ExamView - CCE Practice Test - Williamson County Schools

Name: ________________________ Class: ___________________ Date: __________
ID: A
CCE Practice Test
Read this selection. Then answer the questions that follow it.
from Beowulf
The Battle with Grendel’s Mother
Beowulf accepts Hrothgar’s challenge, and the king and his men accompany the hero to the dreadful lair of
Grendel’s mother. Fearlessly, Beowulf prepares to battle the terrible creature.
He leaped into the lake, would not wait for anyone’s
Answer; the heaving water covered him
Over. For hours he sank through the waves;
At last he saw the mud of the bottom.
5 And all at once the greedy she-wolf
Who’d ruled those waters for half a hundred
Years discovered him, saw that a creature
From above had come to explore the bottom
Of her wet world. She welcomed him in her claws,
10 Clutched at him savagely but could not harm him,
Tried to work her fingers through the tight
Ring-woven mail on his breast, but tore
And scratched in vain. Then she carried him, armor
And sword and all, to her home; he struggled
15 To free his weapon, and failed. The fight
Brought other monsters swimming to see
Her catch, a host of sea beasts who beat at
His mail shirt, stabbing with tusks and teeth
As they followed along. Then he realized, suddenly,
20 That she’d brought him into someone’s battle-hall,
And there the water’s heat could not hurt him,
Nor anything in the lake attack him through
The building’s high-arching roof. A brilliant
Light burned all around him, the lake
25 Itself like a fiery flame.
Then he saw
The mighty water witch, and swung his sword,
His ring-marked blade, straight at her head;
The iron sang its fierce song,
Sang Beowulf’s strength. But her guest
30 Discovered that no sword could slice her evil
Skin, that Hrunting could not hurt her, was useless
Now when he needed it. They wrestled, she ripped
And tore and clawed at him, bit holes in his helmet,
And that too failed him; for the first time in years
35 Of being worn to war it would earn no glory;
It was the last time anyone would wear it. But Beowulf
Longed only for fame, leaped back
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Into battle. He tossed his sword aside,
Angry; the steel-edged blade lay where
40 He’d dropped it. If weapons were useless he’d use
His hands, the strength in his fingers. So fame
Comes to the men who mean to win it
And care about nothing else! He raised
His arms and seized her by the shoulder; anger
45 Doubled his strength, he threw her to the floor.
She fell, Grendel’s fierce mother, and the Geats’
Proud prince was ready to leap on her. But she rose
At once and repaid him with her clutching claws,
Wildly tearing at him. He was weary, that best
50 And strongest of soldiers; his feet stumbled
And in an instant she had him down, held helpless.
Squatting with her weight on his stomach, she drew
A dagger, brown with dried blood, and prepared
To avenge her only son. But he was stretched
55 On his back, and her stabbing blade was blunted
By the woven mail shirt he wore on his chest.
The hammered links held; the point
Could not touch him. He’d have traveled to the bottom of the earth,
Edgetho’s son, and died there, if that shining
60 Woven metal had not helped—and Holy
God, who sent him victory, gave judgment
For truth and right, Ruler of the Heavens,
Once Beowulf was back on his feet and fighting.
Then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy
65 Sword, hammered by giants, strong
And blessed with their magic, the best of all weapons
But so massive that no ordinary man could lift
Its carved and decorated length. He drew it
From its scabbard, broke the chain on its hilt,
70 And then, savage, now, angry
And desperate, lifted it high over his head
And struck with all the strength he had left,
Caught her in the neck and cut it through,
Broke bones and all. Her body fell
75 To the floor, lifeless, the sword was wet
With her blood, and Beowulf rejoiced at the sight.
The brilliant light shone, suddenly,
As though burning in that hall, and as bright as Heaven’s
Own candle, lit in the sky. He looked
80 At her home, then following along the wall
Went walking, his hands tight on the sword,
His heart still angry. He was hunting another
Dead monster, and took his weapon with him
For final revenge against Grendel’s vicious
85 Attacks, his nighttime raids, over
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And over, coming to Herot when Hrothgar’s
Men slept, killing them in their beds,
Eating some on the spot, fifteen
Or more, and running to his loathsome moor
90 With another such sickening meal waiting
In his pouch. But Beowulf repaid him for those visits,
Found him lying dead in his corner,
Armless, exactly as that fierce fighter
Had sent him out from Herot, then struck off
95 His head with a single swift blow. The body
Jerked for the last time, then lay still.
From Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel. Translation copyright 1963 by Burton Raffel. Used by
permission of Dutton Signet, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
READING COMPREHENSION
____ 1. In lines 1–2, the author develops Beowulf’s character by —
A. comparing him with other heroes
B. describing the character’s actions
C. showing other characters’ reactions
D. describing his physical appearance
____
2. Which descriptive phrases characterize Grendel’s mother’s monstrous qualities?
A. A creature from above and sea beasts
B. The greedy she-wolf and the mighty water witch
C. A fiery flame and Proud prince
D. Strongest of soldiers and fierce fighter
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____
3. In lines 36–38, the narrator’s comment that “Beowulf / Longed only for fame, leaped back / Into battle”
characterizes Beowulf as —
A. weakened
B. intelligent
C. conquered
D. resolute
____ 4. The conflict in lines 46–50 can best be described as —
A. internal because Grendel’s mother feels guilty about inflicting violence on Beowulf
B. external because Beowulf and Grendel’s mother are in an underwater environment
C. internal because Beowulf feels upset about the men Grendel’s mother has killed
D. external because Beowulf and Grendel’s mother engage in a physical struggle
____ 5. The climax of the excerpt occurs when Beowulf —
A. descends into the lair of Grendel’s mother
B. sees the brilliant light fill the hall
C. cuts off the head of Grendel’s mother
D. searches for Grendel’s body
____ 6. The author’s primary purpose for writing this epic was probably to –
A. persuade people to read poetic works
B. teach the importance of vengeance
C. provide an accurate historical account
D. present a struggle between good and evil
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Name: ________________________
ID: A
Read this selection. Then answer the questions that follow it.
In the medieval church, a pardoner was a clergy member who had authority from the pope to grant
indulgences—certificates of forgiveness—to people who showed great charity. In practice, however, many
pardoners were unethical and sold their certificates to make money for the church or themselves.
from The Canterbury Tales
The Pardoner’s Prologue
“My lords”, he said, “in churches where I preach
I cultivate a haughty kind of speech
And ring it out as roundly as a bell;
I’ve got it all by heart, the tale I tell.
5 I have a text, it always is the same
And always has been, since I learnt the game.
Old as the hills and fresher than the grass,
Radix malorum est cupiditas. . . .
“I preach, as you have heard me say before,
10 And tell a hundred lying mockeries more.
I take great pains, and stretching out my neck
To east and west I crane about and peck
Just like a pigeon sitting on a barn.
My hands and tongue together spin the yarn
15 And all my antics are a joy to see.
The curse of avarice and cupidity
Is all my sermon, for it frees the pelf.
Out come the pence, and specially for myself,
For my exclusive purpose is to win
20 And not at all to castigate their sin.
Once dead what matter how their souls may fare?
They can go blackberrying, for all I care! . . .
“And thus I preach against the very vice
I make my living out of—avarice.
25 And yet however guilty of that sin
Myself, with others I have power to win
Them from it, I can bring them to repent;
But that is not my principal intent.
Covetousness is both the root and stuff
30 Of all I preach. That ought to be enough.
“Well, then I give examples thick and fast
From bygone times, old stories from the past.
A yokel mind loves stories from of old,
Being the kind it can repeat and hold.
35 What! Do you think, as long as I can preach
And get their silver for the things I teach,
That I will live in poverty, from choice?
That’s not the counsel of my inner voice!
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No! Let me preach and beg from kirk to kirk
40 And never do an honest job of work,
No, nor make baskets, like St. Paul, to gain
A livelihood. I do not preach in vain.
There’s no apostle I would counterfeit;
I mean to have money, wool and cheese and wheat
45 Though it were given me by the poorest lad
Or poorest village widow, though she had
A string of starving children, all agape.
No, let me drink the liquor of the grape
And keep a jolly wench in every town!
50 “But listen, gentlemen; to bring things down
To a conclusion, would you like a tale?
Now as I’ve drunk a draft of corn-ripe ale,
By God it stands to reason I can strike
On some good story that you all will like.
55 For though I am a wholly vicious man
Don’t think I can’t tell moral tales. I can!
Here’s one I often preach when out for winning. . . .”
from The Pardoner’s Tale
It’s of three rioters I have to tell
Who, long before the morning service bell,
Were sitting in a tavern for a drink.
And as they sat, they heard the hand-bell clink
5 Before a coffin going to the grave;
One of them called the little tavern-knave
And said “Go and find out at once—look spry!—
Whose corpse is in that coffin passing by;
And see you get the name correctly too.”
10 “Sir”, said the boy, “no need, I promise you;
Two hours before you came here I was told.
He was a friend of yours in days of old,
And suddenly, last night, the man was slain,
Upon his bench, face up, dead drunk again.
15 There came a privy thief, they call him Death,
Who kills us all round here, and in a breath
He speared him through the heart, he never stirred.
And then Death went his way without a word.
He’s killed a thousand in the present plague,
20 And, sir, it doesn’t do to be too vague
If you should meet him; you had best be wary.
Be on your guard with such an adversary,
Be primed to meet him everywhere you go,
That’s what my mother said. It’s all I know.”
25 The publican joined in with, “By St. Mary,
What the child says is right; you’d best be wary,
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This very year he killed, in a large village
A mile away, man, woman, serf at tillage,
Page in the household, children—all there were.
30 Yes, I imagine that he lives round there.
It’s well to be prepared in these alarms,
He might do you dishonor.” “Huh, God’s arms!”
The rioter said, “Is he so fierce to meet?
I’ll search for him, by Jesus, street by street.
35 God’s blessed bones! I’ll register a vow!
Here, chaps! The three of us together now,
Hold up your hands, like me, and we’ll be brothers
In this affair, and each defend the others,
And we will kill this traitor Death, I say!
40 Away with him as he has made away
With all our friends. God’s dignity! Tonight!”
They made their bargain, swore with appetite,
These three, to live and die for one another
As brother-born might swear to his born brother
45 And up they started in their drunken rage
And made towards this village which the page
And publican had spoken of before.
Many and grisly were the oaths they swore,
Tearing Christ’s blessed body to a shred;
50 “If we can only catch him, Death is dead!”
When they had gone not fully half a mile,
Just as they were about to cross a stile,
They came upon a very poor old man
Who humbly greeted them and thus began,
55 “God look to you, my lords, and give you quiet!”
To which the proudest of these men of riot
Gave back the answer, “What, old fool? Give place!
Why are you all wrapped up except your face?
Why live so long? Isn’t it time to die?”
60 The old, old fellow looked him in the eye
And said, “Because I never yet have found,
Though I have walked to India, searching round
Village and city on my pilgrimage,
One who would change his youth to have my age.
65 And so my age is mine and must be still
Upon me, for such time as God may will.
“Not even Death, alas, will take my life;
So, like a wretched prisoner at strife
Within himself, I walk alone and wait
70 About the earth, which is my mother’s gate,
Knock-knocking with my staff from night to noon
And crying, ‘Mother, open to me soon!
Look at me, mother, won’t you let me in?
See how I wither, flesh and blood and skin!
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75 Alas! When will these bones be laid to rest?
Mother, I would exchange—for that were best—
The wardrobe in my chamber, standing there
So long, for yours! Aye, for a shirt of hair
To wrap me in!’ She has refused her grace,
80 Whence comes the pallor of my withered face.
“But it dishonored you when you began
To speak so roughly, sir, to an old man,
Unless he had injured you in word or deed.
It says in holy writ, as you may read,
85 ‘Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head
And honor it.’ And therefore be it said
‘Do no more harm to an old man than you,
Being now young, would have another do
When you are old’—if you should live till then.
90 And so may God be with you, gentlemen,
For I must go whither I have to go.”
“By God,” the gambler said, “you shan’t do so,
You don’t get off so easy, by St. John!
I heard you mention, just a moment gone,
95 A certain traitor Death who singles out
And kills the fine young fellows hereabouts.
And you’re his spy, by God! You wait a bit.
Say where he is or you shall pay for it,
By God and by the Holy Sacrament!
100 I say you’ve joined together by consent
To kill us younger folk, you thieving swine!”
“Well, sirs,” he said, “if it be your design
To find out Death, turn up this crooked way
Towards that grove, I left him there today
105 Under a tree, and there you’ll find him waiting.
He isn’t one to hide for all your prating.
You see that oak? He won’t be far to find.
And God protect you that redeemed mankind,
Aye, and amend you!” Thus that ancient man.
110 At once the three young rioters began
To run, and reached the tree, and there they found
A pile of golden florins on the ground,
New-coined, eight bushels of them as they thought.
No longer was it Death those fellows sought,
115 For they were all so thrilled to see the sight,
The florins were so beautiful and bright,
That down they sat beside the precious pile.
The wickedest spoke first after a while.
“Brothers,” he said, “you listen to what I say.
120 I’m pretty sharp although I joke away.
It’s clear that Fortune has bestowed this treasure
To let us live in jollity and pleasure.
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Light come, light go! We’ll spend it as we ought.
God’s precious dignity! Who would have thought
125 This morning was to be our lucky day?”
Reading Comprehension
From The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, translated with an introduction
by Lewis Thorpe (Penguin Classics, 1966). Translation copyright © Lewis Thorpe, 1966.
Used by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
Use “The Pardoner’s Prologue” (pp. 178–179) to answer these questions.
____
7. Which sentence best describes the structure of “The Pardoner’s Prologue”?
A. It is part of a larger narrative about pilgrims on a journey.
B. A flashback occurs that interrupts “The Pardoner’s Prologue.”
C. It is narrated by a second pilgrim who accompanies the Pardoner.
D. The line and stanza structure is different from that of “The Pardoner’s Tale.”
____ 8. Chaucer’s ironic depiction of the Pardoner in lines 23–28 stems from the contrast between the clergyman’s —
A. duty and practice
B. sermons and prayers
C. preaching and duty
D. guilt and repentance
Use “The Pardoner’s Tale” (pp. 179–182) to answer these questions.
____ 9. The “very poor old man” the rioters meet in line 53 is someone who —
A. welcomes death to end a long life
B. enjoys the blessings of old age
C. sees greed as humanity’s downfall
D. laughs at life as a cruel joke
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____ 10. In lines 87–89, the old man advises the rioters to —
A. cease their verbal abuse and move along
B. live long enough to grow old and wise
C. treat him as they would want to be treated
D. hurry on their way to catch Death
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Read this selection. Then answer the questions that follow it.
Geoffrey of Monmouth was born around 1100, likely in the southeast part of Wales. As a cleric in
Oxford, Geoffrey often translated Welsh legends into Latin texts. Around 1136, Geoffrey worked on these
translations and wanted to attract the notice of his superiors. Consequently, he collected local myth, legend,
and lore—adding some embellishments of his own— into the Historia Regum Britanniae, or The History of
the Kings of Britain. The History traces the history of Britain from approximately 1100 B.C. to A.D. 689.
According to The History, Britain was founded around 1100 B.C. by Brutus, a warrior of Trojan
descent. As Brutus led a band of Trojans around Europe and northern Africa gaining wealth through
military victory, he came eventually to Gaul, a region now covered largely by France. Brutus and his men
fought the Gauls, but defeat seemed imminent. Brutus chose to retreat, loading his ships with the riches he
had gained. Soon, he and his men landed on the island that would become Britain.
from The History of the Kings of Britain
Geoffrey of Monmouth
1 At this time the island of Britain was called Albion. It was uninhabited except for a few giants. It was,
however, most attractive, because of the delightful situation of its various regions, its forests, and the great
number of its rivers, which teemed with fish; and it filled Brutus and his comrades with a great desire to live
there. When they had explored the different districts, they drove the giants whom they had discovered into the
caves in the mountains. With the approval of their leader they divided the land among themselves. They began
to cultivate the fields and to build houses, so that in a short time you would have thought that the land had
always been inhabited.
2 Brutus then called the island Britain from his own name, and his companions he called Britons. His
intention was that his memory should be perpetuated by the derivation of the name. A little later the language of
the people, which had up to then been known as Trojan or Crooked Greek, was called British, for the same
reason.
3 Corineus, however, following in this the example of his leader, called the region of the kingdom which
had fallen to his share Cornwall, after the manner of his own name, and the people who lived there he called
Cornishmen. Although he might have chosen his own estates before all the others who had come there, he
preferred the region which is now called Cornwall, either for its being the cornu or horn of Britain, or through a
corruption of his own name.
4 Corineus experienced great pleasure from wrestling with the giants, of whom there
were far more there than in any of the districts which had been distributed among his comrades. Among the
others there was a particularly repulsive one, called Gogmagog, who was twelve feet tall. He was so strong
that, once he had given it a shake, he could tear up an oak-tree as though it were a hazel wand. Once, when
Brutus was celebrating a day dedicated to the gods in the port where he had landed, this creature, along with
twenty other giants, attacked him and killed a great number of the Britons. However, the
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Britons finally gathered together from round and about and overcame the giants and slew them all, except for
Gogmagog. Brutus ordered that he alone should be kept alive, for he wanted to see a wrestling-match between
this giant and Corineus, who enjoyed beyond all reason matching himself against such monsters. Corineus was
delighted by this. He girded himself up, threw off his armour and challenged Gogmagog to a wrestling-match.
The contest began. Corineus moved in, so did the giant; each of them caught the other in a hold by twining his
arms round him, and the air vibrated with their panting breath. Gogmagog gripped Corineus with all his might
and broke three of his ribs, two on the right side and one on the left. Corineus then summoned all his strength,
for he was infuriated by what had happened. He heaved Gogmagog up on to his shoulders, and running as fast
as he could under the weight, he hurried off to the nearby coast. He clambered up to the top of a mighty cliff,
shook himself free and hurled this deadly monster, whom he was carrying on his shoulders, far out into the sea.
The giant fell on to a sharp reef of rocks, where he was dashed into a thousand fragments and stained the
waters with his blood. The place took its name from the fact that the giant was hurled down there and it is
called Gogmagog’s Leap to this day.
Reading Comprehension
From The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, translated with an introduction
by Lewis Thorpe (Penguin Classics, 1966). Translation copyright © Lewis Thorpe, 1966.
Used by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
____ 11. Why is the first paragraph characteristic of historical writing?
A. The author describes only historically accurate events.
B. The author reveals his personal interpretation.
C. The author describes events in chronological order.
D. The author acknowledges the existence of giants.
____ 12. Based on the excerpt, the reader can infer that wrestling was —
A. valued as a noble sport
B. feared by most citizens
C. considered a luxury
D. watched only by royalty
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ID: A
____ 13. In the last lines of the excerpt, the author’s purpose is to —
A. stress the lasting importance of Gogmagog’s death
B. connect a piece of ancient history with modern Britain
C. explain the significance of a human’s defeating a giant
D. persuade readers to visit Gogmagog’s Leap in Britain
Use context clues and the Latin word and root definitions to answer the
following questions.
____ 14. The Latin root rupt means “to break.” What does the word corruption mean in line 18 of The History of the
Kings of Britain?
A. Complete and total destruction
B. The gradual decaying or rotting of
C. Moral depravity or dishonesty
D. A change in the original form of
____ 15. The Latin root vers means “turn.” What does the word adversary mean in line 79 of “The Pardoner’s
Prologue”?
A. Opponent
B. Scoundrel
C. Menace
D. Trickster
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ID: A
Use context clues and your knowledge of roots and affixes to answer the following
questions.
____ 16. What does the word uninhabited mean in line 1 of The History of the Kings of Britain?
A. Naturally beautiful
B. Free of occupants
C. Recently discovered
D. Without reservation
Use context clues and your knowledge of etymology to answer the following questions about
words from "The Pardoner's Prologue."
____ 17. Which word comes from haut or halt, an Old French word that means “high?”
A. Huge
B. Heart
C. Haughty
D. Hand
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Revising and Editing
Directions
Read the expository essay and answer the questions that follow.
(1) Relationships are an almost universal topic of interest. (2) People make art
in order to explore the nature of relationships. (3) The ballads of medieval
England and Scotland are one such art form. (4) Although written several
hundred years ago, these songs are still well known today. (5) “Barbara Allan”
and “Get Up and Bar the Door” both use the ballad form to relate different types
of relationships involving strong women. (6) Although similar in structure, these
two ballads portray two different relationships.
(7) “Barbara Allan” tells of Sir John Graeme, who fell in love with Barbara
Allan. (8) He summons a friend to bring her to him. (9) He is dying of heartache.
(10) But when Barbara Allan arrives, she refuses Graeme’s love because he failed
to toast her in public. (11) After she stubbornly refuses him in line 15, John
Graeme dies. (12) As Barbara Allan leaves, she says that Graeme was her love
and that “Since my love died for me today, I’ll die for him tomorrow.” (13) The
poem tells the story of one love affair that ends sadly.
(14) “Get Up and Bar the Door” is about another relationship. (15) This ballad
uses humor to tell a story of stubbornness. (16) When the mistress of the
household has work to do, her husband tells her close the door. (17) She replies
that she will not do so in a hundred years. (18) The couple then agrees that
whoever speaks first must fasten the door.
(19) Later, two intruders enter the house, and because the couple refuses to
talk, the strangers eat their food. (20) They also threaten to kiss the wife and
shave the husband’s beard. (21) Until this point, the husband and wife are still too
stubborn to speak. (22) The intruders threaten to scald the old man with super hot
broth. (23) Then the man speaks out angrily. (24) His wife, however, rejoices
saying, “Goodman, you’ve spoken the foremost word, / Get up and bar the door”.
(25) She gleefully skips three times and gloats that now her husband must bar the
door. (26) While “Barbara Allan” uses the ballad form to tell a romantic story,
“Get Up and Bar the Door” employs humor to highlight the events of its
narrative.
(27) In the end, Barbara Allan regrets her stubbornness. (28) Both ballads
relate a single incident. (29) Both ballads relate stories about headstrong women
who refuse to make decisions in order to please someone else. (30) The wife in
“Get Up and Bar the Door,” however, disregards the dangers presented by the
intruders and simply revels in the fact that she has won the wager.
____ 18. The thesis is effective because it —
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A. suggests a cause-and-effect relationship between the poems
B. explains the historical significance of various art forms
C. establishes the focus of the essay
D. summarizes the writer’s opinions about poetry
____ 19. What is the best way to combine sentences 8 and 9 using a subordinate clause and an independent clause?
A. He summons a friend to bring her to him, and he is dying of heartache.
B. Because he is dying of heartache, he summons a friend to bring her to him.
C. He is dying of heartache, and he summons a friend to bring her to him.
D. He summons a friend to bring her to him who is dying of heartache.
____ 20. Which sentence gives a specific example that supports the thesis?
A. Sentence 7
B. Sentence 8
C. Sentence 13
D. Sentence 14
____ 21. For the essay to follow proper organization, sentence 27 should follow —
A. Sentence 25
B. Sentence 28
C. Sentence 29
D. Sentence 30
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Use “Sonnet 61” (p. 197) to answer these questions.
____ 22. Based on the first quatrain, the reader can conclude that the speaker’s relationship with the subject of the poem
is —
A. coming to an end
B. becoming difficult
C. growing deeper
D. resulting in marriage
____ 23. The sonnet’s turn, or shift in thought, reveals that the speaker feels —
A. bitter about the end of the relationship with the poem’s subject
B. sorry that he never loved the poem’s subject
C. hopeful that the poem’s subject still loves him
D. confident that he no longer loves the poem’s subject
____ 24. Which words from the poem best demonstrate exact rhyme?
A. me, free (lines 2 and 4)
B. again, retain (lines 6 and 8)
C. failing, kneeling (lines 10 and 11)
D. over, recover (lines 13 and 14)
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Read this selection. Then answer the questions that follow it.
from A Man and His Pig
Lewis Lapham
1 Toward the end of last month I received an urgent telephone call from a correspondent on the frontiers of
the higher technology who said that I had better begin thinking about pigs. Soon, he said, it would be
possible to grow a pig replicating the DNA of anybody rich enough to order such a pig, and once the
technique was safely in place, I could forget most of what I had learned about the consolations of literature
and philosophy. He didn’t yet have the details of all the relevant genetic engineering, and he didn’t expect
custom-tailored pigs to appear in time for the Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalogue, but the new day was
dawning a lot sooner than most people supposed, and he wanted to be sure that I was conversant with the
latest trends.
2 At first I didn’t appreciate the significance of the news, and I said something polite about the wonders
that never cease. With the air of impatience characteristic of him when speaking to the literary sector, my
correspondent explained that very private pigs would serve as banks, or stores, for organ transplants. If the
owner of a pig had a sudden need for a heart or a kidney, he wouldn’t have to buy the item on the spot
market. Nor would he have to worry about the availability, location, species, or racial composition of a
prospective donor. He merely would bring his own pig to the hospital, and the surgeons would perform the
metamorphosis.
3 “Think of pigs as wine cellars,” the correspondent said, “and maybe you will understand their place in
the new scheme of things.”
4 He was in a hurry, and he hung up before I had the chance to ask further questions, but after brooding on
the matter for some hours I thought that I could grasp at least a few of the preliminary implications.
Certainly the manufacture of handmade pigs was consistent with the spirit of an age devoted to the beauty
of money. For the kind of people who already own most everything worth owning—for President Reagan’s
friends in Beverly Hills and the newly minted plutocracy that glitters in the show windows of the national
media—what toy or bauble could match the priceless objet d’art of a surrogate self?
5 My correspondent didn’t mention a probable price for a pig made in one’s own image, but I’m sure that
it wouldn’t come cheap. The possession of such a pig obviously would become a status symbol of the first
rank, and I expect that the animals sold to the carriage trade would cost at least as much as a Rolls-Royce
or beachfront property in Malibu. Anybody wishing to present an affluent countenance to the world would
be obliged to buy a pig for every member of the household—for the servants and secretaries as well as for
the children. Some people would keep a pig at both their town and country residences, and celebrities as
precious as Joan Collins or as nervous as General Alexander Haig might keep herds of twenty to thirty
pigs. The larger corporations might offer custom-made pigs—together with the limousines, the stock
options, and the club memberships—as another perquisite to secure the loyalty of the executive classes.
6 Contrary to the common belief, pigs are remarkably clean and orderly animals. They could be trained to
behave graciously in the nation’s better restaurants, thus accustoming themselves to a taste not only for
truffles but also for Dom Pérignon and béchamel sauce. If a man needs a new stomach in a hurry, it’s
helpful if the stomach in transit already knows what’s what.
7 Within a matter of a few months (i.e., once people began to acquire more respectful attitudes toward
pigs), I assume that designers like Galanos and Giorgio Armani would introduce lines of porcine couture.
On the East Side of Manhattan, as well as in the finer suburbs, I can imagine gentlemen farmers opening
schools for pigs. Not a rigorous curriculum, of course, nothing as elaborate as the dressage taught to
thoroughbred horses, but a few airs and graces, some tips on good grooming, and a few phrases of
rudimentary French.
18

Name: ________________________
ID: A
8 As pigs became more familiar as companions to the rich and famous, they might begin to attend charity
balls and theater benefits. I can envision collections of well-known people posing with their pigs for
photographs in the fashion magazines—Katharine Graham and her pig at Nantucket, Donald Trump and
his pig at Palm Beach, Norman Mailer and his pig pondering a metaphor in the writer’s study.
9 Celebrities too busy to attend all the occasions to which they’re invited might choose to send their pigs.
The substitution could not be construed as an insult, because the pigs—being extraordinarily expensive and
well dressed—could be seen as ornamental figures of stature (and sometimes subtlety of mind) equivalent
to that of their patrons. Senators could send their pigs to routine committee meetings, and President Reagan
might send one or more of his pigs to state funerals in lieu of Vice President Bush.
10 People constantly worrying about medical emergencies probably wouldn’t want to leave home without
their pigs. Individuals suffering only mild degrees of stress might get in the habit of leading their pigs
around on leashes, as if they were poodles or Yorkshire terriers. People displaying advanced symptoms of
anxiety might choose to sit for hours on a sofa or park bench, clutching their pigs as if they were the best of
all possible teddy bears, content to look upon the world with the beatific smile of people who know they
have been saved.
11 I’m sure the airlines would allow first-class passengers to travel to Europe or California in the company
of their pigs, and I like to imagine the sight of the pairs of differently shaped heads when seen from the rear
of the cabin.
12 For people living in Dallas or Los Angeles, it probably wouldn’t be too hard to make space for a pig in
a backyard or garage; in Long Island and Connecticut, the gentry presumably would keep herds of pigs on
their estates, and this would tend to sponsor the revival of the picturesque forms of environmentalism
favored by Marie Antoinette and the Sierra Club. The nation’s leading architects, among them Philip
Johnson and I.M. Pei, could be commissioned to design fanciful pigpens distinguished by postmodern
allusions to nineteenth-century barnyards.
13 But in New York, the keeping of swine would be a more difficult business, and so I expect that the
owners of expensive apartments would pay a good deal more attention to the hiring of a swineherd than to
the hiring of a doorman or managing agent. Pens could be constructed in the basement, but somebody
would have to see to it that the pigs were comfortable, well fed, and safe from disease. The jewelers in town
could be relied upon to devise name tags, in gold or lapis lazuli, that would prevent the appalling possibility
of mistaken identity. If a resident grandee had to be rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, and if
it so happened that the heart of one of Dan Rather’s pigs was placed in the body of Howard Cosell, I’m
afraid that even Raoul Felder would be hard pressed to work out an equitable settlement.
14 With regard to the negative effects of the new technology, I could think of relatively few obvious losses.
The dealers in bacon and pork sausage might suffer a decline in sales, and footballs would have to be made
of something other than pigskin. The technology couldn’t be exported to Muslim countries, and certain
unscrupulous butchers trading in specialty meats might have to be restrained from buying up the herds
originally collected by celebrities recently deceased. Without strict dietary laws I can imagine impresarios
of a nouvelle cuisine charging $2,000 for choucroute de Barbara Walters or potted McEnroe.
15 But mostly I could think only of the benign genius of modern science. Traffic in the cities could be
expected to move more gently (in deference to the number of pigs roaming the streets for their afternoon
stroll), and I assume that the municipal authorities would provide large meadows for people wishing to
romp and play with their pigs.
From “A Man and His Pig,” from 30 Satires by Lewis Lapham. Copyright © 2003 by Lewis H. Lapham. Used
by permission of The New Press.
Reading Comprehension
19

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 25. Which statement best summarizes the correspondent’s explanation in paragraph 2?
A. The pigs would be a lucrative and desirable investment for the very wealthy.
B. Pigs would be genetically designed to serve as surrogate children for celebrities.
C. The pigs would be bought, sold, and stored by the wealthy in cellars, like wine.
D. Pigs with the same DNA as their owners would provide organs for transplants.
20

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Read this selection. Then answer the questions that follow it.
Welcome to the Library . . . Now Leave!
1 Public librarians around the country dread the mid-afternoon hours. They know that around 3:00 P.M.
every weekday, hordes of hungry, noisy, and rowdy teenagers are leaving school and, having no better
place to go, heading to public libraries to “do their homework.” That’s the official reason, but as most
librarians know, the more likely scenario is that the teens will invade and conquer. They will swarm the
tables, chairs, and computer stations, gossiping noisily, making cell phone calls, and eating messy snacks.
They will chase one another around the stacks and cause a commotion, raising complaints and ruining the
quiet atmosphere so conducive to studying.
2 In many public libraries around the country, incidents of fights, vandalism, and even criminal behavior
have forced library boards to take drastic action. For example, in one Illinois community, the library
requires all children under age 16 to be accompanied by an adult. In Joliet, Illinois, all teens have to sign in
and show identification in order to use the library. Those without ID must sit and wait while a librarian
calls their parents.
3 The problem of rowdy teens hanging out in libraries is not limited to Illinois; librarians everywhere deal
with the same issue. But kicking teens out, treating them like felons, or calling the police are not good
solutions. Discrimination against teens in public libraries is not only unfair to young people; it also betrays
the mission statement of nearly every public library in America. What’s more, pushing teens away from
libraries is a shortsighted response that misses an ideal opportunity for community building and leads teens
to perceive the library as a negative, exclusionary place. Why risk all of this when libraries could gain so
much by welcoming local teens?
4 Teen advocates and civil rights experts are quick to respond to some public libraries’ decisions to ban
teens or restrict their access to library materials. To them, the matter is one of clear-cut discrimination.
When a library policy appears to “rule out or identify for different treatment a particular group of people,”
librarian Leslie Edmonds Holt is quick to classify the problem as a civil rights issue. Genevieve Gallagher,
a librarian from Orange County, Virginia, puts the issue more bluntly, identifying the restrictive library
policies in Joliet in particular as “blatant discrimination that would be unthinkable if the group in question
was anyone other than teens.”
5 As a result, librarians, who are usually great advocates of freedom of speech, suddenly find themselves
putting the brakes on young people’s intellectual freedom. Restricting access to libraries goes against
everything in which librarians—public or otherwise—believe. Louise McAulay, the executive director of
the Suburban Library System in Illinois, says that the idea of denying teens access “doesn’t seem consistent
with normal library policies.” Authors Susan B. Harden and Melanie Huggins remind librarians that
dealing with whoever walks in the door is an occupational challenge: “Simply put, any barrier to library
access is a failure on the part of libraries to serve this group. Libraries exist to serve everyone and can play
a positive role in the lives of teens—even difficult ones.” To turn a young adult away from the library is
simply not an acceptable option.
6 Turning teens away or otherwise limiting their access to libraries is not only an issue of
discrimination—it is also an issue of safety. Sadly, public libraries have become de facto teen day-care
centers for many American students. According to one study, roughly seven million high school students
are left to their own devices after school. Without extracurricular activities or parental supervision, many
of these teens have no place to go aside from the library. While many do homework or study, some students
are just looking for a safe place to hang out. Banishing students from the library or otherwise restricting
their access puts some of these teens at risk. Is that a fair trade-off?
21

Name: ________________________
ID: A
7 Although some critics argue that public libraries are not responsible for teens’ safety, many librarians
disagree. Evan St. Lifer points out that children’s well-being has been one of the bedrock principles of
public libraries since the mid-nineteenth century. The earliest public libraries specifically identified saving
“youth from the evils of an ill-spent leisure” as one of their many goals. St. Lifer poses the question, Is it
the mission of the public library to “make the community better?” His answer is yes. Looking at the current
mission statements of public libraries around the nation, he discovers that most still include the concept of
enhancing community life, which means providing a safe haven for every member—including teenagers.
According to writer Patrick Jones, “The role of any library is to make its community better, so the role of
librarians working with teens is to make that community better.”
8 Jami Jones takes a positive approach to the problem of teens and libraries. She applies the concept of
“social capital,” a term that sociologists use to describe what Jones calls “the glue that holds us together.”
In other words, librarians and libraries are part of a complex web. Rather than thinking of themselves as
babysitters or traffic police, librarians should see themselves and behave like society’s “glue.” As role
models and authority figures, they can understand teens’ needs and involve young people in the library
community. They can, as Jones puts it, “help shape the way children develop, view others in their
community, and relate to institutions.” Librarians have a responsibility to keep teens safe, absorb them into
the larger community, and teach them to value books and to respect others.
9 Many librarians might be surprised to learn how relatively easy it can be to help teens settle down and
get involved. In her article “Looks Like Teen Spirit,” Kimberly Bolan describes the success many libraries
have had in creating study areas and lounges that specifically meet the needs of teenagers. As she explains,
“many libraries have transformed their young adult areas into more efficient, innovative, and inspirational
spaces.” By creating open, flexibly designed spaces that are set apart from the other patrons, libraries can
appeal to teens and provide them with a relaxed atmosphere to read, study, socialize, and even eat. Some
may argue that catering to teens’ penchants for gossip and pizza is hardly a library’s responsibility.
Perhaps the question of why a community would model a library after a living room can be best answered
with another question: Why not make young people feel at home? A comfortable environment will only
increase the likelihood that a young person will discover the joys of reading and of visiting the library
10 What critics of this solution often forget is that every age group deserves equal access to libraries.
Teens are often unfairly singled out because of their behavior. But as Susan B. Harden and Melanie
Huggins point out in their article “Here Comes Trouble,” teens are not the only ones who make noise.
“Younger kids scream, laugh, and squeal with excitement,” they say. “At the same time, seniors with
hearing aids can get loud, and babies, by nature, are pretty noisy folks.” To single out teens is unfair, and
such treatment is unlikely to build their trust in or respect for authority. Harden and Huggins’ suggestions
for finding fair ways to make libraries accessible and comfortable for all patrons include having simple,
clear rules that are applied consistently to all library users. They also encourage librarians to treat each
subset of patrons with respect and understanding. Harden and Huggins comment that librarians should be
more sympathetic to common teen behavior: “Socializing in large groups, boisterous banter, pushing
boundaries, and inappropriate use of library computers or furniture are easier to digest when we understand
the physical, emotional, and intellectual development of teens.” Harden and Huggins also recommend that
librarians think back to their own teenage years before dealing harshly with adolescent patrons.
11 Today’s teenagers will soon grow up and graduate high school, but another wave is coming right on
their heels. Like it or not, there will always be teenagers around, working on research papers or looking for
good books to read. We need to consider the importance of building relationships with these teens.
Librarians and library board members who take the time to understand and accommodate the needs of teens
will find reward in having created a welcoming space that serves the entire community. We should all take
a page from that book.
Reading Comprehension
22

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 26. Based on paragraph 1, the reader can conclude that —
A. teenagers endanger regular public library patrons
B. libraries are not appropriate places for teenagers
C. teenagers often behave inappropriately in libraries
D. librarians must provide teenagers with a safe place
____ 27. What is the author’s main claim?
A. Keeping teens out of libraries stops them from becoming members of the community.
B. Pushing teens out of libraries is unfair and against the basic mission of libraries.
C. Denying teens access to libraries will make them dislike books.
D. Kicking teens out of libraries denies them an opportunity to gain a solid education.
____ 28. What is the author’s opinion about the practice of banning teens from libraries?
A. Teens should be banned only for noisy and disruptive behavior.
B. It is a poor solution that runs the risk of alienating teens.
C. Banning teens is one of the few options that libraries have.
D. It is a solution that would punish other library patrons.
23

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of connotation and denotation to answer the
following questions.
____ 29. What connotation does the word beatific have in paragraph 10 of “A Man and His Pig”?
A. Satisfied
B. Smug
C. Enlightened
D. Happy
Use context clues to answer the following questions about words in “A Man and His Pig.”
____ 30. What does the word implications mean in paragraph 4?
A. Implied meanings or significance
B. Potential opposing arguments
C. Unusual comparisons or descriptions
D. Straightforward statistics
____ 31. What does the word plutocracy mean in paragraph 4?
A. Close friend of a famous person
B. Professional shopper
C. Wealthy governing class
D. Bright and shiny new object
24

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Use context clues and your knowledge of roots and affixes to answer the following
questions.
____ 32. What does the word rudimentary mean in paragraph 7 of “A Man and His Pig”?
A. Primary
B. Basic
C. Principled
D. Daily
25

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Revising and Editing
Directions
Read the persuasive essay and answer the questions that follow.
(1) It’s 7:45 in the evening, and you’re still trying to finish your homework.
(2) You’re exhausted. (3) You’re frustrated. (4) You can’t believe you’ve been doing
homework since you arrived home four hours earlier. (5) This situation might sound familiar to
you. (6) Many students are overwhelmed by too much homework. (7) To remedy this problem
schools should implement plans that restrict the amount of homework students have each week.
(8) The first reason that schools should implement homework plans is that large quantities
of homework often result in poor quality. (9) Students works quickly in order to finish the
mounds of homework assigned to them. (10) A student would spend more time on homework if
he or she had only two assignments to complete instead of four. (11) Fewer assignments would
benefit both students and teachers. (12) Students would have more time to focus their efforts.
(13) In addition teachers would have a better understanding of how students are doing in their
classes.
(14) Another reason for limiting homework is that many students participate in
extracurricular activities or hold after-school jobs. (15) These activities benefit students. (16)
These activities limit the amount of available homework time. (17) A plan that limited
homework each night would allow ample time for activities, jobs, and schoolwork.
(18) Another reason for instituting homework plans is that students would be able to spend
more time with their families. (19) Hours and hours of homework prevent students from
spending quality time with their parents, guardians, and siblings. (20) Less homework would
increase family communication. (21) Less homework would provide more bonding time at
home.
(22) It is rare for a student to have less than two hours of homework each night. (23) As a
result student free time has never been so low. (24) Homework schedules are necessary to give
students the time they need to produce quality work, to participate in activities and jobs, and to
spend more time with their families. (25) Schools need to recognize this growing problem before
student learning and growth is permanently damaged.
____ 33. Choose the best way to vary the beginnings of sentences 15 and 16.
A. The activities benefit students. The activities limit the amount of available homework time.
B. Activities benefit students. Activities, however, limit the amount of available homework
time.
C. Students benefit from these activities. Students have limited available homework time.
D. These activities benefit students. However, they also limit the amount of available
homework time.
26

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 34. Which word in sentence 25 is an example of persuasive language?
A. Schools
B. This
C. Is
D. Damaged
27

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Read the poem. Then answer the questions that follow it.
The Question
Percy Bysshe Shelley
I
II
III
I dreamed that, as I wandered by the way,
Bare Winter suddenly was changed to Spring,
And gentle odours led my steps astray,
Mixed with a sound of waters murmuring
5 Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay
Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling
Its green arms round the bosom of the stream,
But kissed it and then fled, as thou mightest in dream.
There grew pied wind-flowers and violets,
10 Daisies, those pearled Arcturi of the earth,
The constellated flower that never sets;
Faint oxslips; tender bluebells, at whose birth
The sod scarce heaved; and that tall flower that wets—
Like a child, half in tenderness and mirth—
15 Its mother’s face with Heaven’s collected tears,
When the low wind, its playmate’s voice, it hears.
And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine,
Green cowbind and the moonlight-coloured may,
And cherry-blossoms, and white cups, whose wine
20 Was the bright dew, yet drained not by the day;
And wild roses, and ivy serpentine,
With its dark buds and leaves, wandering astray;
And flowers azure, black, and streaked with gold,
Fairer than any wakened eyes behold.
IV
25 And nearer to the river’s trembling edge
There grew broad flag-flowers, purple pranked with white,
And starry river buds among the sedge,
And floating water-lilies, broad and bright,
Which lit the oak that overhung the hedge
30 With moonlight beams of their own watery light;
And bulrushes, and reeds of such deep green
As soothed the dazzled eye with sober sheen.
28

Name: ________________________
ID: A
V
Methought that of these visionary flowers
I made a nosegay, bound in such a way
35 That the same hues, which in their natural bowers
Were mingled or opposed, the like array
Kept these imprisoned children of the Hours
Within my hand,—and then, elate and gay,
I hastened to the spot whence I had come.
40 That I might present it! — Oh! To whom?
Reading Comprehension
____ 35. The phrase “waters murmuring” in line 4 appeals to the sense of —
A. sight
B. smell
C. hearing
D. touch
____ 36. The phrase “green arms” in line 7 demonstrates Shelley’s personification of —
A. gentle odors
B. a bank of turf
C. spring
D. a copse
____ 37. Which statement best describes the theme of the poem?
A. You can find great happiness in nature.
B. Flowers are the perfect gift for anyone.
C. You should always have a goal in mind.
D. Dreams usually result in disappointment.
29

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 38. Which emotion does the speaker express in the last stanza?
A. Fear of imprisonment
B. Boredom with winter
C. Desire to regain control
D. Delight with nature
30

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Read this selection. Then answer the questions that follow it.
The Mouse
Saki
1 Theodoric Voler had been brought up, from infancy to the confines of middle age, by a fond mother whose
chief solicitude had been to keep him screened from what she called the coarser realities of life. When she died
she left Theodoric alone in a world that was as real as ever, and a good deal coarser than he considered it had
any need to be. To a man of his temperament and upbringing even a simple railway journey was crammed with
petty annoyances and minor discords, and as he settled himself down in a second-class compartment one
September morning he was conscious of ruffled feelings and general mental discomposure. He had been staying
at a country vicarage, the inmates of which had been certainly neither brutal nor bacchanalian, but their
supervision of the domestic establishment had been of the lax order which invites disaster. The pony carriage
that was to take him to the station had never been properly ordered, and when the moment for his departure
drew near the handyman who should have produced the required article was nowhere to be found. In this
emergency Theodoric, to his mute but very intense disgust, found himself obliged to collaborate with the vicar’s
daughter in the task of harnessing the pony, which necessitated groping about in an ill-lighted outhouse called a
stable, and smelling very like one—except in patches where it smelt of mice. Without being actually afraid of
mice, Theodoric classed them among the coarser incidents of life, and considered that Providence, with a little
exercise of moral courage, might long ago have recognized that they were not indispensable, and have
withdrawn them from circulation. As the train glided out of the station Theodoric’s nervous imagination
accused himself of exhaling a weak odor of stableyard, and possibly of displaying a moldy straw or two on his
usually well-brushed garments. Fortunately the only other occupant of the compartment, a lady of about the
same age as himself, seemed inclined for slumber rather than scrutiny; the train was not due to stop till the
terminus was reached, in about an hour’s time, and the carriage was of the old-fashioned sort, that held no
communication with a corridor, therefore no further traveling companions were likely to intrude on Theodoric’s
semi-privacy. And yet the train had scarcely attained its normal speed before he became reluctantly but vividly
aware that he was not alone with the slumbering lady; he was not even alone in his own clothes. A warm,
creeping movement over his flesh betrayed the unwelcome and highly resented presence, unseen but poignant,
of a strayed mouse, that had evidently dashed into its present retreat during the episode of the pony harnessing.
Furtive stamps and shakes and wildly directed pinches failed to dislodge the intruder, whose motto, indeed,
seemed to be Excelsior; and the lawful occupant of the clothes lay back against the cushions and endeavored
rapidly to evolve some means for putting an end to the dual ownership. It was unthinkable that he should
continue for the space of a whole hour in the horrible position of a Rowton House for vagrant mice (already his
imagination had at least doubled the numbers of the alien invasion). On the other hand, nothing less drastic than
partial disrobing would ease him of his tormentor, and to undress in the presence of a lady, even for so laudable
a purpose, was an idea that made his eartips tingle in a blush of abject shame. He had never been able to bring
himself even to the mild exposure of open-work socks in the presence of the fair sex. And yet—the lady in this
case was to all appearances soundly and securely asleep; the mouse, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to
crowd a Wanderjahr into a few strenuous minutes. If there is any truth in the theory of transmigration, this
particular mouse must certainly have been in a former state a member of the Alpine Club. Sometimes in its
eagerness it lost its footing and slipped for half an inch or so; and then, in fright, or more probably temper, it
bit. Theodoric was goaded into the most audacious undertaking of his life. Crimsoning to the hue of a beetroot
and keeping an agonized watch on his slumbering fellow-traveler, he swiftly and noiselessly secured the ends of
his railway-rug to the racks on either side of the carriage, so that a substantial curtain hung athwart the
compartment. In the narrow dressing-room that he had thus improvised he proceeded with violent haste to
extricate himself partially and the mouse entirely from the surrounding casings of tweed and half-wool.
31

Name: ________________________
ID: A
As the unraveled mouse gave a wild leap to the floor, the rug, slipping its fastening at either end, also came
down with a heart-curdling flop, and almost simultaneously the awakened sleeper opened her eyes. With a
movement almost quicker than the mouse’s, Theodoric pounced on the rug, and hauled its ample folds chin-high
over his dismantled person as he collapsed into the further corner of the carriage. The blood raced and beat in
the veins of his neck and forehead, while he waited dumbly for the communication-cord to be pulled. The lady,
however, contented herself with a silent stare at her strangely muffled companion. How much had she seen,
Theodoric queried to himself, and in any case what on earth must she think of his present posture?
2 “I think I have caught a chill,” he ventured desperately.
3 “Really, I’m sorry,” she replied. “I was just going to ask you if you would open this window.”
4 “I fancy it’s malaria,” he added, his teeth chattering slightly, as much from fright as from a desire to support
his theory.
5 “I’ve got some brandy in my hold-all, if you’ll kindly reach it down for me,” said his companion.
6 “Not for worlds—I mean, I never take anything for it,” he assured her earnestly.
7 “I suppose you caught it in the Tropics?”
8 Theodoric, whose acquaintance with the Tropics was limited to an annual present of a chest of tea from an
uncle in Ceylon, felt that even the malaria was slipping from him. Would it be possible, he wondered, to
disclose the real state of affairs to her in small installments?
9 “Are you afraid of mice?” he ventured, growing, if possible, more scarlet in the face.
10 “Not unless they came in quantities, like those that ate up Bishop Hatto. Why do you ask?”
11 “I had one crawling inside my clothes just now,” said Theodoric in a voice that hardly seemed his own. “It
was a most awkward situation.”
12 “It must have been, if you wear your clothes at all tight,” she observed; “but mice have strange ideas of
comfort.”
13 “I had to get rid of it while you were asleep,” he continued; then, with a gulp, he added, “it was getting rid
of it that brought me to—to this.”
14 “Surely leaving off one small mouse wouldn’t bring on a chill,” she exclaimed, with a levity that Theodoric
accounted abominable.
15 Evidently she had detected something of his predicament, and was enjoying his confusion. All the blood in
his body seemed to have mobilized in one concentrated blush, and an agony of abasement, worse than a myriad
mice, crept up and down over his soul. And then, as reflection began to assert itself, sheer terror took the place
of humiliation. With every minute that passed the train was rushing nearer to the crowded and bustling terminus
where dozens of prying eyes would be exchanged for the one paralyzing pair that watched him from the further
corner of the carriage. There was one slender despairing chance, which the next few minutes must decide. His
fellow-traveler might relapse into a blessed slumber. But as the minutes throbbed by that chance ebbed away.
The furtive glance which Theodoric stole at her from time to time disclosed only an unwinking wakefulness.
16 “I think we must be getting near now,” she presently observed.
17 Theodoric had already noted with growing terror the recurring stacks of small, ugly dwellings that heralded
the journey’s end. The words acted as a signal. Like a hunted beast breaking cover and dashing madly towards
some other haven of momentary safety he threw aside his rug, and struggled frantically into his disheveled
garments. He was conscious of dull suburban stations racing past the window, of a choking, hammering
sensation in his throat and heart, and of an icy silence in that corner towards which he dared not look. Then as
he sank back in his seat, clothed and almost delirious, the train slowed down to a final crawl, and the woman
spoke.
18 Would you be so kind,” she asked, “as to get me a porter to put me into a cab? It’s a shame to trouble you
when you’re feeling unwell, but being blind makes one so helpless at a railway station.”
Reading Comprehension
32

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 39. “The Mouse” is characteristic of realism because Saki —
A. uses dialogue that captures the sounds of everyday speech
B. portrays the lives and values of the lower class
C. depicts the human condition in an objective manner
D. has an interest in attaining social equality and exposing society’s ills
____ 40. The author uses the phrase “Like a hunted beast breaking cover” to —
A. show Theodoric’s concern for the mouse
B. illustrate the other passenger’s reaction
C. describe how frantically Theodoric moved
D. describe how quickly the mouse moved
33

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Read this selection. Then answer the questions that follow it.
The following excerpt is from a lecture that John Ruskin delivered in 1864. Ruskin was an influential social
critic of the Victorian era.
from Sesame: Of Kings’ Treasuries
John Ruskin
31. My friends, I do not know why any of us should talk about reading. We want some sharper
discipline than that of reading; but, at all events, be assured, we cannot read. No reading is possible for a
people with its mind in this state. No sentence of any great writer is intelligible to them. It is simply and
sternly impossible for the English public, at this moment, to understand any thoughtful writing,—so
incapable of thought has it become in its insanity of avarice. Happily, our disease is, as yet, little worse
than this incapacity of thought; it is not corruption of the inner nature; we ring true still, when anything
strikes home to us; and though the idea that everything should “pay” has infected our every purpose so
deeply, that even when we would play the good Samaritan, we never take out our twopence and give them
to the host without saying, “When I come again, thou shalt give me fourpence,” there is a capacity of noble
passion left in our hearts’ core. We show it in our work,—in our war,—even in those unjust domestic
affections which make us furious at a small private wrong, while we are polite to a boundless public one:
we are still industrious to the last hour of the day, though we add the gambler’s fury to the laborer’s
patience; we are still brave to the death, though incapable of discerning true cause for battle; and are still
true in affection to our own flesh, to the death, as the sea-monsters are, and the rock-eagles. And there is
hope for a nation while this can still be said for it. As long as it holds its life in its hand, ready to give it for
its honor (though a foolish honor), for its love (though a selfish love), and for its business (though a base
business), there is hope for it. But hope only; for this instinctive, reckless virtue cannot last. No nation can
last, which has made a mob of itself, however generous at heart. It must discipline its passions, and direct
them, or they will discipline it, one day, with scorpion whips. Above all a nation cannot last as a
money-making mob: it cannot with impunity,—it cannot with existence,—go on despising literature,
despising science, despising art, despising nature, despising compassion, and concentrating its soul on
Pence. Do you think these are harsh or wild words? Have patience with me but a little longer. I will prove
their truth to you, clause by clause.
34

Name: ________________________
ID: A
32. I.—I say first we have despised literature. What do we, as a nation, care about books? How much
do you think we spend altogether on our libraries, public or private, as compared with what we spend on
our horses? If a man spends lavishly on his library you call him mad—a bibliomaniac. But you never call
any one a horse-maniac, though men ruin themselves every day by their horses, and you do not hear of
people ruining themselves by their books. Or, to go lower still, how much do you think the contents of the
bookshelves of the United Kingdom, public and private, would fetch, as compared with the contents of its
wine-cellars? What position would its expenditure on literature take, as compared with its expenditure on
luxurious eating? We talk of food for the mind, as of food for the body; now a good book contains such
food inexhaustibly; it is a provision for life, and for the best part of us; yet how long most people would
look at the best book before they would give the price of a large turbot for it! though there have been men
who have pinched their stomachs and bared their backs to buy a book, whose libraries were cheaper to
them, I think, in the end, than most men’s dinners are. We are few of us put to such trial, and more the pity;
for, indeed, a precious thing is all the more precious to us if it has been won by work or economy; and if
public libraries were half as costly as public dinners, or books cost the tenth part of what bracelets do, even
foolish men and women might sometimes suspect there was good in reading, as well as in munching and
sparkling; whereas the very cheapness of literature is making even wise people forget that if a book is
worth reading, it is worth buying. No book is worth anything which is not worth much; nor is it serviceable,
until it has been read, and reread, and loved, and loved again; and marked, so that you can refer to the
passages you want in it as a soldier can seize the weapon he needs in an armory, or a housewife bring the
spice she needs from her store. Bread of flour is good: but there is bread, sweet as honey, if we would eat
it, in a good book; and the family must be poor indeed which, once in their lives, cannot, for such
multipliable barley-loaves, pay their baker’s bill. We call ourselves a rich nation, and we are filthy and
foolish enough to thumb each other’s books out of circulating libraries!
35

Name: ________________________
ID: A
33. II.—I say we have despised science. “What!” you exclaim, “are we not foremost in all discovery,
and is not the whole world giddy by reason, or unreason, of our inventions?” Yes; but do you suppose that
is national work? That work is all done in spite of the nation; by private people’s zeal and money. We are
glad enough, indeed, to make our profit of science; we snap up anything in the way of a scientific bone that
has meat on it, eagerly enough; but if the scientific man comes for a bone or a crust to us, that is another
story. What have we publicly done for science? We are obliged to know what o’clock it is, for the safety of
our ships, and therefore we pay for an observatory; and we allow ourselves, in the person of our
Parliament, to be annually tormented into doing something, in a slovenly way, for the British Museum;
sullenly apprehending that to be a place for keeping stuffed birds in, to amuse our children. If anybody will
pay for his own telescope, and resolve another nebula, we cackle over the discernment as if it were our
own; if one in ten thousand of our hunting squires suddenly perceives that the earth was indeed made to be
something else than a portion for foxes, and burrows in it himself, and tells us where the gold is, and where
the coals, we understand that there is some use in that; and very properly knight him; but is the accident of
his having found out how to employ himself usefully any credit to us? (The negation of such discovery
among his brother squires may perhaps be some discredit to us, if we would consider of it.) But if you
doubt these generalities, here is one fact for us all to meditate upon, illustrative of our love of science. Two
years ago there was a collection of the fossils of Solenhofen to be sold in Bavaria; the best in existence,
containing many specimens unique for perfectness, and one unique as an example of a species (a whole
kingdom of unknown living creatures being announced by that fossil). This collection, of which the mere
market worth, among private buyers, would probably have been some thousand or twelve hundred pounds,
was offered to the English nation for seven hundred; but we would not give seven hundred and the whole
series would have been in the Munich Museum at this moment, if Professor Owen had not with loss of his
own time, and patient tormenting of the British public in person of its representatives, got leave to give four
hundred pounds at once, and himself become answerable for the other three! which the said public will
doubtless pay him eventually, but sulkily, and caring nothing about the matter all the while; only always
ready to cackle if any credit comes of it. Consider, I beg of you, arithmetically, what this fact means. Your
annual expenditure for public purposes (a third of it for military apparatus) is at least fifty millions. Now
700l. is to 50,000,000l., roughly, as seven pence to two thousand pounds. Suppose, then, a gentleman of
unknown income, but whose wealth was to be conjectured from the fact that he spent two thousand a year
on his park-walls and footmen only, professes himself fond of science; and that one of his servants comes
eagerly to tell him that an unique collection of fossils, giving clue to a new era of creation, is to be had for
the sum of seven pence sterling; and that the gentleman, who is fond of science, and spends two thousand a
year on his park, answers, after keeping his servant waiting several months, “Well! I’ll give you four pence
for them, if you will be answerable for the extra three pence yourself, till next year!”
Reading Comprehension
____ 41. Ruskin makes an emotional appeal in the opening lines of the speech in order to —
A. make people ashamed of their inability to read and think critically
B. propose a sweeping plan for nationwide educational reform
C. intimidate opponents of his views on government policy
D. end public debate about the importance of science and art
36

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 42. The comment that an “insanity of avarice” has made the English people “incapable of thought” is an opinion
because it —
A. expresses the value of something
B. makes a prediction about the future
C. commands people to act in a certain way
D. makes an assertion that cannot be proved
____ 43. What is the best paraphrase of the phrase “corruption of the inner nature”?
A. Moral depravity
B. Complete lack of intelligence
C. Genuine disinterest
D. Strong fear of facing challenges
____ 44. Read the following sentence.
“We are glad enough, indeed, to make our profit of science; we snap up anything in the way of a scientific
bone that has meat on it, eagerly enough; but if the scientific man comes for a bone or a crust to us, that is
another story.”
The main idea of the sentence is that people are —
A. happy to enjoy the benefits of science but unwilling to pay for them
B. disrespectful toward scientists, who improve the quality of life
C. excited about advancements in technology but uninterested in how they work
D. unwilling to donate food to provide for others who are less fortunate
37

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 45. Read the last 12 lines of the essay beginning with “Consider this, I beg of you …” These lines represent an
appeal to —
A. authority
B. ethics
C. sympathy
D. logic
Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of word derivations to answer the following
questions.
____ 46. The word spend means “to pay out.” What does the word expenditure mean in paragraph 32.I. of “Sesame: Of
Kings’ Treasuries”?
“What position would its expenditure on literature take …?”
A. Outlay or amount needed
B. List of resources used
C. Removal or elimination
D. Overall public attitude
Use context clues to answer the following questions.
____ 47. What does the word Arcturi mean in line 10 of “The Question”?
A. Waters
B. Stars
C. Predators
D. Jewelry
38

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 48. What does the word nosegay mean in line 34 of “The Question”?
A. Trap
B. Bouquet
C. Dream
D. Bracelet
Use context clues and the definitions of Latin words and roots to answer the following
questions.
____ 49. The Latin word sollicitare means “to disturb.” What does the word solicitude mean in
paragraph 1 of “The Mouse”?
“… a fond mother whose chief solicitude had been to keep him screened from what she called the coarser
realities of life.”
A. Worry
B. Anger
C. Kindness
D. Ambition
____ 50. The Latin word scrutari means “to examine.” What does the word scrutiny mean in paragraph 1 of “The
Mouse”?
“… seemed inclined for slumber rather than scrutiny…”
A. Hard work
B. Close observation
C. Harsh criticism
D. Steady progress
39

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Revising and Editing
Read the literary analysis of poetry and answer the questions that follow.
(1) Nature inspires endless questions. (2) Why is every snowflake different? (3) How
do the planets stay in orbit? (4) In “The Lamb” and “The Tyger,” the poet William Blake
ponders another question about the world. (5) Taken together, these poems explore two
conflicting sides of nature—the beautiful and the terrible.
(6) “The Lamb” is a reflection on the beautiful and innocent aspect of nature. (7) The
image of a lamb feeding by a stream or in a meadow is like a scene from the Garden of
Eden. (8) The poem’s repetition and simple rhymes give them a childlike quality. (9) The
speaker asks the same question at the beginning and end of the poem: “Little Lamb, who
made thee / Dost thou know who made thee?” (10) His description of the animal focuses
on its gentleness. (11) He mentions the lamb’s “tender voice, / making all the vales rejoice”
and its “clothing of delight, / Softest clothing, wooly, bright.” (12) The lamb is also a
religious symbol. (13) The speaker notes that God has the same name. (14) “He is meek,
and He is mild, / For He calls Himself a Lamb.”
(15) “The Tyger” shows the dark side of nature. (16) The tiger is portrayed as
fearsome and untamed. (17) He lives not in a sunny meadow, but he lives in the “forests of
the night.” (18) The speaker in this poem also raises questions about creation: “What
immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” (19) The creator here is seen
as a powerful force, forging the tiger’s heart, brain, and claws with a hammer, an anvil,
and a fiery furnace. (20) The speaker even wonders whether the fire in the tiger’s eyes
came from the “skies”—the stars—or the “distant deeps”— the fires of hell. (21) Both use
repetition and a simple aa bb rhyme scheme. (22) This poem is similar to “The Lamb” in
structure and style. (23) The effect here, though, is not childlike, but unsettling. (24) We
must learn to respect nature in all its forms.
(25) Near the end of “The Tyger,” the speaker poses one of the great paradoxes of
nature: “Did He who made the lamb make thee?” (26) It isn’t stated. (27) The answer is
yes. (28) Nature is a soft summer shower as well as a deadly hurricane. (29) Nature is a
gentle lamb as well as a fierce tiger. (30) These conflicting forces represent what Blake
called “the contrary states of the human soul.”
____ 51. What change, if any, should be made to sentence 10?
A. Change its to his
B. Change focuses to focused
C. Change gentleness to being gentle
D. Make no change
40

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 52. Which revision to sentence 22 contains a subordinate clause?
A. Having similar structure and style makes these two poems similar.
B. Similar structure and style can be found in the two poems.
C. Because of their structure and style, the two poems are similar.
D. Similar in structure and style is true for these poems.
____ 53. Which sentence does not belong in this essay?
A. Sentence 1
B. Sentence 6
C. Sentence 21
D. Sentence 24
____ 54. The writer supports the thesis in the third paragraph by —
A. explaining how the poet reveals the tiger’s nature
B. comparing the lamb and the tiger
C. discussing the poet’s word choice
D. stating we must respect all of nature
____ 55. Sentence 30 is effective in the conclusion because it —
A. introduces a new idea
B. summarizes the main point of the essay
C. explains the importance of conflicting forces
D. reminds the reader of the poet’s name
41

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Read the following short story and the supplemental information about the
cultural context. Then answer the questions that follow.
Dead Men’s Path
Chinua Achebe
1 Michael Obi’s hopes were fulfilled much earlier than he had expected. He was appointed headmaster of
Ndume Central School in January 1949. It had always been an unprogressive school, so the Mission
authorities decided to send a young and energetic man to run it. Obi accepted this responsibility with
enthusiasm. He had many wonderful ideas and this was an opportunity to put them into practice. He had
had sound secondary school education which designated him a “pivotal teacher” in the official records and
set him apart from the other headmasters in the mission field. He was outspoken in his condemnation of the
narrow views of these older and often less-educated ones.
2 “We shall make a good job of it, shan’t we?” he asked his young wife when they first heard the joyful
news of his promotion.
3 “We shall do our best,” she replied. “We shall have such beautiful gardens and everything will be just
modern and delightful. . . .” In their two years of married life she had become completely infected by his
passion for “modern methods” and his denigration of “these old and superannuated people in the teaching
field who would be better employed as traders in the Onitsha market.” She began to see herself already as
the admired wife of the young headmaster, the queen of the school.
4 The wives of the other teachers would envy her position. She would set the fashion in everything. . . .
Then, suddenly, it occurred to her that there might not be other wives. Wavering between hope and fear,
she asked her husband, looking anxiously at him.
5 “All our colleagues are young and unmarried,” he said with enthusiasm which for once she did not share.
“Which is a good thing,” he continued.
6 “Why?”
7 “Why? They will give all their time and energy to the school.”
8 Nancy was downcast. For a few minutes she became skeptical about the new school; but it was only for
a few minutes. Her little personal misfortune could not blind her to her husband’s happy prospects. She
looked at him as he sat folded up in a chair. He was stoop-shouldered and looked frail. But he sometimes
surprised people with sudden bursts of physical energy. In his present posture, however, all his bodily
strength seemed to have retired behind his deep-set eyes, giving them an extraordinary power of
penetration. He was only twenty-six, but looked thirty or more. On the whole, he was not unhandsome.
9 “A penny for your thoughts, Mike,” said Nancy after a while, imitating the woman’s magazine she read.
10 “I was thinking what a grand opportunity we’ve got at last to show these people how a school should be
run.”
11 Ndume School was backward in every sense of the word. Mr. Obi put his whole life into the work, and
his wife hers too. He had two aims. A high standard of teaching was insisted upon, and the school
compound was to be turned into a place of beauty. Nancy’s dream-gardens came to life with the coming of
the rains, and blossomed. Beautiful hibiscus and allemande hedges in brilliant red and yellow marked out
the carefully tended school compound from the rank neighborhood bushes.
12 One evening as Obi was admiring his work he was scandalized to see an old woman from the village
hobble right across the compound, through a marigold flower-bed and the hedges. On going up there he
found faint signs of an almost disused path from the village across the school compound to the bush on the
other side.
13 “It amazes me,” said Obi to one of his teachers who had been three years in the school, “that you people
allowed the villagers to make use of this footpath. It is simply incredible.” He shook his head.
42

Name: ________________________
ID: A
14 “The path,” said the teacher, apologetically, “appears to be very important to them. Although it is
hardly used, it connects the village shrine with their place of burial.”
15 “And what has that got to do with the school?” asked the headmaster.
16 “Well, I don’t know,” replied the other with a shrug of the shoulders. “But I remember there was a big
row some time ago when we attempted to close it.”
17 “That was some time ago. But it will not be used now,” said Obi as he walked away. “What will the
Government Education Officer think of this when he comes to inspect the school next week? The villagers
might, for all I know, decide to use the schoolroom for a pagan ritual during the inspection.”
18 Heavy sticks were planted closely across the path at the two places where it entered and left the school
premises. These were further strengthened with barbed wire.
19 Three days later the village priest of Ani called on the headmaster. He was an old man and walked with
a slight stoop. He carried a stout walking-stick which he usually tapped on the floor, by way of emphasis,
each time he made a new point in his argument. “I have heard,” he said after the usual exchange of
cordialities, “that our ancestral footpath has recently been closed. . . .”
20 “Yes,” replied Mr. Obi. “We cannot allow people to make a highway of our school compound.”
21 “Look here, my son,” said the priest bringing down his walking-stick, “this path was here before you
were born and before your father was born. The whole life of this village depends on it. Our dead relatives
depart by it and our ancestors visit us by it. But most important, it is the path of children coming in to be
born. . . .”
22 Mr. Obi listened with a satisfied smile on his face.
23 “The whole purpose of our school,” he said finally, “is to eradicate just such beliefs as that. Dead men
do not require footpaths. The whole idea is just fantastic. Our duty is to teach your children to laugh at
such ideas.”
24 “What you say may be true,” replied the priest, “but we follow the practices of our fathers. If you
reopen the path we shall have nothing to quarrel about. What I always say is: let the hawk perch and let the
eagle perch.” He rose to go.
25 “I am sorry,” said the young headmaster. “But the school compound cannot be a thoroughfare. It is
against our regulations. I would suggest your constructing another path, skirting our premises. We can
even get our boys to help in building it. I don’t suppose the ancestors will find the little detour too
burdensome.”
26 “I have no more words to say,” said the old priest, already outside.
27 Two days later a young woman in the village died in childbed. A diviner was immediately consulted and
he prescribed heavy sacrifices to propitiate ancestors insulted by the fence.
28 Obi woke up next morning among the ruins of his work. The beautiful hedges were torn up not just near
the path but right round the school, the flowers trampled to death and one of the school buildings pulled
down. . . . That day, the white Supervisor came to inspect the school and wrote a nasty report on the state
of the premises but more seriously about the “tribal-war situation developing between the school and the
village, arising in part from the misguided zeal of the new headmaster.”
Cultural Background
Britain began exerting economic and social influence over Nigerians in the 1860s, and eventually Nigeria was
established as a British Colony in 1914. In the 1940s and 1950s, Britain oversaw the adoption of a series of
new constitutions that were intended to increase Nigerians’ involvement in the colony’s government. Nigeria
gained its independence from Britain in 1960 and became a republic in 1963. For the next several years,
regional governments and tribal groups engaged in bitter conflicts with each other. It was in this context that
Chinua Achebe began to write and publish novels and stories in the late 1950s. Much of Achebe’s writing
concerns the tension between colonial and traditional African views of language, religion, and other aspects of
culture and self-identity.
43

Name: ________________________
ID: A
For centuries Nigeria has been home to tribes such as the Hausa, Yoruba, Fulani, and Ibo, the tribe from which
Achebe is descended. Traditional Ibo communities are typically led by village councils made up of elders and
other individuals who have attained economic and personal success. Several variations of tribal languages are
spoken by different groups of villagers. Religious practices also vary among villages, although some features,
such as ancestor worship, were widespread before aspects of western culture were introduced in Christian
missions and colonial schools.
“Dead Men’s Path,” from Girls At War and Other Stories by Chinua Achebe. Copyright © 1972, 1973 by
Chinua Achebe, Used by permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.
Reading Comprehension
Use “Dead Men’s Path” (pp. 245–247) and the Cultural Background (p. 247) to answer
these questions.
____ 56. Based on the selection and the Cultural Background, the reader can conclude that the villagers —
A. welcome change from other Nigerians
B. believe in a strong education
C. want to protect their traditions
D. like newcomers to their village
____ 57. What conclusion can the reader draw from Nancy Obi’s disappointment that the staff is unmarried?
A. The Obis will be able to have a busy social life.
B. Michael Obi will devote himself entirely to his work.
C. Nancy Obi will be admired by many other women.
D. Nancy Obi always agrees with her husband.
____ 58. Which statement best describes the relationship of Michael and Nancy Obi?
A. It is a challenge for Nancy and Michael Obi to find common interests.
B. Michael Obi relies on Nancy for guidance on business matters.
C. Michael and Nancy Obi are confident and usually agree about the future.
D. Nancy and Michael Obi seem content to dedicate their lives to service.
44

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 59. Why does the village priest call on the headmaster?
A. The headmaster has had a fence erected to block the villagers’ footpath.
B. The priest learns that a government officer will soon inspect the school.
C. The headmaster jokes about the villagers’ performance of a pagan ritual.
D. Mission authorities appoint a new headmaster of Ndume School.
45

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Read these selections. Then answer the questions that follow them.
In the excerpt from his memoirs, General Montgomery, the commander of Britain’s Desert Army during
World War II, recalls his strategy for the battle of Alamein. This battle proved to be an important African victory
for the Allied cause.
from Memoirs of Field-Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
Bernard Law Montgomery
1 I had pondered deeply over what I had heard about armored battles in the desert and it seemed to me that
what Rommel liked was to get our armor to attack him; he then disposed of his own armor behind a screen
of anti-tank guns, knocked out our tanks, and finally had the field to himself. I was determined that would
not happen if Rommel decided to attack us before we were ready to launch a full-scale offensive against
him. I would not allow our tanks to rush out at him; we would stand firm in the Alamein position, hold the
Ruweisat and Alam Halfa Ridges securely, and let him beat up against them. We would fight a static battle
and my forces would not move; his tanks would come up against our tanks dug-in in hull-down positions at
the western edge of the Alam Halfa Ridge.
2 During the day I met on the southern flank the general commanding 7 Armored Division, the famous
Desert Rats. We discussed the expected attack by Rommel and he said there was only one question to be
decided: who would loose the armor against Rommel? He thought he himself should give the word for that
to happen. I replied that no one would loose the armor; it would not be loosed and we would let Rommel
bump into it for a change. This was a new idea to him and he argued about it a good deal.
3 When I got back to my headquarters that night the outline of my immediate plans for strengthening the
Alamein position was clear in my mind. I was determined to make the position so strong that we would
begin our preparations for our own great offensive and not become preoccupied by an attack that Rommel
might decide to make. All information seemed to suggest that he would attack towards the end of the month
in the full moon period; I wanted to begin my preparations for the battle of Alamein before then, and to
continue those preparations whatever Rommel might do.
4 Therefore we must be strong, with our forces so “balanced” that I need never react to his thrusts or
moves: strong enough to see him off without disrupting the major preparations. That was my object.
In the following speech, Winston Churchill addresses the Desert Army, congratulating them on their victory
at Alamein and describing the challenges that they will soon face.
The Desert Army: A Speech to the Men of the Eighth Army at Tripoli
February 3, 1943
Winston S. Churchill
1 General Montgomery and men of the Joint Headquarters of the Eighth Army.
2 The last time I saw this army was in the closing days of August on those sandy and rocky bluffs near
Alamein and the Ruweisat ridge, when it was apparent from all the signs that Rommel was about to make
his final thrust on Alexandria and Cairo. Then all was to be won or lost. Now I come to you a long way
from Alamein, and I find this army and its famous commander with a record of victory behind it which has
undoubtedly played a decisive part in altering the whole character of the war.
46

Name: ________________________
ID: A
3 The fierce and well-fought battle of Alamein, the blasting through of the enemy’s seaward flank, and the
thunderbolt of the armored attack, irretrievably broke the army which Rommel had boasted would conquer
Egypt, and upon which the German and Italian peoples had set their hopes. Thereafter and ever since, in
these remorseless three months, you have chased this hostile army and driven it from pillar to post over a
distance of more than 1,400 miles—in fact, as far as from London to Moscow. You have altered the face of
the war in a most remarkable way.
4 What it has meant in the skill and organization of movement and maneuvers, what it has meant in the
tireless endurance and self-denial of the troops and in the fearless leadership displayed in action, can be
appreciated only by those who were actually on the spot. But I must tell you that the fame of the Desert
Army has spread throughout the world.
5 After the surrender of Tobruk, there was a dark period when many people, not knowing us, not knowing
the British and the nations of the British Empire, were ready to take a disparaging view. But now
everywhere your work is spoken of with respect and admiration. When I was with the Chief of the Imperial
General Staff at Casablanca and with the President of the United States, the arrival of the Desert Army in
Tripoli was a new factor which influenced the course of our discussions and opened up hopeful vistas for
the future. You are entitled to know these things, and to dwell upon them with that satisfaction which men
in all modesty feel when a great work has been finally done. You have rendered a high service to your
country and the common cause.
6 It must have been a tremendous experience driving forward day after day over this desert which it has
taken me this morning more than six hours to fly at 200 miles an hour. You were pursuing a broken enemy,
dragging on behind you this ever-lengthening line of communications, carrying the whole art of desert
warfare to perfection. In the words of the old hymn, you have “nightly pitched your moving tents a day’s
march nearer home.” Yes, not only in the march of the army but in the progress of the war you have
brought home nearer. I am here to thank you on behalf of His Majesty’s Government of the British Isles
and of all our friends the world over.
7 Hard struggles lie ahead. Rommel, the fugitive of Egypt, Cyrenaica, and Tripolitania, in a non-stop race
of 1,400 miles, is now trying to present himself as the deliverer of Tunisia. Along the Eastern coast of
Tunisia are large numbers of German and Italian troops, not yet equipped to their previous standard, but
growing stronger. On the other side, another great operation, planned in conjunction with your advance, has
carried the First British Army, our American comrades, and the French armies to within 30 or 40 miles of
Bizerta and Tunis. Therefrom a military situation arises which everyone can understand.
8 The days of your victories are by no means at an end, and with forces which march from different
quarters we may hope to achieve the final destruction or expulsion from the shores of Africa of every
armed German or Italian. You must have felt relief when, after those many a hundred miles of desert, you
came once more into a green land with trees and grass, and I do not think you will lose that advantage. As
you go forward on further missions that will fall to your lot, you will fight in countries which will present
undoubtedly serious tactical difficulties, but which none the less will not have that grim character of desert
war which you have known how to endure and how to overcome.
9 Let me then assure you, soldiers and airmen, that your fellow-countrymen regard your joint work with
admiration and gratitude, and that after the war when a man is asked what he did it will be quite sufficient
for him to say, “I marched and fought with the Desert Army.” And when history is written and all the facts
are known, your feats will gleam and glow and will be a source of song and story long after we who are
gathered here have passed away.
from V-E Day Plus 50: London; At Buckingham Palace, Solemn and Joyful
Echoes of 1945
John Darnton
47

Name: ________________________
ID: A
New York Times, May 9, 1995
1 At precisely the appointed time, 12:39 P.M., the most beloved person in Britain—a frail, 94-year-old
woman dressed all in springtime yellow—stepped out onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace today. And
just as they did half a century before, tens of thousands of revelers spread out below her erupted in one big
roar.
2 A fanfare of trumpets went up, ancient-looking World War II warplanes droned overhead and so many
Union Jacks waved back and forth that The Mall turned into a froth of red, white and blue, all in
celebration of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
3 In her appearance on the balcony, the Queen Mother recreated a moment 50 years earlier, when what
was thought to be an even larger throng swarmed around the palace, with its boarded-up windows,
demanding to see King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the current “Queen Mum,” who had stayed with
them during the Blitz and beyond. With their two children, Elizabeth and Margaret, they stepped out to
acknowledge the cheers.
4 Today’s anniversary of the Allied victory over Germany could not capture the spontaneity of the original
V-E Day, but Britons made up for it by adding a bath of nostalgia to the recreation, with jitterbugging in
Hyde Park, “Woolton Pie” made from root vegetables served at the Savoy, Dame Vera Lynn singing “The
White Cliffs of Dover” for the umpteenth time, and bonfires and block parties across the country.
5 Elsewhere in Europe, the day was marked with festivities and ceremonies large and small, joyful and
solemn.
6 In Paris, President Francois Mitterrand and President-elect Jacques Chirac presided at a gathering of
leaders from nearly 80 countries reviewing a parade at the Arc de Triomphe. An unpleasant note was
sounded when thousands of Parisians, angry at being kept away because of tight security, jeered dignitaries
as they left in a caravan down the Champs-Elysees.
7 World leaders, including Vice President Al Gore, had traveled from London Sunday night by the Channel
tunnel and then after the commemorations in Paris moved on again to Berlin for more speeches and
ceremonies. The series of observances is to end on Tuesday in Moscow, where the leaders are to be joined
by President Clinton.
8 In Belgium King Albert and Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene went to the town of Liege, where the
Resistance had been strong, to lay flowers at a monument to those who fought the Nazi occupation.
9 In Norway, Resistance fighters paraded down the central avenue under the eye of King Harald. “The
nightmare ended 50 years ago today,” he said later, laying a wreath at the Akershus fortress.
10 In Poland, where the war began, there were still expressions of bitterness that liberation from the Nazis
was soon followed by domination by the Soviet Union. “For Poland the fight for independence did not end
in May 1945,” President Lech Walesa proclaimed before a joint session of Parliament. “It lasted another
half a century.”
11 One sign of the inconceivable vastness of the war’s carnage is that there is no agreement on how many
died. In defeating the Third Reich, the Soviet Union alone may have lost as many as 27 million people.
Overall estimates of both civilian and military dead vary from 48 million to 60 million.
12 For Britain, which stood alone against the Nazi military machine in the months before Germany
attacked its supposed Soviet ally, today’s celebration, capping three days of festivities, was a throwback to
an era of sacrifice and hardship but also one of camaraderie and pride. It was bathed in nostalgia.
From “V-E Day Plus 50: London; At Buckingham Palace, Solemn and Joyful Echoes of 1945” by John
Darnton, The New York Times, May 9, 1995. Copyright © 1995 by The New York Times Co. Reprinted with
permission.
Reading Comprehension
48

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Use the excerpt from Memoirs of Field-Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of
Alamein (p. 252) to answer these questions.
____ 60. Which sentence best summarizes the first sentence of the text?
A. Rommel will not release his armor until Montgomery’s forces attack.
B. Anti-tank guns will protect his troops from Rommel’s attack.
C. The way to defeat Rommel is to knock out his tanks and get the field for Britain.
D. Rommel waits for enemy forces to attack and then takes them out with anti-tank guns.
____ 61. Which word best describes Montgomery’s tone in the first paragraph?
A. Reflective
B. Anxious
C. Condescending
D. Exhilarated
Use Winston Churchill’s speech to the men of the Eighth Army at Tripoli (p. 253) to
answer these questions.
____ 62. What persuasive technique does Churchill use in paragraph 3, sentence 1 to emphasize the skill of the Desert
Army?
A. Loaded language
B. Parallelism
C. Clear narrative
D. Repetition
49

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 63. Which sentence best paraphrases paragraph 7, sentence 2, without plagiarizing?
A. According to Churchill, Rommel, the fugitive of Egypt, tried to present himself as the
deliverer of Tunisia.
B. In his February 3, 1943, speech to the Desert Army, Churchill noted that Rommel had
massed troops in Tunisia.
C. After chasing Rommel across 1,400 miles of desert, the Desert Army still faced challenges
in controlling Africa.
D. After a “non-stop race of 1,400 miles” from Egypt, Rommel tried to establish his troops in
Tunisia.
____ 64. What is paragraph 9 mainly about?
A. The ability of soldiers and airmen to work together is a great accomplishment.
B. The reputation of the Desert Army depends on the Allies winning the war.
C. People’s appreciation of the Desert Army’s deeds will endure through time.
D. Soldiers’ acts of heroism will be the subject of songs long after the war.
Use Memoirs of Field-Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein and Winston
Churchill’s speech to the men of the Eighth Army at Tripoli to answer these
questions.
____ 65. Which word best describes the tone of both Montgomery’s memoir and Churchill’s speech?
A. Confident
B. Demanding
C. Joyous
D. Detached
50

Name: ________________________
ID: A
Use the newspaper article “V-E Day Plus 50” (p. 255) to answer these questions.
____ 66. Which quotation from the first paragraph includes an opinion?
A. …the most beloved person in Britain
B. …94-year-old woman
C. …just as they did a half century before
D. …tens of thousands of revelers
____ 67. The tone of paragraph 4 is —
A. formal
B. intolerant
C. happy
D. objective
Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of denotation and connotation to answer the
following questions about words in “Dead Men’s Path.”
____ 68. The word modern in paragraph 3 has a connotation of —
A. superiority
B. honesty
C. sophistication
D. isolation
51

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 69. The word backward in paragraph 11 has a connotation of —
A. diversity
B. strictness
C. direction
D. incompetence
Use context clues and your knowledge of figurative language to answer the following questions.
____ 70. What is the figurative meaning of the word infected in paragraph 3 of “Dead Men’s Path”?
A. Overwhelmed
B. Delighted
C. Contaminated
D. Inspired
Use context clues and your knowledge of roots and affixes to answer the following
questions.
____ 71. What does the word disposed mean in paragraph 1, sentence 1 of the Memoirs of Field-Marshal the Viscount
Montgomery of Alamein?
A. Used fiercely
B. Traded
C. Got rid of
D. Battled
52

Name: ________________________
ID: A
____ 72. What does the word irretrievably mean in paragraph 3, sentence 1 of Churchill’s speech?
A. Without regulation
B. For a brief period of time
C. Beyond recovery
D. In an unreasonable way
____ 73. The fourth paragraph synthesizes multiple sources in order to explain —
A. why Rommel was an effective general
B. how the battle of Alamein took place
C. what the press thought of Montgomery
D. how the Allied victory affected the war
____ 74. Which sentence best paraphrases the source material in sentence 10?
A. According to soldier Desmond Young, Rommel was a creative strategist who could move
troops effectively in the desert (114).
B. Desmond Young notes that Rommel was a creative tactician known for his skill in desert
navigation (114).
C. Even Rommel’s enemies recognized his creative use of strategy and skill in desert
navigation (Young 114).
D. British soldiers appreciated Rommel’s “fertility of tactical ideas, his skill in desert
navigation” (Young 114)
____ 75. Which sentence has a tone that is inappropriate for a research paper?
A. Sentence 1
B. Sentence 4
C. Sentence 7
D. Sentence 11
53

ID: A
CCE Practice Test
Answer Section
1. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.3
2. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.3
3. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.3
4. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.3
5. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.3
6. ANS: D PTS: 1
7. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.CAS.5
8. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.CAS.6
9. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.3
10. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.1
11. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.IKI.9
12. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.KID.1
13. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.6
14. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4
15. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4
16. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4.b
17. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4
18. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.W.TTP.2.a
19. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.KL.3
20. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.W.TTP.2.b
21. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.W.TTP.2.a
22. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.1
23. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.CAS.5
24. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.CAS.5
25. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.KID.2
26. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.KID.1
27. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.6
28. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.6
29. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.5.b
30. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4.a
31. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4.a
32. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4.b
33. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.KL.3.a
34. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.W.TTP.1.c
35. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.CAS.4
36. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.CAS.4
37. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.2
38. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.CAS.4
39. ANS: A PTS: 1
40. ANS: C PTS: 1
41. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.6
1

ID: A
42. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.5
43. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.KID.2
44. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.KID.2
45. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.6
46. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4.b
47. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4.a
48. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4.a
49. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4
50. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4
51. ANS: D PTS: 1
NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.CSE.1.b | CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.KL.3
52. ANS: C PTS: 1
53. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.W.TTP.2.b
54. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.W.TTP.2.c
55. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.W.TTP.2.f
56. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.1
57. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.1
58. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.1
59. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RL.KID.1
60. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.KID.2
61. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.6
62. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.6
63. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.KID.2
64. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.KID.2
65. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.6
66. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.5
67. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.RI.CAS.6
68. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.5.b
69. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.5.b
70. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.5
71. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4.b
72. ANS: C PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.L.VAU.4.b
73. ANS: B PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.W.RBP.9
74. ANS: A PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.W.RBP.8
75. ANS: D PTS: 1 NAT: CCS.ELA.10.11-12.W.TTP.2.e
2

CCE Practice Test [Answer Strip]
ID: A
_____ D 3.
_____ C 10.
_____ D 4.
_____ A 7.
_____ B 1.
_____ C 11.
_____ C 5.
_____ A 8.
_____ B 2.
_____ A 12.
_____ D 6.
_____ A 9.

CCE Practice Test [Answer Strip]
ID: A
_____ B 13.
_____ B 16.
_____ A 22.
_____ B 19.
_____ D 14.
_____ C 23.
_____ C 17.
_____ C 20.
_____ A 15.
_____ A 24.
_____ C 21.
_____ C 18.

CCE Practice Test [Answer Strip]
ID: A
_____ D 25.
_____ C 26.
_____ A 32.
_____ B 29.
_____ B 27.
_____ A 30.
_____ B 28.
_____ C 31.
_____ D 33.

CCE Practice Test [Answer Strip]
ID: A
_____ D 34.
_____ D 38. _____ A 39.
_____ C 40.
_____ C 35.
_____ B 36.
_____ A 37.
_____ A 41.

CCE Practice Test [Answer Strip]
ID: A
_____ D 42.
_____ D 45.
_____ B 48.
_____ C 52.
_____ B 43.
_____ D 53.
_____ A 49.
_____ A 46.
_____ A 44.
_____ A 54.
_____ B 50.
_____ B 55.
_____ B 47.
_____ D 51.

CCE Practice Test [Answer Strip]
ID: A
_____ A 59.
_____ B 63.
_____ A 66.
_____ D 60.
_____ C 64.
_____ C 67.
_____ C 56.
_____ A 61.
_____ B 57.
_____ B 62.
_____ A 65.
_____ C 68.
_____ C 58.

CCE Practice Test [Answer Strip]
ID: A
_____ D 69.
_____ C 72.
_____ B 73.
_____ D 70.
_____ A 74.
_____ C 71.
_____ D 75.