heart Association suggests that watching more than three hours of television in a day doubles a person’s risk of premature death. So Andy’s fears were valid. Technology put to poor use can have negative effects.

Details in the passage support the idea that -

Excerpt from Is Technology Making Us Lazy? By Jacob Nelson

Is technology making us lazy? The answer is in how we use technology. How many Netflix shows have you binge watched in the last month? How many hours do you spend hopelessly scrolling on the internet? According to Reader’s Digest, binge watching may be worse than we think. Research from the American Heart Association suggests that watching more than three hours of television in a day doubles a person’s risk of premature death. So Andy’s fears were valid. Technology put to poor use can have negative effects.

Based on details in the excerpt,

the reader can conclude that Sabor is -

Excerpt from Tarzan and the Golden Lion

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Evidently, there was a disturbing quality in the sound that Sabor heard,

something that inspired a certain restlessness, if not actual apprehension, though she could not be sure as yet that it boded ill. It might be her great lord returning, but it did not sound like the movement of a lion, certainly not like a lion dragging a heavy kill. She glanced at her cub, breathing as she did so a plaintive whine. There was always the fear that some danger menaced him, this last of her little family, but she, Sabor, was there to defend him.

The reader can infer that -

Excerpt from Tarzan and the Golden Lion

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Evidently, there was a disturbing quality in the sound that Sabor heard,

something that inspired a certain restlessness, if not actual apprehension, though she could not be sure as yet that it boded ill. It might be her great lord returning, but it did not sound like the movement of a lion, certainly not like a lion dragging a heavy kill. She glanced at her cub, breathing as she did so a plaintive whine. There was always the fear that some danger menaced him, this last of her little family, but she, Sabor, was there to defend him.

The author’s main purpose in writing this selection is to -

Youth Voices by Ed

Allowing our kids the freedom to grow and learn on their own is critical for development. A 2013 UK study directed by Professor Wolke found that “Children with overprotective parents were 10 percent more likely to be bullied. Positive parenting traits (authoritative parenting, communication, involvement, support, warmth, and affection) made children 19 percent less likely to be bullied.” Life isn’t always friendly, and there are situations where you have to stick up for yourself, despite others doing you wrong. These are lessons best learned early to be employed throughout your life because bullies do not go away despite involvement from authority figures. Everyone has disputes in their life and have to find a way to deal with them. Beyond handling social issues, simple problem solving is something that I see young people struggle with quite often when they are without help from an older person. This reliance on external aid directly leads to learned helplessness and an inability to solve problems with critical thinking on your own.

What does learned helplessness mean?

Youth Voices by Ed

Allowing our kids the freedom to grow and learn on their own is critical for development. A 2013 UK study directed by Professor Wolke found that “Children with overprotective parents were 10 percent more likely to be bullied. Positive parenting traits (authoritative parenting, communication, involvement, support, warmth, and affection) made children 19 percent less likely to be bullied.” Life isn’t always friendly, and there are situations where you have to stick up for yourself, despite others doing you wrong. These are lessons best learned early to be employed throughout your life because bullies do not go away despite involvement from authority figures. Everyone has disputes in their life and have to find a way to deal with them. Beyond handling social issues, simple problem solving is something that I see young people struggle with quite often when they are without help from an older person. This reliance on external aid directly leads to learned helplessness and an inability to solve problems with critical thinking on your own.

By telling the story from the first-person point of view, the author helps the reader understand -

Excerpt from Sherlock Holmes

by Arthur Conan Doyle

I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the home-centered interests which rise up around the man who first finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books. He was still, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police.

The reader can conclude that -

Excerpt from Sherlock Holmes

by Arthur Conan Doyle

I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the home-centered interests which rise up around the man who first finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books. He was still, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police.

Based on the text, the reader can predict-

Excerpt from White Fang

by Alex Flinn

An hour went by, and a second hour. The pale light of

the short sunless day was beginning to fade, when a faint far cry arose on the still air. It soared upward with a swift rush, till it reached its topmost note, where it persisted, palpitant and tense, and then slowly died away. It might have been a lost soul wailing, had it not been invested with a certain sad fierceness and hungry eagerness. The front man turned his head until his eyes met the eyes of the man behind. And then, across the narrow oblong box, each nodded to the other. A second cry arose, piercing the silence with needle-like shrillness. Both men located the sound. It was to the rear, somewhere in the snow expanse they had just traversed. A third and answering cry arose, also to the rear and to the left of the second cry. “They’re after us, Bill,” said the man at the front. His voice sounded hoarse and unreal, and he had spoken with apparent effort. “Meat is scarce,” answered his comrade. “I ain’t seen a rabbit sign for days.” Thereafter they spoke no more, though their ears were keen for the hunting-cries that continued to rise behind them.

What time of day does the story take place?

Excerpt from White Fang

by Alex Flinn

An hour went by, and a second hour. The pale light of

the short sunless day was beginning to fade, when a faint far cry arose on the still air. It soared upward with a swift rush, till it reached its topmost note, where it persisted, palpitant and tense, and then slowly died away. It might have been a lost soul wailing, had it not been invested with a certain sad fierceness and hungry eagerness. The front man turned his head until his eyes met the eyes of the man behind. And then, across the narrow oblong box, each nodded to the other. A second cry arose, piercing the silence with needle-like shrillness. Both men located the sound. It was to the rear, somewhere in the snow expanse they had just traversed. A third and answering cry arose, also to the rear and to the left of the second cry. “They’re after us, Bill,” said the man at the front. His voice sounded hoarse and unreal, and he had spoken with apparent effort. “Meat is scarce,” answered his comrade. “I ain’t seen a rabbit sign for days.” Thereafter they spoke no more, though their ears were keen for the hunting-cries that continued to rise behind them.

What idea is supported by the information throughout the text?

Excerpt from How They Croaked

By Georgia Bragg

In 1827, Beethoven got pneumonia, and he couldn't shake it. His stomach was killing him. He couldn't go to the bathroom (chamber pot); his skin was the color of a banana, and blood dripped out of his mouth. Then he got dropsy. That's when the fluid inside your body that's supposed to get out, can't. Very quickly, Beethoven's body filled up with rotting fluid. He got huge. His stomach bloated, and the skin stretched across it tight as a balloon. A doctor in 1827 didn't know much more than a doctor in the Middle Ages, so Beethoven's doctors figured all that Beethoven needed was a drain to get the liquid out. They took him to the hospital. But back then, half the people who went into the hospital came out dead. At the hospital, a hole was drilled into Beethoven's stomach, and then they stuck a hose in it. Beethoven experienced the most painful day of his entire life. Awake and without pain medicine, Beethoven watched forty cups of white pus-filled gunk flow out of his belly—enough to fill ten-quart bottles. This was before stitches, so his doctor plugged the hole with some rags and sent Beethoven home. The gunk continued to leak out of the hole in Beethoven's stomach. But his belly got even bigger than before they had taken him to the hospital. He went back to the hospital three more times. His doctor reinserted the hose into the same hole each time. And, no surprise, the hole got infected.

The author most likely included the gory details about Beethoven’s hospital visits to -

Excerpt from How They Croaked

By Georgia Bragg

In 1827, Beethoven got pneumonia, and he couldn't shake it. His stomach was killing him. He couldn't go to the bathroom (chamber pot); his skin was the color of a banana, and blood dripped out of his mouth. Then he got dropsy. That's when the fluid inside your body that's supposed to get out, can't. Very quickly, Beethoven's body filled up with rotting fluid. He got huge. His stomach bloated, and the skin stretched across it tight as a balloon. A doctor in 1827 didn't know much more than a doctor in the Middle Ages, so Beethoven's doctors figured all that Beethoven needed was a drain to get the liquid out. They took him to the hospital. But back then, half the people who went into the hospital came out dead. At the hospital, a hole was drilled into Beethoven's stomach, and then they stuck a hose in it. Beethoven experienced the most painful day of his entire life. Awake and without pain medicine, Beethoven watched forty cups of white pus-filled gunk flow out of his belly—enough to fill ten-quart bottles. This was before stitches, so his doctor plugged the hole with some rags and sent Beethoven home. The gunk continued to leak out of the hole in Beethoven's stomach. But his belly got even bigger than before they had taken him to the hospital. He went back to the hospital three more times. His doctor reinserted the hose into the same hole each time. And, no surprise, the hole got infected.