Tay+Pesto+and+Kid+Dahl

The American Man at Age Ten: He is old enough to know people who have died and to know things about the world that are worrisome. When he dreams, he dreams about moving to Wyoming, which he has visited with his family. His plan is to buy land there and have some sort of ranch that would definitely include horses. Sometimes when he talks about this, it sounds as ordinary and hard-boiled as a real estate appraisal; other times it can sound fantastical and wifty and achingly naive, informed by the last inklings of childhood - the musings of a balmy real estate appraiser assaying a wonderful and magical landscape that erodes from memory a little bit every day. The collision in his mind of what he understands, what he hears, what he figures out, what popular culture pours into him, what he knows, what he pretends to know, and what he imagines, makes an interesting mess. The mess often has the form of what he will probably think like when he isa grown man, but the content of what he is like as a little boy. He is old enough to begin imagining that he will someday get married, but at ten he is still convinced that the best thing about being married will be that he will be allowed to sleep in his clothes. His father once observed that living with Colin was like living with a Martian who had done some reading on American culture. As it happens, Colin is not especially sad or worried about the prospect of growing up, although he sometimes frets over whether he should be called a kid or a grown-up; he has settled on the word kid-up. OnceI asked him what the biggest advantage to adulthood will be, and he said, "The best thing is that grown-ups can go wherever they want." I asked him what he meant, exactly, and he said, "Well, if you're grown-up, you'd have a car, and whenever you felt like it, you could get into your car and drive somewhere and get candy." Colin loves recycling. He loves it even more than, say, playing with little birds. That ten-year-olds feel the weight of the world and consider it their mission to shoulder it came as a surprise to me. I had gone with Colin one Monday to his classroom at Montclair Cooperative School. The Coop is in a steep, old, sharp-angled brick building that had served for many years as a public school until a group of parents in the area took it over and made it into a private, progressive elementary school. The fifth-grade classroom is on the top floor, under the dormers, which gives the room the eccentric shape and closeness of an attic. It is a rather informal environment. There are computers lined up in an adjoining room and instructions spelled out on the chalkboard - BRING IN: 1) A CUBBY WITH YOUR NAME ON IT, 2) A TRAPPER WITH A 5-POCKET ENVELOPE LABELED SCIENCE, SOCIAL STUDIES, READING/LANGUAGE ARTS, MATH, MATH LAB/COMPUTER; WHITE LINED PAPER; A PLASTIC PENCIL BAG; A SMALL HOMEWORK PAD, 3) LARGE BROWN GROCERY BAGS - but there is also a couch in the center of the classroom, which the kids take turns occupying, a rocking chair, and three canaries in cages near the door. It happened to be Colin's first day in fifth grade. Before class began, there was a lot of horsing around, but there were also a lot of conversations about whether Magic Johnson had AIDS or just HIV and whether someone falling in a pool of blood from a cut of his would get the disease. These jolts of sobriety in the midst of rank goofiness are a ten-year-old's specialty. Each one comes as a fresh, hard surprise, like finding a razor blade in a candy apple. One day, Colin and I had been discussing horses or dogs or something, and out of the blue he said, "What do you think is better, to dump garbage in the ocean, to dump it on land, or to burn it?" Another time, he asked me if I planned to have children. I had just spent an evening with him and his friend Japeth, during which they put every small, movable object in the house into Japeth's slingshot and fired it at me, so I told him I wanted children but that I hoped they would all be girls, and he said, "Will you have an abortion if you find out you have a boy? At school, after discussing summer vacation, the kids began choosing the jobs they would do to help out around the classroom. Most of the jobs are humdrum - putting the chairs up on the tables, washing the chalkboard, turning the computers off or on. Five of the most humdrum tasks are recycling chores - for example, taking bottles or stacks of paper down to the basement, where they would be sorted and prepared for pickup. Two children would be assigned to feed the birds and cover their cages at the end of the day.  I expected the bird jobs to be the first to go. Everyone loved the birds; they'd spent an hour that morning voting on names for them (Tweetie, Montgomery, and Rose narrowly beating out Axl Rose, Bugs, Ol’ Yeller, Fido, Slim, Lucy, and Chirpie). Instead, they all wanted to recycle. The recycling jobs were claimed by the first five kids called by Suzanne Nakamura, the fifth-grade teacher; each kid called after that responded by groaning, "Suzanne, aren't there any more recycling jobs?" Colin ended up with the job of taking down the chairs each morning. He accepted the task with a sort of resignation - this was just going to be a job rather than a mission. On the way home that day, I was quizzing Colin about his world views. "Who's the coolest person in the world?" "Morgan Freeman." "What's the best sport?" "Football." "Who's the coolest woman?" "None. I don't know." "What's the most important thing in the world?" "Game Boy." Pause. "No, the world. The world is the most important thing in the world."

The American Man at Age 10 Questions:
 * 1) Why does Colin want to move to Wyoming?
 * 2) He visited with his family.
 * 3) He is uninformed about the rest of the World.
 * 4) There’s lots of land available.
 * 5) He wants to sell real estate.
 * 6) He lives there now.
 * 7) What is the speaker’s primary purpose?
 * 8) Exemplifying the naivety of 10-year-olds.
 * 9) Explaining what 10-year-olds do understand.
 * 10) Describing Colin.
 * 11) Celebrating the goodness that comes with childhood.
 * 12) Describing 10-year-olds in general.
 * 13) The sentences, “Colin loves recycling. He loves it even more than, say, playing with little birds” in the third paragraph contain which of the following?
 * 14) Metaphor
 * 15) Personification
 * 16) Hyperbole
 * 17) Figurative language
 * 18) Simile
 * 19) Juxtaposition in the phrase, “finding a razor blade in a candy apple” serves the purpose of…
 * 20) The differences in maturity at 10-year-olds.
 * 21) Contrasting adulthood and childhood.
 * 22) The harshness of media.
 * 23) The sobriety of the students.
 * 24) Showing young people discovering the harshness of reality.
 * 25) Which of the following is the best example of the conflicting feeling the narrator feels in this passage of growing up yet still being a child?
 * 26) “I expected the bird jobs to be the first to go.”
 * 27) “I was quizzing Colin about his world views.”
 * 28) “His father once observed that living with Colin was like living with a Martian who had done some reading on American culture.”
 * 29) “‘Game boy.’ Pause. ‘No, the world. The world is the most important thing in the world.’”
 * 30) “At school, after discussing summer vacation, the kids began choosing the jobs they would do to help out around the classroom.”
 * 31) The contrast between “At school, after discussing summer vacation, the kids began choosing the jobs they would do to help out around the classroom.” and “That ten-year-olds feel the weight of the world and consider it their mission to shoulder it…” is based on…
 * 32) What the author considers the theme of the passage; the conflicting feeling of being at a crossroads in childhood
 * 33) The pressures of schooling and adulthood on a ten year old
 * 34) How a child feels during the summer versus how one might feel during the school year
 * 35) The determination of some ten year old children
 * 36) The comparison of jobs and weights
 * 37) The relationship between Colin and the narrator is…
 * 38) Colin is the narrator
 * 39) The narrator is Colin’s father
 * 40) The narrator is a casual observer of Colin
 * 41) Colin is a childhood friend of the narrator
 * 42) There is no relation
 * 43) What is the purpose of capitalizing the words in lines 30-33?
 * 44) To draw attention to the words
 * 45) To mimic the prominent effect schooling and rules have on a ten year old
 * 46) To scare the reader
 * 47) To set the tone for the remainder of the passage
 * 48) To highlight the importance of school rules

Answers: 2, 4, 5, 5, 4, 1, 3, 5

The Masque of the Red Death: THE "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal --the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour. But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death." It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence. It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. There were seven --an imperial suite. In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case was very different; as might have been expected from the duke's love of the bizarre. The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue --and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange --the fifth with white --the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet --a deep blood color. Now in no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp or candelabrum, amid the profusion of golden ornaments that lay scattered to and fro or depended from the roof. There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers. But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire that protected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room. And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all. It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty minutes, (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies,) there came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before. But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not.

The Masque of the Red Death 3. Which of the following best restates the meaning of “This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste.” ? a. The building was large and built to the style of the times b. Prospero didn’t like the castle c. The castle was small and uniquely styled d. The castle was too ratchet for Prospero’s taste e. The castle was quite large, and unique 4. The point of view of this passage is a. Third person b. Third person omniscient c. Prince Prospero d. The Red Death e. First person 5. In the line “The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure,” what does “appliances” mean? a. Kitchen appliances b. Home remedies for sickness c. Luxurious amenities for the guests d. The Red Death e. Rooms for his party guests 6. All of the following may be found in this passage EXCEPT a. A description of Prince Prospero’s castle b. A description of the clock c. Speaker’s shifts in tone d. The appearance of the Red Death e. Prince Prospero 7. What contrast does the speaker develop in the line “ When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys.”? a. Comparing the diseased state of his people with the carefree life of the rich b. Describing the poor as dirty and the rich has pure c. Comparing the poor in times of distress with the rich in similar situations d. Comparing parties against fatal diseases e. Comparing the living conditions of the poor and the rich 8. What is the effect of the line “thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly…” a. Characterizes Prospero and his guests specifically b. Transforms the clock into a symbol of passing time and inescapable death c. Places the rich on the same level as the poor d. Shows the reader that the chiming clock is the cue for mediation hour e. Shows the rich are lighthearted and charismatic
 * 1) What does the word “pestilence” mean in line 1?
 * 2) pest, an annoyance
 * 3) a fatal, epidemic disease
 * 4) something considered harmful, destructive, or evil
 * 5) a mistake
 * 6) presence
 * 7) The tone of this passage is…
 * 8) jovial, light
 * 9) sarcastic
 * 10) dark, foreboding
 * 11) descriptive, informative
 * 12) misleading

From Politics and the English Language: (we have the text)


 * 1) What does Orwell mean when he says one should “avoid Americanisms” in line 16?
 * 2) One should not use watered-down grammar.
 * 3) One should not use jargon words.
 * 4) Americanisms break the “standard English” rules.
 * 5) One should avoid a good prose style.
 * 6) One should prefer the Saxon word over the Latin one.
 * 7) What is the meaning of “archaism” in line 11?
 * 8) Old fashioned, out of date.
 * 9) Extinct, out of use.
 * 10) Recently put into use
 * 11) Once out of date but now in use again.
 * 12) Eloquent, aloof writing.
 * 13) The phrase, “preferring candles to electric light” contains which of the following?
 * 14) Hyperbole
 * 15) Exaggeration
 * 16) Simile
 * 17) Idiom
 * 18) Onomatopoeia
 * 19) The line, “never use a long word when a short word is necessary” is parallel to what other line in the passage?
 * 20) “[These rules] demand a deep change in attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.”
 * 21) “...it has nothing to do with...setting up of a “standard English” which must never be departed from.”
 * 22) “What is above all needed is letting the meaning choose the word, and not the other way around.”
 * 23) ...though it does apply to using the fewest and shortest words to cover one’s meaning.”
 * 24) “Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.”
 * 25) What is the speaker’s primary purpose in writing this passage?
 * 26) To change one’s opinion on the use of jargon words.
 * 27) Simplifying the English language.
 * 28) Setting up a “standard English”.
 * 29) Expressing his belief that English should be an instrument for expressing thought and not concealing it.
 * 30) Expelling worn out, overly complicated phrases from English to make everything easier to understand.
 * 31) The speaker accomplishes all of the following EXCEPT…
 * 32) Stating a dislike for worn out and useless phrases.
 * 33) Stating that one should never use a Saxon word instead of a Latin one.
 * 34) Stating a belief that language is a natural growth.
 * 35) Advising the reader to make their sentences as simple and short as possible.
 * 36) Advising the reader to use the active instead of the passive tense.
 * 37) Juxtaposing what the speaker believes his defense of the English does NOT imply with his defense serves the purpose of…
 * 38) Assuring that the reader does not misunderstand him.
 * 39) Making sure the reader knows what they should not do.
 * 40) Further convincing the reader of his argument.
 * 41) Challenging today’s use of the English language.
 * 42) Telling the reader everything wrong with the English language.
 * 43) What does the writer mean by “colloquial” in line 18?
 * 44) Used in ordinary or normal conversation.
 * 45) A rigid observance of rules.
 * 46) Unsophisticated, narrowminded.
 * 47) Overly complicated.
 * 48) Purposely simplified.
 * 49) The overall tone of this passage could be described as…
 * 50) Angry
 * 51) Informative
 * 52) Advisory
 * 53) Argumentative
 * 54) Comic

Answers: 2,1,3,4,4,2,2,1,3