Flight 1 When Robert was a little boy, he wanted nothing more than to see a hawk flying across the sky. Or to see an eagle, an osprey, or a falcon! Robert loved to think about large birds with great yellow talons, soaring across the sky and seeing every corner of the earth that people could not see. 2 But Robert lived in the city, where such birds were never seen. He used to fall asleep at night imagining a hawk’s wings forming arcs across a great big blue sky, which he pictured as a wide, open field where no legged animals could run but only winged animals could soar. As he drifted into dreams, the birds in his imagination morphed into dragons and pterodactyls and all manner of ancient or other- worldly flying creatures. Robert would wake in the morning smiling at the thought of this big blue field in his dreams. But he spent each day on the subway and walking along crowded sidewalks and looking up between tall buildings where he could catch only a sliver of blue. 3 As he got older, Robert tried to forget about his dreams and focus all his attention on his studies. At school, he took the hardest classes he could and was in advanced placement math and science before long. He decided that if he could not see hawks and eagles and falcons in their natural habitat, he would learn everything he could about how those animals worked. He loved to think about how lessons from birds had led to the first experiments in human flight and the development of airplanes. 4 Robert devoured books about the inventors of the airplanes and the physics that made air travel successful. His devotion to this topic confused his parents, who saw in him a smart and eager child who could study medicine or the law and have a good career. 5 “Stop daydreaming about birds!” they would say to him. 6 But Robert continued to spend as much time as he could learning about what made flying possible. 7 Sometimes, even as he was older - a college student now, living in a cramped dorm-room with three other boys his age - Robert would drift off to sleep imagining that big open sky filled with hawks and osprey and dragons. He knew it was silly, but he held on to that image. It filled him with hope for something he couldn’t quite name. He would ask himself what he was hoping for. 8 “Do I want to see a hawk or an eagle or a falcon, or do I hope to someday fly like one of them myself?” Robert would say, to no one other than himself. 9 The college Robert attended was also in the city, and he hadn’t found a way to travel outside of it yet. He still could only dream about that big blue field above. 10 One day, just before graduation, Robert got a phone call from someone he didn’t know. When he answered, the voice on the other end made an unusual announcement. 11 “I’m looking for someone to test fly a new airplane I’m developing,” the voice said. “Professor Jackson gave me your name. He said he had never had another student as devoted to the art of flying as Robert Smith. Would you be interested in coming in to learn more about my new plane?” 12 Robert jotted down the address and date of the interview, and hung up the phone smiling. He couldn’t help but close his eyes and picture the big blue field, filled with all manner of flying creatures. Maybe soon he would be among them. 1. Which sentence from the story best illustrates its central conflict? When Robert was a little boy, he wanted nothing more than to see a hawk flying across the sky. Robert would wake up in the morning smiling at the thought of this big blue field in his dreams But he spent each day on the subway and walking along crowded sidewalks and looking up between tall buildings where he could catch only a sliver of blue. He loved to think about how lessons from birds had led to the first experiments in human flight and the development of airplanes.