WorksheetsThere Will Come Soft Rains
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 25mins
Identify the mood at the beginning of the text.
disorderly, chaotic, noisy
peaceful, calm, orderly
jubilant, overjoyed
loving, affectionate
At the beginning of "There Will Come Soft Rains," the stove prepares eight pieces of toast, eight eggs, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two glasses of milk. What can you conclude is most likely to be true about the McClellan family, based on this information and other details?
The family is having guests over for breakfast.
Two of the family members are allergic to milk.
The stove usually burns the toast and undercooks the eggs.
There are four family members, and two of them are children.
Where are the human beings in "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
They are at work or at school.
They have moved to a different city.
They have been killed by a nuclear bomb.
They are being held prisoner in the basement of an automated house.
Which of the following lines gives readers a hint about how the world ended?
A falling tree bough crashed through the kitchen window. Cleaning solvent, bottled, shattered over the stove. The room was ablaze in an instant.
It quivered at each sound, the house did. If a sparrow brushed a window, the shade snapped up.
At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles.
Heat snapped mirrors like the first brittle winter ice. And the voices wailed. Fire, fire, run, run, like a tragic nursery rhyme...
Why was the city "rubble and ashes"?
There was an earthquake
There was a nuclear explosion
There was a hurricane
There was a wildfire
What was burned onto the side of the house?
The dog playing outside
The mother's garden
Wild animals
A silhouette of the family
Why was the dog allowed in the house?
He went through the doggy-door without the house realizing.
He was a family pet; the house recognized him.
He was a stray that really needed help, and the house knows first aid.
Which textual evidence suggests that
the dog died of radiation poisoning from a bomb?
"The front door recognized the dog voice and opened. The dog, once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud."
"A dog whined, shivering, on the front porch."
"It ran wildly in circles, biting at its tail, spun in a frenzy, and died."
What was the purpose of the electrical mice?
Their purpose was to complain.
Their purpose was to let the dog inside.
Their purpose was to help cook.
Their purpose was to clean the house.
What theme does this poem and the story share?
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war,
not one Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone."
Both share the theme that nature is indifferent to humans destroying themselves.
Both share the theme that life would carry on if humans were to destroy themselves in war.
Both share the theme that nature is beautiful and springtime is filled with rain.
Both share the theme that nature doesn't like to be disturbed.
What do the poem and the short story have in common?
The same person wrote both
The theme that nature will always triumph over technology
The idea that technology is superior to nature
They were both written after World War 2
What does "silhouette" mean?
The outline of something against a lighter background
To shutdown
An irrational fear brought on by mental illness
Bubbled and blistered from heat
Why is the opening of the story ironic? "In the living room the voice-clock sang, 'Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, seven o'clock!' as if it were afraid that nobody would."
It isn't really 7:00 AM
There is no one in the house to get up and hear the clock.
The story is set in the future, but clocks are still used.
The clock says tick tock instead of actually ticking.
How does the automated house "die" in "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
It is blown up in a nuclear blast.
The electronic mice tear it down.
It catches on fire and is unable to put the fire out.
The owners move away, and the house stops functioning.
How did the house protect itself?
It closed the windows and kept wild animals away.
It made breakfast every day and announced the time.
It called 911.
Why is the house personified in the story?
Because only the animals are seen in the story
Because the house does everything for the people so they're lazy
Because none of the characters ever speak
Because there are no human characters
Which quote is another example of personification?
"But the fire was clever."
The fire burst the house and let it slam flat down, puffing out skirts of spark and smoke.
Smoke and silence. A great quantity of smoke.
Lost of science fiction texts include futuristic technology. What sort of advanced technology have we seen in this story so far? (Select all that apply.)
The house announces the date and important events.
The house makes and cleans up breakfast all on its own.
The house makes phone calls without being asked.
Robotic mice automatically clean the house.
What is unusual about all of the characters in this story?
They are all very patient
They work hard
They are all machines/robots
