Lahiri uses dialogue to illustrate how immigrant children often must juggle conflicting cultural values.
Ashoke hands over the lunch box, a windbreaker in case it gets cold. He thanks Mrs. Lapidus. "Be good, Nikhil," he says in English. And then after a moment's hesitation, he is gone.When they are alone, Mrs. Lapidus asks, "Are you happy to be entering elementary school, Gogol?""My parents want me to have another name in school.""And what about you, Gogol? Do you want to be called by another name?"After a pause, he shakes his head."Is that a no?"He nods. "Yes.""Then it's settled. Can you write your name on this piece of paper?"Which best describes the conflict revealed by the conversation in this excerpt?
an external conflict between the cultural expectations of Gogol's father and the cultural expectations of Gogol's new country
Excerpt 1: But Gogol doesn't want a new name. He can't understand why he has to answer to anything else. "Why do I have to have a new name?" he asks his parents, tears springing to his eyes. It would be one thing if his parents were to call him Nikhil, too. But they tell him that the new name will be used only by the teachers and children at school. Excerpt 2: Mrs. Lapidus studies the registration form. She has not had to go through this confusion with the other two Indian children. She opens up the folder and examines the immunization record, the birth certificate. "There seems to be some confusion, Mr. Ganguli," she says. "According to these documents, your son's legal name is Gogol."Which statement best tells how the main conflict in the first excerpt is different from the main conflict in the second excerpt?
The first excerpt illustrates an internal conflict, while the second excerpt illustrates an external conflict.
At the end of his first day he is sent home with a letter to his parents from Mrs. Lapidus, folded and stapled to a string around his neck, explaining that due to their son's preference he will be known as Gogol at school. What about the parents' preference? Ashima and Ashoke wonder, shaking their heads. But since neither of them feels comfortable pressing the issue, they have no choice but to give in.Which central idea of the passage is established in this excerpt
Globalization is leading people to redefine their cultural identities.
Which statement best summarizes a central idea in The Namesake?
At the end of his first day he is sent home with a letter to his parents from Mrs. Lapidus, folded and stapled to a string around his neck, explaining that due to their son's preference he will be known as Gogol at school. What about the parents' preference? Ashima and Ashoke wonder, shaking their heads. But since neither of them feels comfortable pressing the issue, they have no choice but to give in.Which choice best states a conflict revealed in this excerpt?
an external conflict between the educational values and viewpoints of Mrs. Lapidus and those of Gogol's parents
Welcome to elementary school, Nikhil. I am your principal, Mrs. Lapidus."Gogol looks down at his sneakers. The way the principal pronounces his new name is different from the way his parents say it, the second part of it longer, sounding like "heel."She bends down so that her face is level with his, and extends a hand to his shoulder. "Can you tell me how old you are, Nikhil?"When the question is repeated and there is still no response, Mrs. Lapidus asks, "Mr. Ganguli, does Nikhil follow English?""Of course he follows," Ashoke says. "My son is perfectly bilingual."In order to prove that Gogol knows English, Ashoke does something he has never done before, and addresses his son in careful, accented English. "Go on, Gogol," he says, patting him on the head. "Tell Mrs. Lapidus how old you are."Which line from this excerpt reflects the central idea that immigrants sometimes face discrimination and prejudice in their new culture?
When the question is repeated and there is still no response, Mrs. Lapidus asks, "Mr. Ganguli, does Nikhil follow English?
She opens a door, and Gogol is introduced to his teacher, Miss Watkins, a woman with hair in two braids, wearing overalls and clogs. Inside the classroom it's a small universe of nicknames—Andrew is Andy, Alexandra Sandy, William Billy, Elizabeth Lizzy. It is nothing like the schooling Gogol's parents have known, fountain pens and polished black shoes and notebooks and good names and sir or madam at a tender age. Here the only official ritual is pledging allegiance first thing in the morning to the American flag. For the rest of the day, they sit at a communal round table, drinking punch and eating cookies, taking naps on little orange cushions on the floor. Which central idea of the passage is established in this excerpt?
NOT: D
That you want us to call him Nikhil.""That is correct."Mrs. Lapidus nods. "The reason being?""That is our wish.""I'm not sure I follow you, Mr. Ganguli. Do you mean that Nikhil is a middle name? Or a nickname? Many of the children go by nicknames here. On this form there is a space—""No, no, it's not a middle name," Ashoke says. He is beginning to lose patience. "He has no middle name. No nickname. The boy's good name, his school name, is Nikhil."Mrs. Lapidus presses her lips together and smiles. "But clearly he doesn't respond." "Please, Mrs. Lapidus," Ashoke says. "It is very common for a child to be confused at first. Please give it some time. I assure you he will grow accustomed." Which statement best explains how Lahiri explores conflict brought on by globalization?
Lahiri uses dialogue to show how people from different cultures can have difficulty relating to each other's experiences.
That you want us to call him Nikhil.""That is correct."Mrs. Lapidus nods. "The reason being?""That is our wish.""I'm not sure I follow you, Mr. Ganguli. Do you mean that Nikhil is a middle name? Or a nickname? Many of the children go by nicknames here. On this form there is a space—""No, no, it's not a middle name," Ashoke says. He is beginning to lose patience. "He has no middle name. No nickname. The boy's good name, his school name, is Nikhil."Mrs. Lapidus presses her lips together and smiles. "But clearly he doesn't respond." "Please, Mrs. Lapidus," Ashoke says. "It is very common for a child to be confused at first. Please give it some time. I assure you he will grow accustomed." What central idea of the passage is established in this excerpt?
Globalization can cause confusion and discomfort as people adjust to different, often conflicting, cultural values and expectations.
When management determines exactly how every task is to be done . . . and can impose its own rules about pace, output, quality, and technique," the sociologist Robin Leidner has noted, "[it] makes workers increasingly interchangeable." The management no longer depends upon the talents or skills of its workers — those things are built into the operating system and machines. Jobs that have been "de-skilled" can be filled cheaply. The need to retain any individual worker is greatly reduced by the ease with which he or she can be replaced.Which best describes the type of evidence presented in this excerpt?
testimonial
The author of Fast Food Nation claims that the fast-food industry prefers to employ teenagers. How does the author best support this claim?
by providing specific reasons why teenagers are ideal candidates, such as their acceptance of lower wages
Unlike Olympic gymnastics—an activity in which teenagers consistently perform at a higher level than adults—there's nothing about the work in a fast food kitchen that requires young employees. Which type of evidence does the author use in this excerpt?
analogical
EVERY SATURDAY, ELISA ZAMOT gets up at 5:15 in the morning. It's a struggle, and her head feels groggy as she steps into the shower. Her little sisters, Cookie and Sabrina, are fast asleep in their beds. By 5:30, Elisa's showered, done her hair, and put on her McDonald's uniform. She's sixteen, bright-eyed and olive-skinned, pretty and petite, ready for another day of work. Elisa's mother usually drives her the half-mile or so to the restaurant, but sometimes Elisa walks, leaving home before the sun rises. Which of the following choices best describes the rhetorical appeal used in this excerpt?
The excerpt demonstrates pathos because the author presents a compelling story using emotional language.
Which of the following pieces of evidence from Fast Food Nation best supports the author's claim that teenagers are the ideal candidates for working in the fast food industry?
Since most teenagers still lived at home, they could afford to work for wages too low to support an adult, and until recently, their limited skills attracted few other employers.
At Taco Bell restaurants the food is "assembled," not prepared. The guacamole isn't made by workers in the kitchen; it's made at a factory in Michoacán, Mexico, then frozen and shipped north. The chain's taco meat arrives frozen and precooked in vacuum-sealed plastic bags. The beans are dehydrated and look like brownish corn flakes. The cooking process is fairly simple. "Everything's add water," a Taco Bell employee told me. "Just add hot water."The Taco Bell employee's quote supports Schlosser's argument in this excerpt because it
emphasizes the obsession with consistency and standardization in the fast food industry.
The restaurant opens for business at seven o'clock, and for the next hour or so, Elisa and the manager hold down the fort, handling all the orders. As the place starts to get busy, other employees arrive. Elisa works behind the counter. She takes orders and hands food to customers from breakfast through lunch.Which type of evidence does Schlosser use in this excerpt?
anecdotal
At Burger King restaurants, frozen hamburger patties are placed on a conveyer belt and emerge from a broiler ninety seconds later fully cooked. The ovens at Pizza Hut and at Domino's also use conveyer belts to ensure standardized cooking times. The ovens at McDonald's look like commercial laundry presses, with big steel hoods that swing down and grill hamburgers on both sides at once. The burgers, chicken, french fries, and buns are all frozen when they arrive at a McDonald's. The evidence presented here supports the author's claim that fast food restaurants are like factories because the excerpt
illustrates the assembly line principle of making things faster.
The author of Fast Food Nation claims that the fast-food industry prefers to employ underskilled workers. The author best offers support by providing
specific reasons such as the ability of de-skilled jobs to "be filled
In Fast Food Nation, the best reason that the author offers for the fast-food industry's strict regimen for productivity is that
it gives the companies power over their employees.
to Tommy Potter for taking the timeto join us on this breezy afternoonwith his most unwieldy bassand to the esteemed Arthur Taylorwho is somehow managing to navigatethis crowd with his cumbersome drums.And I bow deeply to Thelonious Monkfor figuring out a wayto motorize—or whatever—his huge pianoso he could be with us today.Which of the following additional features would best enhance the reader's understanding of this excerpt?
audio samples of music by the specified musicians
If you stumbled upon a black hole and found yourself falling feet-first toward its center, then as you got closer, the black hole's force of gravity would grow astronomically.Read the stanza from "Man Listening to Disc."This is not bad—ambling along 44th Streetwith Sonny Rollins for company,his music flowing through the soft calipersof these earphones,Which statement best summarizes the two excerpts?
In both pieces the narrators are carefree and in no apparent hurry.
In fact, I would saymy delight at being suffusedwith phrases from his saxophone—some like honey, some like vinegar—is surpassed only by my gratitudeto Tommy Potter for taking the timeto join us on this breezy afternoonwith his most unwieldy bassand to the esteemed Arthur Taylorwho is somehow managing to navigatethis crowd with his cumbersome drums.Which of the following suggestions would best enhance a reader's understanding of this poem?
Read a variety of sources about the style and instruments used by jazz musicians.
The next morning I told Mom that I couldn't go to school, because I was too sick. It was the first lie that I had to tell. She put her hand on my forehead and said, "You do feel a bit hot." I said, "I took my temperature and it's one hundred point seven degrees." That was the second lie. She turned around and asked me to zip up the back of her dress which she could have done herself, but she knew that I loved to do it.What assumption does the narrator make in this excerpt?
that his mom will trust him
Even after a year, I still had an extremely difficult time doing certain things, like taking showers, for some reason, and getting into elevators, obviously. There was a lot of stuff that made me panicky, like suspension bridges, germs, airplanes, fireworks...A lot of the time I'd get that feeling like I was in the middle of a huge black ocean, or in deep space, but not in the fascinating way. It's just that everything was incredibly far away from me. It was worst at night. I started inventing things, and then I couldn't stop, like beavers, which I know about. People think they cut down trees so they can build dams, but in reality it's because their teeth never stop growing....Which word from this excerpt most reveals the tone?
panicky
What was a pretty blue vase doing way up there? I couldn't reach it, obviously, so I moved over the chair with the tuxedo still on it, and then I went to my room to get the Collected Shakespeare set that Grandma bought for me when she found out that I was going to be Yorick, and I brought those over, four tragedies at a time, until I had a stack that was tall enough.How does the narration shape Oskar's characterization in this excerpt?
His literary references render him mature for his age.
In bed that night I invented a special drain that would be underneath every pillow in New York, and would connect to the reservoir. Whenever people cried themselves to sleep, the tears would all go to the same place.... And when something really terrible happened—like a nuclear bomb, or at least a biological weapons attack—an extremely loud siren would go off, telling everyone to get to Central Park to put sandbags around the reservoir.What assumption does the narrator make in this excerpt?
that many people express their grief through tears
Which line from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close reveals a despondent tone?
I zipped myself all the way into the sleeping bag of myself, not because I was hurt, and not because I had broken something, but because they were cracking up.
Which line from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close reveals a melancholy tone?
NOT: A, D
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes, but I couldn't sleep, not after hours, and it made my boots lighter to be around his things, and to touch stuff that he had touched, and to make the hangers hang a little straighter, even though I knew it didn't matter.How does the narration affect Oskar's credibility in this excerpt?
His efforts to soothe himself render him earnest and genuine.
I wanted to tell her she shouldn't be playing Scrabble yet. Or looking in the mirror. Or turning the stereo any louder than what you needed just to hear it.What assumption does the narrator make in this excerpt?
that his mother's activities suggest an end to her grief
His tuxedo was over the chair he used to sit on when he tied his shoes, and I thought, Weird. Why wasn't it hung up with his suits? Had he come from a fancy party the night before he died? But then why would he have taken off his tuxedo without hanging it up? Maybe it needed to be cleaned? But I didn't remember a fancy party. I remembered him tucking me in....How does the narration affect the story in this excerpt?
NOT: Oskar's slang characterizes him as relaxed and casual.
Which line from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close reveals a nostalgic tone?
We used to Greco-Roman wrestle on the floor in there, and tell hilarious jokes, and once we hung a pendulum from the ceiling and put a circle of dominoes on the floor to prove that the earth rotated.
It's all electronic these days. Key pads. Thumbprint recognition." "That's so awesome." "I like keys." I thought for a minute, and then I got heavy, heavy boots. "Well, if people like me are a dying breed, then what's going to happen to your business?" "We'll become specialized," he said, "like a typewriter shop. We're useful now, but soon we'll be interesting." "Maybe you need a new business." "I like this business."How does the narration shape Oskar's characterization in this excerpt?
It reveals his naivete.
I didn't do it!" I hollered, but they didn't even hear me, because they were playing music too loud and cracking up too much. I zipped myself all the way into the sleeping bag of myself, not because I was hurt, and not because I had broken something, but because they were cracking up. Even though I knew I shouldn't, I gave myself a bruise.Which of these statements best describes the ambiguity in this excerpt?
The nature of the bruise is unclear.
Which excerpt from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close reveals a childish tone?
Could be a safe-deposit box, actually. An old one. Or some kind of fire-retardant cabinet." That made me crack up a little, even though I know there's nothing funny about being a mental retard.
I started inventing things, and then I couldn't stop, like beavers, which I know about. People think they cut down trees so they can build dams, but in reality it's because their teeth never stop growing, and if they didn't constantly file them down by cutting through all of those trees, their teeth would start to grow into their own faces, which would kill them. That's how my brain was. Which line best reflects the ambiguity of this excerpt?
I started inventing things, and then I couldn't stop, like beavers
I knew I could never let Mom hear the messages, because protecting her is one of my most important raisons d'être, so what I did was I took Dad's emergency money from on top of his dresser, and I went to the Radio Shack on Amsterdam. What assumption does the narrator make in this excerpt?
that the messages would increase his mother's suffering
Zeitoun went outside, the air humid and gusty. He tied the canoe to the back porch. The water was whispering through the cracks in the back fence, rising up. It was flowing into his yard at an astonishing rate. As he stood, it swallowed his ankles and crawled up his shins.Back inside, he continued to move everything of value upward. As he did, he watched the water erase the floor and climb the walls. In another hour there was three feet of water indoors. And his house was three feet above street level.What conclusion can readers draw about this character vs. nature conflict?
Despite Zeitoun's competence, his home sustains damage.
He and Kathy worried about the reach of the Department of Homeland Security, its willingness to contact anyone born in or with a connection to the Middle East. So many of their Muslim friends had been interviewed, forced to send in documents and hire lawyers. But until now Zeitoun had been fortunate. He had had no experience with profiling, hadn't been suspected of anything by anyone with real authority. There were the occasional looks askance, of course, sneers from people upon hearing his accent. Maybe, he thought, this was just one soldier, ignorant or cruel, wanting to stir things up.Why does the author include these details?
...
In the neighborhood, other homes had been hit by all manner of debris. Windows had been blown out. Wet, black branches covered cars, the street. Everywhere trees had been pulled out of the earth and lay flat.The quiet was profound. The wind rippled the water but otherwise all was silent. No cars moved, no planes flew. A few neighbors stood on their porches or waded through their yards, assessing damage. No one knew where to start or when.What conclusion can readers draw about this society vs. nature conflict?
NOT: C
Only birds would survive this sort of apocalypse. Birds, some snakes, any beast that could find higher ground ahead of the rising tide. He looked for fish. If he was floating atop water shared with the lake, surely fish had been swept into the city. And, on cue, he saw a murky form darting between submerged tree branches.What is happening in the excerpt?
NOT: A
Moments later, another passing soldier looked at Zeitoun and muttered "Taliban." And as much as he wanted to dismiss both comments, he couldn't. Now he was sure that there was a grave misunderstanding taking place, and that unraveling it, disproving it, was going to take days. Todd ranted, but Zeitoun knew it would do no good. The question of their innocence or guilt would not be answered in this room, not any time soon. Why does the author include these details?
to reveal the prevailing racist sentiment among the soldiers
Kathy liked to act exasperated, but Zeitoun's romantic side was central to why she loved him. She knew that any kind of boat reminded him of his childhood. How could she deny him a used canoe? She was fairly certain he would never use it, but having it in the garage, she knew, would mean something to him—a connection to the past, the possibility of adventure. Whatever it was, she wouldn't stand in the way.Zeitoun is recalling
Kathy's reaction when he purchased the canoe.
Zeitoun's heart was thrumming. They saw no civilians, no hospital or humanitarian-aid workers, as had been common in areas like the Napoleon-St. Charles staging ground. This was different. This was entirely martial, and the mood was tense.Zeitoun is considering
the hostile nature of his internment.
As he paddled back to Claiborne, a hope flickered within Zeitoun that his siblings might see him on TV. Perhaps they would see what he was doing, that he had done something good by staying in his adopted city. The Zeitouns were proud, and there was plenty of sibling rivalry that had pushed them all to an array of achievements—all of them measured against the deeds of Mohammed. None of them had ever done something like that, none had achieved on his level. But Zeitoun felt again that perhaps this was his calling, that God had waited to put him here and now to test him in this way. And so he hoped, as silly as it seemed, that his siblings might see him like this.Why does the author include Zeitoun's thoughts?
to emphasize how his Muslim faith drives his actions
It brought forth a vague memory of a storm on Arwad Island, when he was just a boy, when the Mediterranean rose up and swallowed the lower-sitting homes, the blue-green sea sitting inside living rooms and bedrooms and kitchens. The water breached and dodged the Phoenician stones surrounding the island without any difficulty at all.Why does the author include this flashback?
to recall Zeitoun's foreign birth and the universality of struggles against nature
In his neighborhood, miles from the closest levee, the water had risen slowly enough that he knew it was unlikely that anyone had died in the flood. But with a shudder he thought of those closer to the breaches. He didn't know where the levees had failed, but he knew anyone living nearby would have been quickly overwhelmed.What is happening in the excerpt?
Zeitoun is realizing the likelihood of flood casualties.
There is a tale, "The Ring of Gyges," that Feldman sometimes tells his economist friends. It comes from Plato's Republic. A student named Glaucon offered the story in response to a lesson by Socrates—who, like Adam Smith, argued that people are generally good even without enforcement. Glaucon, like Feldman's economist friends, disagreed. He told of a shepherd named Gyges who stumbled upon a secret cavern with a corpse inside that wore a ring. When Gyges put on the ring, he found that it made him invisible. With no one able to monitor his behavior, Gyges proceeded to do woeful things—seduce the queen, murder the king, and so on. Glaucon's story posed a moral question: could any man resist the temptation of evil if he knew his acts could not be witnessed? Glaucon seemed to think the answer was no. The excerpt serves as which of the following in relation to the authors' argument?
NOT: A, C
He also believes that employees further up the corporate ladder cheat more than those down below. He got this idea after delivering for years to one company spread out over three floors—an executive floor on top and two lower floors with sales, service, and administrative employees (Feldman wondered if perhaps the executives cheated out of an overdeveloped sense of entitlement. What he didn't consider is that perhaps cheating was how they got to be executives.)Which of the following best describes the type of the reasoning the excerpt uses?
Feldman uses inductive reasoning because he formulates a generalization based on specific examples.
The bagel data also reflect how much personal mood seems to affect honesty. Weather, for instance, is a major factor. Unseasonably pleasant weather inspires people to pay at a higher rate. Unseasonably cold weather, meanwhile, makes people cheat prolifically; so do heavy rain and wind. Worst are the holidays. The week of Christmas produces a 2 percent drop in payment rates—again, a 15 percent increase in theft, an effect on the same magnitude, in reverse, as that of 9/11. Thanksgiving is nearly as bad; the week of Valentine's Day is also lousy, as is the week straddling April 15. There are, however, a few good holidays: the weeks that include the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Columbus Day. The difference in the two sets of holidays? The low-cheating holidays represent little more than an extra day off from work. The high-cheating holidays are fraught with miscellaneous anxieties and the high expectations of loved ones.Based on the excerpt, the conclusion that "personal mood seems to affect honesty" is best supported by which of the following statements?
Stressful fall and winter holidays generally cause payment rates to drop.
Which of the following statements support the claim in Freakonomics that "people are generally good even without enforcement"?
Many people enjoy using the honor system.
He had also—quite without meaning to—designed a beautiful economic experiment. From the beginning, Feldman kept rigorous data on his business. So by measuring the money collected against the bagels taken, he found it possible to tell, down to the penny, just how honest his customers were. Did they steal from him? If so, what were the characteristics of a company that stole versus a company that did not? Under what circumstances did people tend to steal more, or less?Based on the excerpt, which of the following best explains why the authors included Feldman in their study?
Feldman kept rigorous data on his business.
If morality represents the way we would like the world to work and economics represents how it actually does work, then the story of Feldman's bagel business lies at the very intersection of morality and economics. Yes, a lot of people steal from him, but the vast majority, even though no is watching over them, do not. This outcome may surprise some people—including Feldman's economist friends, who counseled him twenty years ago that his honor-system scheme would never work. But it would not have surprised Adam Smith. In fact, theme of Smith's first book, the Theory of Moral Sentiments, was the innate honesty of mankind. "How selfish soever man may be supposed," Smith wrote, "there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it."Which best describes the authors' purpose in using a quotation from Adam Smith's book The Theory of Moral Sentiments?
NOT: A, B, C
The bagel data also reflect how much personal mood seems to affect honesty. Weather, for instance, is a major factor. Unseasonably pleasant weather inspires people to pay at a higher rate. Unseasonably cold weather, meanwhile, makes people cheat prolifically; so do heavy rain and wind. Worst are the holidays. The week of Christmas produces a 2 percent drop in payment rates—again, a 15 percent increase in theft, an effect on the same magnitude, in reverse, as that of 9/11. Thanksgiving is nearly as bad; the week of Valentine's Day is also lousy, as is the week straddling April 15. There are, however, a few good holidays: the weeks that include the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Columbus Day. The difference in the two sets of holidays? The low-cheating holidays represent little more than an extra day off from work. The high-cheating holidays are fraught with miscellaneous anxieties and the high expectations of loved ones.The excerpt is an example of inductive reasoning because the authors
formulate a generalization by studying specific examples.
There is a tale, "The Ring of Gyges," that Feldman sometimes tells his economist friends. It comes from Plato's Republic. A student named Glaucon offered the story in response to a lesson by Socrates—who, like Adam Smith, argued that people are generally good even without enforcement. Glaucon, like Feldman's economist friends, disagreed. He told of a shepherd named Gyges who stumbled upon a secret cavern with a corpse inside that wore a ring. When Gyges put on the ring, he found that it made him invisible. With no one able to monitor his behavior, Gyges proceeded to do woeful things—seduce the queen, murder the king, and so on. Glaucon's story posed a moral question: could any man resist the temptation of evil if he knew his acts could not be witnessed? Glaucon seemed to think the answer was no. But Paul Feldman sides with Socrates and Adam Smith—for he knows the answer, at least 87 percent of the time, is yes.Compared with Feldman's argument, the tale of "The Ring of Gyges" is best described as a
counterclaim
Despite all the attention paid to rogue companies like Enron, academics know very little about the practicalities of white-collar crime. The reason? There are no good data. A key fact of white-collar crime is that we hear about only the very slim fraction of people who are caught cheating. Most embezzlers lead quiet and theoretically happy lives; employees who steal company property are rarely detected.With street crime, meanwhile, that is not the case. A mugging or a burglary or a murder is usually tallied whether or not the criminal is caught. A street crime has a victim, who typically reports the crime to the police, who generate data, which in turn generate thousands of academic papers by criminologists, sociologists, and economists. But white-collar crime presents no obvious victim. From whom, exactly, did the masters of Enron steal? And how can you measure something if you don't know to whom it happened, or with what frequency, or in what magnitude?The excerpt helps the authors support their conclusion by
evaluating a logical fallacy.
So what do the bagel data have to say? In recent years, there have been two noteworthy trends in the overall payment rate. The first was a long, slow decline that began in 1992. By the summer of 2001, the overall rate had slipped to about 87 percent. But immediately after September 11 of that year the rate spiked a full 2 percent and hasn't slipped much since. (If a 2 percent gain in payment doesn't sound like much, think of it this way: the nonpayment rate fell from 13 to 11 percent, which amounts to a 15 percent decline in theft.) Because many of Feldman's customers are affiliated with national security, there may have been a patriotic element to the 9/11 Effect. Or it may have represented a more general surge in empathy.The excerpt serves as which type of support for the authors' argument?
evidence
Consuming too much sugar over time can lead to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.Where would be the most appropriate place in the essay for this sentence?
NOT: A, B, D
It does not seem like one vote can make a difference. Every eligible person should vote.Which revision offers the most improvement in sentence fluency?
Although it does not seem like one vote can make a difference, every eligible person should vote.
There should be services to give homeless people a break from the stuff they have to deal with in their everyday lives.Which is the best revision of the underlined portion of the sentence?
to give homeless people relief from their everyday hardships.
Millions of dollars have been spent by taxpayers on programs to improve education.Which revision offers the most improvement in sentence fluency?
Taxpayers have spent millions of dollars on programs to improve education.
Zoos help to protect endangered animals, and they are necessary for animal conservation.Which statement best represents a counterclaim to this claim?
Which of the following parts of an argumentative essay belongs in the introduction?
thesis
Which sentence best demonstrates an appropriate style for an argumentative essay?
Increasing taxes would place an unnecessary hardship on the citizens and should be avoided.
Word choice in an argumentative essay should be
formal and precise
Which list best describes the organization of an argumentative essay?
thesis, reasons, evidence, counterclaim, conclusion
If education is so important to American society, then why is funding for American public schools so pathetic?Which revision exhibits the best word choice for the underlined portion of the sentence?
why is the funding for American public schools so inadequate?
The chemical waste produced by factories is out of hand, and factory owners should get in trouble.Which revision offers the most improvement in word choice?
The chemical waste produced by factories is dangerous, and factory owners should be held accountable.
I knew I could never let Mom hear the messages, because protecting her is one of my most important raisons d'être, so what I did was I took Dad's emergency money from on top of his dresser, and I went to the Radio Shack on Amsterdam. It was on a TV there that I saw that the first building had fallen. I bought the exact same phone and ran home and recorded our greeting from the first phone onto it. I wrapped up the old phone in the scarf that Grandma was never able to finish because of my privacy, and I put that in a grocery bag, and I put that in a box, and I put that in another box, and I put that under a bunch of stuff in my closet, like my jewelry workbench and albums of foreign currencies.Which word best describes the tone of this excerpt?
methodical
The leaks began at about two or three. The first was in the corner of Nademah's bedroom. Zeitoun went down to the garage and retrieved a forty-gallon garbage can to catch the water. Another leak opened a few minutes later, this one in the upstairs hallway. Zeitoun found another garbage can. A window in the master bedroom broke just after three o'clock, as if a brick had been thrown through the glass. Zeitoun gathered the shards and stuffed the opening with a pillow. Another leak opened in Safiya and Aisha's room. He found another, bigger garbage can.What conclusion can readers draw about this character vs.nature conflict?
Faced with the storm's brutality, Zeitoun is resourceful and determined.
Having a counterclaim in an argumentative essay allows the author of the essay to
address any opposition to his or her claim.
They were tense, each of them with their fingers on their triggers. In the foyer, one officer was frisking Ronnie. Another officer had Nasser against the wall by the stairway."Give me your ID," one man said to Zeitoun.Zeitoun complied. The man took the ID and gave it back to Zeitoun without looking at it."Get in the boat," he said."You didn't look at it," Zeitoun protested."Move!" another man barked.What conclusion can readers draw about this character vs. society conflict?
The suspects' rights are compromised.
Excerpt 1: But Gogol doesn't want a new name. He can't understand why he has to answer to anything else. "Why do I have to have a new name?" he asks his parents, tears springing to his eyes. It would be one thing if his parents were to call him Nikhil, too. But they tell him that the new name will be used only by the teachers and children at school. Excerpt 2: Mrs. Lapidus studies the registration form. She has not had to go through this confusion with the other two Indian children. She opens up the folder and examines the immunization record, the birth certificate. "There seems to be some confusion, Mr. Ganguli," she says. "According to these documents, your son's legal name is Gogol."Which statement best tells how the internal and external conflicts in each excerpt are the same?
Neither Gogol nor Mrs. Lapidus understands the cultural schooling traditions experienced by Gogol's parents.
Up and down Academy Boulevard, along South Nevada, Circle Drive, and Woodman Road, teenagers like Elisa run the fast food restaurants of Colorado Springs. Fast food kitchens often seem like a scene from Bugsy Malone, a film in which all the actors are children pretending to be adults. No other industry in the United States has a workforce so dominated by adolescents.How does Schlosser effectively build his argument in this excerpt?
He uses analogical evidence to help the reader visualize his point about the workers.
Zeitoun had long feared this day would come. Each of the few times he had been pulled over for a traffic violation, he knew the possibility existed that he would be harassed, misunderstood, suspected of shadowy dealings that might bloom in the imagination of any given police officer. What is happening in the excerpt?
Zeitoun is confronting the reality of racism.
If you stumbled upon a black hole and found yourself falling feet-first toward its center, then as you got closer, the black hole's force of gravity would grow astronomically. Curiously, you would not feel this force at all because, like anything in free fall, you are weightless. What you do feel, however, is something far more sinister. While you fall, the black hole's force of gravity at your two feet, they being closer to the black hole's center, accelerates them faster than does the weaker force of gravity at your head. Read the excerpt from Billy Collins's "Man Listening to Disc."the only true point of view,is full of the hope that he,the hub of the cosmoswith his hair blown sideways,will eventually make it all the way downtown.Which choice best describes the differing views Tyson and Collins present of humanity?
Tyson presents humans as powerless against the forces of nature, while Collins presents an individual creating his own destiny.
That's the gory moment when your body snaps into two segments, breaking apart at your midsection. Upon falling further, the difference in gravity continues to grow, and each of your two body segments snaps into two segments. Shortly thereafter, those segments each snap into two segments of their own, and so forth, and so forth, bifurcating your body into an ever-increasing number of parts: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, etc.Read the following excerpt from Billy Collins's "Man Listening to Disc."The music is loud yet so confidentialI cannot help feeling even morelike the center of the universethan usual as I walk along to a rapidlittle version of "The Way You Look Tonight,"What do these two excerpts reveal about the difference in ideas presented by Tyson and Collins?
Tyson stresses humanity's relative insignificance in the universe, while Collins stresses man's perceived importance.
The bagel data also reflect how much personal mood seems to affect honesty. Weather, for instance, is a major factor. Unseasonably pleasant weather inspires people to pay at a higher rate. Unseasonably cold weather, meanwhile, makes people cheat prolifically; so do heavy rain and wind. Worst are the holidays. The week of Christmas produces a 2 percent drop in payment rates—again, a 15 percent increase in theft, an effect on the same magnitude, in reverse, as that of 9/11. Thanksgiving is nearly as bad; the week of Valentine's Day is also lousy, as is the week straddling April 15. There are, however, a few good holidays: the weeks that include the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Columbus Day. The difference in the two sets of holidays? The low-cheating holidays represent little more than an extra day off from work. The high-cheating holidays are fraught with miscellaneous anxieties and the high expectations of loved ones.Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of this paragraph?
Different emotional states affect people's honesty.
There is a tale, "The Ring of Gyges," that Feldman sometimes tells his economist friends. It comes from Plato's Republic. A student named Glaucon offered the story in response to a lesson by Socrates—who, like Adam Smith, argued that people are generally good even without enforcement. Glaucon, like Feldman's economist friends, disagreed. He told of a shepherd named Gyges who stumbled upon a secret cavern with a corpse inside that wore a ring. When Gyges put on the ring, he found that it made him invisible. With no one able to monitor his behavior, Gyges proceeded to do woeful things—seduce the queen, murder the king, and so on. Glaucon's story posed a moral question: could any man resist the temptation of evil if he knew his acts could not be witnessed? Glaucon seemed to think the answer was no. But Paul Feldman sides with Socrates and Adam Smith—for he knows the answer, at least 87 percent of the time, is yes.Feldman reaches the conclusion that most people are honest without receiving an incentive by
studying his individual experiences and arriving at a broad generalization.
As it happens, Feldman's accidental study provides a window onto a form of cheating that has long stymied academics: white-collar crime. (Yes, shorting the bagel man is white-collar crime, writ however small.) It might seem ludicrous to address as large and intractable a problem as white-collar crime through the life of a bagel man. But often a small and simple question can help chisel away at the biggest problems.Despite all the attention paid to rogue companies like Enron, academics know very little about the practicalities of white-collar crime. The reason? There are no good data. A key fact of white-collar crime is that we hear about only the very slim fraction of people who are caught cheating. Most embezzlers lead quiet and theoretically happy lives; employees who steal company property are rarely detected.What purpose does the "bagel man" serve in this argument?
to show the seriousness of cheating
The unstable economy caused lots of people to lose their jobs.Which revision exhibits the best word choice for the underlined portion of the sentence?
a drastic increase in unemployment
Excerpt 1: He is afraid to be Nikhil, someone he doesn't know. Who doesn't know him. His parents tell him that they each have two names, too, as do all their Bengali friends in America, and all their relatives in Calcutta. It's a part of growing up, they tell him, part of being a Bengali. Excerpt 2: It is nothing like the schooling Gogol's parents have known, fountain pens and polished black shoes and notebooks and good names and sir or madam at a tender age. Here the only official ritual is pledging allegiance first thing in the morning to the American flag. Which statement best tells how the conflict in the first excerpt is similar to the conflict in the second excerpt?
Gogol's experience of growing up in an American culture conflicts with his parents' experience of growing up in India.
It is unbelievable how fast people adapt. It hurts to admit it, but within hours of first breathing the cattle car's nauseating air, we began to feel at home. 'Home' was the edge of the wooden plank I sat on as I dreamed of the Jewish exiles of antiquity and the Middle Ages. More curious than afraid, I thought of myself as their brother. Mixed into my sadness there was undeniable excitement, for we were living a historic event, a historic adventure.Which best describes the author at this point in his life?
He is too young and naive to truly understand what is happening.
COUNTY ATTORNEY. Let's talk about that later, Mr. Hale. I do want to talk about that, but tell now just what happened when you got to the house. HALE. I didn't hear or see anything; I knocked at the door, and still it was all quiet inside. I knew they must be up, it was past eight o'clock. So I knocked again, and I thought I heard somebody say, "Come in." I wasn't sure, I'm not sure yet, but I opened the door—this door (indicating the door by which the two women are still standing), and there in that rocker—(pointing to it) sat Mrs. Wright. (They all look at the rocker.) What would be one advantage of watching this scene as opposed to reading it?
The audience would actually watch all of the characters turn to stare at the rocker, which could enhance the mood of the scene.
A tortilla is a round flatbread that appears in most Mexican dishes, including tacos, enchiladas, and tostadas. Tortillas are made with cornmeal or sometimes wheat flour. Traditionally, the corn or wheat grains are ground on a stone. Next, the meal from these grains is formed into small pieces of dough and patted into thin circles by hand. Finally, the tortilla is baked on a griddle. Today, tortilla dough is usually mixed by machine, flattened into shape, and passed on a conveyor belt to cook over a flame. Tortillas can be purchased at most major grocery stores.Which best describes the purpose of this passage?
to inform audiences about the production and types of tortillas
For me, reading has always been a path toward liberation and fulfillment. To learn to read is to start down the road of liberation, a road which should be accessible to everyone. No one has the right to keep you from reading, and yet that is what is happening in many areas in this country today. There are those who think they know best what we should read. These censors are at work in all areas of our daily lives.Which best describes how Anaya uses rhetorical appeal to convince readers that censors want to limit what people can read?
Anaya speaks about everyone's right to read what they choose in order to appeal to the reader's sense of fairness.
Which strategy is the best way to improve the written expression in a redundant sentence?
Remove unnecessary repetition.
COUNTY ATTORNEY (as one turning from serious things to little pleasantries). Well, ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or knot it?MRS. PETERS. We think she was going to--knot it.COUNTY ATTORNEY. Well, that's interesting, I'm sure. (Seeing the birdcage.) Has the bird flown?MRS. HALE (putting more quilt pieces over the box.) We think the--cat got it.Which idea is suggested by this excerpt?
The women are going to hide what they have discovered to protect Mrs. Wright.
The fake, counterfeit money, which isn't valid, was discovered in the crime investigation.What is the best way to revise this sentence to eliminate wordiness/
The counterfeit money was discovered in the crime investigation.
In part two of Trifles, what symbolic impact is made when Susan Glaspell includes quilting as a part of Mrs. Wright's lifestyle?
It reinforces the idea that Mrs. Wright fulfilled many of the roles considered common for women during this time.
COUNTY ATTORNEY. Oh, I guess they're not very dangerous things the ladies have picked up. (Moves a few things about, disturbing the quilt pieces which cover the box. Steps back.) No, Mrs. Peters doesn't need supervising. For that matter, a sheriff's wife is married to the law. Ever think of it that way, Mrs. Peters?Which of the following most accurately describes this excerpt?
It is situational irony because the County Attorney has actually issued a relevant warning to Mrs. Peters without realizing it.
Which excerpt from "Harrison Bergeron" best illustrates irony?
And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use. Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody.
Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.Which of the following best describes Douglass's word choice in this excerpt?
clever
Which of the following sentences is written correctly?
The drum major performed badly because she forgot the routine.
I am a writer. And by that definition, I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language—the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all—all the Englishes I grew up with.How does Tan build a central idea of her story in the excerpt?
Tan references her work with language to build the idea that all forms of English are purposeful and meaningful.
Which excerpt from part one of Trifles contains a stage direction that contributes to the character development of Mrs. Hale?
MRS. HALE. I'd hate to have men coming into my kitchen, snooping around and criticizing. (She arranges the pans under sink which the Lawyer had shoved out of place.)
You came to love your life, to love and respect the mere fact of it, but often you became heedless of it in the way that somnambulists are heedless. Being good meant staying alive, and sometimes that was only a matter of caring enough at any given moment. Based on the excerpt, which best describes a good soldier?
a soldier who is always vigilant
Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application.How does King support this claim?
by describing a law about parade permits
Which topic would prompt an argumentative essay?
A Case for Gender Equity in the Workplace
I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.From this excerpt, it can best be inferred that the speaker is
unconcerned about the time.
By autumn, what had begun as an adventurous expedition had turned into an exhausting, indecisive war of attrition in which we fought for no cause other than our own survival. Which statement best explains the paradox in the excerpt?
It is odd that war should ever be viewed as an adventurous expedition.
When evaluating sources for a compare-and-contrast paragraph, you can tell if a source's argument is objective if it
appeals to logic and reason rather than emotion.
One day I was hanging around the campus and Chad and Tim Gray told me Dean was staying in a cold-water pad in East Harlem, the Spanish Harlem. Dean had arrived the night before, the first time in New York, with his beautiful little sharp chick Marylou; they got off the Greyhound bus at 50th Street and cut around the corner looking for a place to eat and went right in Hector's, and since then Hector's cafeteria has always been a big symbol of New York for Dean.Which statement best describes how Kerouac's diction and syntax reflect the essence of the beat generation?
Kerouac's use of diction and syntax reflect nonconformist values and an adventurous spirit.
A transformational manager engages and empowers subordinates to take personal responsibility for solving problems through _____.