New kid on the block
mary mccormick

1when i heard that a boy was moving into the neighborhood, i started asking questions immediately. the new family, i was told, had immigrated to the united states from china. i could not wait to instruct the new kid all about america, but i didn’t expect him to teach me all about his native country china.

2as i watched the new kid and his family transport their luggage into the old finnegan residence, i was mesmerized by the many remarkable boxes. every family that moved in had the customary zillion cartons with them, but these boxes were covered in weird writing, like stick pictures.

3mom made me give the family time to settle before i went over to introduce myself. the boy’s mother answered the door. she was just finishing a call on a cell phone, and i was surprised to hear that she spoke english quite fluently.

4“hello, i’m your neighbor jadyn,” i said.

5the sociable woman introduced me to her son he-ping and her husband mr. wei. she asked me questions about my mother, and i knew that they would get along. like my mother, mrs. wei was an athlete who loved hiking, and all the opened boxes of books suggested that she liked reading too.

6after our hellos, i asked he-ping if he was interested in taking a walk around the new neighborhood. he smiled and said he wouldn’t miss it for the world. i was happy to see that he wasn’t a hermit - he liked getting out of his house. i took he-ping to the river and showed him the salamanders relaxing on the banks. he-ping smiled at the sight of the little creatures. then he told me that in china, some of the salamanders were huge.

7 “the giant salamander is over 3-feet long,” he explained. i stared at the salamander sitting in the palm of my hand, and i could not imagine what it might be like to run into a giant version.

8 when i showed he-ping the shortcut to his house, he said that living in the states would be an adjustment for him because he had resided in a chinese city his whole life. i asked how he had learned to communicate so well in english, and he explained that his parents made sure he had a vigorous education, especially in different languages. they wanted he-ping to travel internationally and appreciate the world. he-ping seemed very mature compared to the kids who lived in our neighborhood. i was in awe of his courteous demeanor, and i let him know how courageous i thought he was.

9 he-ping said that friendly people like me made being independent easy. i dropped he-ping off at his house and walked back to my own home. as, i made the small trip, i predicted that he-ping and i were going to be good friends.

1)
greg read this story, but unlike his classmates he felt sorry for he-ping. which sentence or phrase from the passage most likely explains greg's reaction?
a) he-ping said that friendly people like me made being independent easy.
b) he said that living in the states would be an adjustment for him because he had resided in a chinese city his whole life
c) i stared at the salamander sitting in the palm of my hand, and i could not imagine what it might be like to run into a giant version.
d) every family that moved in had the customary zillion cartons with them, but these boxes were covered in weird writing, like stick pictures.

2)
from whose point of view is this story written?
a) jadyn's
b) he-ping's
c) mr. wei's
d) he-ping's mother

3)
how is the relationship between the narrator, jadyn, and his new neighbor, he-ping, likely to develop?
a) the two boys will likely never speak to each other again.
b) the two will probably become acquaintances and speak to each other in passing.
c) jadyn and he-ping's relationship is likely to turn into an angry and bitter one.
d) jadyn and he-ping are likely to teach each other about their respective cultures.

4)
which statement best describes the theme of this story?
a) eating a strange food
b) learning a new language
c) moving to a scary place
d) meeting someone different

5)
michael read this passage and felt he understood exactly what jadyn meant, in section 2, when he said that the wei's boxes were covered in weird writing, like stick pictures. this is probably because
a) michael's personal experiences, like jadyn's, did not include learning the chinese language.
b) michael's personal experiences, like jadyn's, did not include learning the moving to a new city.
c) michael's personal experiences, like jadyn's, included learning and reading about many cultures.
d) michael's personal experiences, like jadyn's, did not include the a complete study of interpretive art.