I was aboard a plane flying home to Canada. I travel a lot and I get pretty disgusted with the conditions in air travel these days. After being served my meal, I was ready to start complaining
to the person next to me about the food, the uncomfortable seats, the delays, and the general
inconvenience.
Before I opened my mouth, the woman sitting next to me spoke. She had a thick accent and in
broken English she talked about the wonderful service she received on the plane. She then
proceeded to comment on the cheerful flight attendants, and then she said, "We were fortunate
to be having such a fine meal. I am so happy to be flying to Vancouver to visit my
grandchildren." Amazed, I asked, "How can you be so positive and optimistic in a world that
seems so marginal?"
"I am from Sarajevo," she said. "I have seen my friends and many of my family killed. I joined
my family here in your wonderful country. You see, the food on the plane, the delays, they don't
matter to me. Since coming here, every day is a good day for me. I have learned that there are
really no bad days any more, only bad thoughts.
Her comment put everything into perspective.
1.
What do you think this story is about?

In the essay “drowning in dishes,” what is ironic about the fact that danial’s first position in his new job is the dishwashing station?

Review the previous excerpt from barbra jordan’s speech. answer the following 3 questions in the space below.

Javier is writing a literary analysis of the secret garden. read this introduction to his essay. frances burnett’s “the secret garden” explores the challenges of a sickly, self-centered little girl named mary lennox. after mary’s parents die of cholera, she moves from india to england to live at her uncle’s estate in yorkshire. while living at the old estate, mary discovers an abandoned garden that belonged to her deceased aunt. tending to the neglected garden brings mary joy, and her health improves. through mary’s transformation, burnett presents nature as a symbol of rebirth and healing. which piece of textual evidence should javier use to support the claim made in the introduction? a. “‘it’s in the garden no one can go into,’ she said to herself. ‘it’s the garden without a door. he lives in there. how i wish i could see what it is like! ’” b. “in india she had always felt hot and too languid to care much about anything. the fact was that the fresh wind from the moor had begun to blow the cobwebs out of her young brain and to waken her up a little.” c. “mary felt lonelier than ever when she knew she was no longer in the house. she went out into the garden as quickly as possible, and the first thing she did was to run round and round the fountain flower garden ten times.” d. “‘it isn’t a quite dead garden,’ she cried out softly to herself. ‘even if the roses are dead, there are other things alive.’”