Read this excerpt from Rogue Heart: TingTing approaches with a broom of her own. We’ve been sweeping along the perimeter of the café. Now we meet in the middle by the display of lychee rose cupcakes. TingTing grips her broom tightly, her pretty face flushed, her eyes beseeching. As she speaks, Tour Guide, my translation app, whirs the music of her voice into language in my head.

“Anmei?” she begins, calling me by the name I’d given her when we first met.

Write 1–2 paragraphs analyzing the context clues in the excerpt to determine the figurative meaning of the phrase “whirs the music.” Consider these questions:

What context clues can you use to determine the meaning of the phrase?
What is the figurative meaning of the phrase?
How did the context clues help you determine the meaning of the phrase?

Based on the context in the excerpt, we know that the narrator is using a “translation app,” which tells us she does not speak the language TingTing is speaking. The phrase “whirs the music of her voice” describes how the translation app interprets TingTing voice so the narrator can understand what she is saying. The word music makes me think of continuous, repeated sounds that are pleasurable to the listener. The word whirs conveys the image of a record player or a CD spinning. So, all these clues put together helps us to understand that  the translation app is interpreting TingTing’s voice and language into a continuous stream of words (like a song) that the narrator can understand.

Explanation:

her eyes water as she let her go

her mothers hand goes limp

face white and pale

lips blue and stale

she is gone

sadness fills her body

she collapses to her knees

as her mothers disease leaves the girl alone

the third paragraph is the the soltion or ending of a story