Item 2

Read this sentence from “ R.M.S. Titanic.”

Iceberg! Right ahead!

Which part of the plot does this sentence represent?

Part A

In "Charles," how do Laurie’s parents feel about Charles's mother?

Part B

Which sentence best supports the answer in Part A?

Read the excerpt from "The Necklace."

...she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry that peopled the walls with ancient personages and with strange birds flying in the midst of a fairy forest; and she thought of delicious dishes served on marvelous plates and of the whispered gallantries to which you listen with a sphinx-like smile....

What is does a "sphinx-like" smile mean?

How is the character of Laurie similar in the text to Laurie in the film version of "Charles"?

In "The Necklace," how does Mathilde's social status help develop the plot?

What is a central idea of "The Ornithopter"?

Select the two correct answers. Read the passage.

The Ornithopter

Many people know Leonardo da Vinci today as an artist, and it is true that he was indeed a great painter and sculptor, but he was also an inventor and one of the first individuals in recorded history to draft detailed plans for a flying machine.

In order to make a living, Leonardo often depended upon wealthy individuals who would commission work from him. That means they would hire him and pay him to create specific work they wanted. In 1482, when he was 30 years old, Leonardo heard of an opportunity to work for Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan. The duke, however, did not want a painter; he wanted a military engineer to help him defend the city against its enemies. This was an excellent opportunity that would pay Leonardo well, but Leonardo was a peaceful man. He considered war to be “a beastly madness.” He preferred to make things of beauty.

Leonardo made the decision that he could tolerate making weapons if the resources the duke could provide would also allow him to create things he loved. He sent a letter to the duke detailing his skills in designing and building weapons. “I will assemble catapults, mangonels, trebuchets and other instruments of wonderful efficiency…I will make an infinite number of items for attack and defense,” he wrote.

Leonardo’s letter convinced the duke of his talents, and he got the job. He set about designing the weapons that the duke desired. But Leonardo was infinitely creative, always thinking of new things, new ideas—he could not be limited to weapons alone. One idea that he had not mentioned in his application was the ornithopter. It was not a weapon of war, and it was not something that the duke had asked for, but Leonardo went ahead and designed it anyway.

Leonardo was fascinated by the idea of flight. The word “ornithopter” comes from two words meaning “bird” and “wings.” And on first inspection, his plans resembled a bird’s wings attached to a human being’s arms. He concluded that a human being’s arms were neither strong enough nor light enough to stay in the air for long. So, his design included sets of foot pedals and levers that were operated with the hands. He created detailed plans and presented them to the duke, uncertain of how the duke would react to a design for which he didn’t ask.

As it turned out, the duke was very impressed with the ornithopter, but it wasn’t Leonardo’s innovation that excited him. He immediately thought of the ways this machine could be used in war. If a spy could fly over the enemy’s camp, imagine what information he could gather! This was not what Leonardo had intended for his beautiful flying machine.

But how Leonardo felt about war turned out not to matter in the end. His ornithopter was never built—along with his designs for tanks, parachutes, diving suits, machine guns, and even robots that he created for the duke. The ideas of Leonardo da Vinci were centuries ahead of the technology needed to make them.

Read the excerpt from "The Ornithopter."

This was an excellent opportunity that would pay Leonardo well, but Leonardo was a peaceful man. He considered war to be "a beastly madness."

Which type of conflict is expressed in this excerpt?

Which example represents an individual vs. society conflict in “The Ornithopter”?

Read the story.

Home

Hattie stepped off the screeching subway train and lugged her possessions onto the escalator. When she finally emerged from underground, she got to the sidewalk and looked at the landscape. She was used to flatness and green; the farm that they’d just sold had cattle grazing as far as the eye could see. There was nothing green in sight here as cement behemoths sprung out of the ground taller than the stalks of corn back in Iowa. People zipped in front of her with briefcases tucked to their sides as high heels clacked on the pavement. It was all so overwhelming, so loud, and Hattie put her hands over her ears to shut out the sounds of the taxi horns and the thousand different conversations. Her little sister Evelyn didn’t; she was trying to take it all in.

Her mother pulled out a map from her purse and held it in shaky hands. “According to this, our new home should be right here.”  

Hattie traced her mother’s index finger to a building that was so high that she had to crane her neck to see the top.

“This?” Evelyn gasped.

Her father, the man who was never at a loss for words, didn’t say anything. He adjusted the weight of the three bags that contained most of the possessions they’d been able to bring on the three-hour plane journey that had uprooted them from their old lives and deposited them in New York City.

Her father struggled to open the heavy front door, and when they were inside, the smell of hundreds of different meals clashed in her nose: spaghetti, fried chicken, fish, and curry. They stood in front of a bank of elevators as Evelyn pushed the button for the seventeenth floor. When they entered what would be their new home, Hattie spun around in tiny circles as her father gave them the “grand” tour.

“Here is where you and Evelyn will sleep,” he announced. He pointed to a room that was half the size of the Iowa bedroom that was hers alone, the same Iowa bedroom where she’d had all her sleepovers and whose walls still showcased the crayon scribbles from when she was a toddler. She’d tried to scrub them clean, but they were more stubborn than she was, so they would be there for the new family that would be moving in soon.

Evelyn tried to sound excited. “We get to share a room!”

Hattie was grateful for her younger sister, for the way that she could always look at the bright side of things. Hattie couldn’t say anything in response—she’d been speechless for most of the trip. Instead, she followed her father down the hallway that was narrow enough for one person to fit through, maybe two if they squeezed shoulder to shoulder.

“And here is where your mom and I will be.” She could hear the forced excitement in her father’s voice for a move that he didn’t want to make either. But they’d had to sell the farm, and when this opportunity presented itself, there had really been no choice.

The tour was over as soon as it started—tiny kitchen, one bathroom, boxy living room. The four of them would be sharing an apartment that was smaller than the drafty old kitchen in the farmhouse.

Without a word, they grabbed boxes and started about the business of unpacking in rooms that were inches away from one another rather than feet. Hattie walked over to a dirty square window in her new shared bedroom. She wiped it clean, hoping to see something that would remind her of Iowa, but the window only looked out onto more concrete and glass. A wave of sadness washed over her—the first crack in the numbness that she’d been feeling for the past month since she found out about the move. She turned her back and lowered her head so Evelyn wouldn’t see her, but then the sobs came, each louder than the previous one.

There was a hand on her shoulder. She wanted to put the smile back on because she knew it would be better for Evelyn and everyone else that way, but she couldn’t summon it now. She turned around and saw her blurry sister through tear-filled eyes. In front of her face, Evelyn was holding a folded-up picture of the whole family in front of the farmhouse.

“I miss it too,” Evelyn began, “but we don’t have to forget it.”

Together, they taped the picture to the corner of the bedroom window so they could see it whenever they wanted. Hattie pulled Evelyn close, knowing that a place would never be as important as the people in it.

In "Home," how do the contrasting settings of Hattie's old home and new home reveal Hattie's character?

Part A

In "Home," how does Hattie feel about the farmhouse in Iowa?

Part B

Which two sentences from the text best support the answer in Part A.

Which two details should be included in a summary of "Home"?

What is the relationship between idol and hero?

Which statement explains how the word agitate contributes to the meaning of the sentence?

Daphne had the ability to agitate her sister to the point that fists would fly.

Which sentence uses the word denouement correctly?

Which sentence contains a misplaced modifier?

Which sentence contains an inappropriate shift in verb tense?

Which answer is the best revision of the inappropriate shift in verb tense?

When Dorothy arrived at the Emerald City, the glare was so bright she needed to wear special sunglasses, which the Guardian of the Gates hands to her.