1. read the excerpt from rose in bloom by louisa may alcott:
but in spite of that the don got through college with all the honors. oh, wasn't i proud when aunt jane wrote to us about it and didn't she rejoice that her boy kept at the head of his class and won the medal! " cried rose, shaking mac by both hands in a way that caused charlie to wish "the old chap" had been left behind with dr. alec.
"oh, come, that's all mother's nonsense. i began earlier than the other fellows and liked it better, so i don't deserve any praise. prince is right, though. i did make a regular jack of myself, but on the whole i'm not sure that my wild oats weren't better than some i've seen sowed. anyway, they didn't cost much, and i'm none the worse for them," said mac placidly.
"i know what 'wild oats' means. i heard uncle mac say charlie was sowing 'em too fast, and i asked mama, so she told me. and i know that he was suspelled or expended, i don't remember which, but it was something bad, and aunt clara cried," added jamie all in one breath, for he possessed a fatal gift of making malapropos remarks, which caused him to be a terror to his family.
"do you want to go on the box again? " demanded prince with a warning frown.
"no, i don't."
"then hold your tongue."
"well, mac needn't kick me, for i was " began the culprit, innocently trying to make a bad matter worse.
what can we infer from this passage?
charlie is envious of mac's success.
jamie is attempting to make charlie look foolish.
prince is jamie's father, and feels responsible for his discipline.
mac is boastful of his achievements.
2. read the excerpt from moby wingspan by herman melville:
whenever i find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly november in my soul; whenever i find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral i meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off-then, i account it high time to get to sea as soon as i can.
from this passage, what can we best infer about the narrator?
he uses the ocean as a way to escape depression.
he dislikes the monotony of everyday life.
he is suicidal and wants to cause pain to others as well.
he obsesses over death in the wintertime.
3. read the following poem:
"when you are old"
by william butler yeats
when you are old and grey and full of sleep,
and nodding by the fire, take down this book,
and slowly read, and dream of the soft look
your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
how many loved your moments of glad grace,
and loved your beauty with love false or true,
but one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
and loved the sorrows of your changing face;
and bending down beside the glowing bars,
murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
and paced upon the mountains overhead
and hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
why most likely did the author capitalize the word "love"?
in this poem, love is the "you" to whom the author is referring.
the author is assigning human qualities to love to represent his own feelings.
love is representative of all humanity.
love is the name of a suitor of the object of the poem.
4. read the following poem:
"when you are old"
by william butler yeats
when you are old and grey and full of sleep,
and nodding by the fire, take down this book,
and slowly read, and dream of the soft look
your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
how many loved your moments of glad grace,
and loved your beauty with love false or true,
but one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
and loved the sorrows of your changing face;
and bending down beside the glowing bars,
murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
and paced upon the mountains overhead
and hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
for what is the phrase "full of sleep" a metaphor?
exhaustion
old age
the end of the day
near death
5. read the following poem:
"love's grave"
by george meredith
mark where the pressing wind shoots javelin-like,
its skeleton shadow on the broad-back'd wave!
here is a fitting spot to dig love's grave;
here where the ponderous breakers plunge and strike,
and dart their hissing tongues high up the sand:
in hearing of the ocean, and in sight
of those ribb'd wind-streaks running into white.
if i the death of love had deeply plann'd,
i never could have made it half so sure,
as by the unblest kisses which upbraid
the full-waked sense; or failing that, degrade!
'tis morning: but no morning can restore
what we have forfeited. i see no sin:
the wrong is mix'd. in tragic life, god wot,
no villain need be! passions spin the plot:
we are betray'd by what is false within.
which of the following phrases in this poem serves as an instance of onomatopoeia?
"pressing wind"
"plunge and strike"
"hissing tongues"
"unblest kisses"