1. Why is Tommy nervous walking into swim practice when the story begins?

(20 points) passage: this year will be a record-breaking year for storms 1it looks like 2012 will be a year for the record books. thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes have increased across the country. the storms' high winds and heavy rains are making history. early tornado and hurricane seasons 2in march, not usually a busy month for tornadoes, the south and midwest had a large number of twisters. warm weather made conditions ripe for the creation of tornadoes. on some days, twisters dropped from the sky by the dozen. 3hurricane season also came early. two tropical storms hit the southeast in may. two more strong storms followed in june. severe thunderstorms 4many states that have escaped tornadoes and hurricanes have had severe thunderstorms. these giant storms dumped several inches of rain and caused flooding across the northeast and midwest. 5the end of hurricane season is months away, and this year's storm count and rainfall amounts could leave 2011 in the dust. forecasters say the wet, windy weather might stick around until fall. labor day parade rained out 6there is no joy in green town, where the annual labor day parade was called off because of heavy rain. the town's mayor says the parade hasn't been rained out in fifty years. 7a strong band of thunderstorms hit green town on sunday. more than two inches of rain fell each hour. by monday morning, main street looked more like a creek than a parade route. mayor nora bell said she had to call off the parade. "the heavy rains have created a serious safety issue in green town," she said. 8the loss of the labor day parade is green town's second disappointment this summer. in may, the memorial day parade was also called off because of rain. "this must be one of the wettest summers in history," mayor bell said. 9according to the national weather service, mayor bell is right. this summer will break rainfall records in green town and across the country. question: who would obtain the most useful information from the passage? a) someone planning a holiday picnic. b) someone interested in documenting annual meteorological patterns. c) an advocate for the green town labor day parade. d) someone who wishes to do research on the alleged truth of the "global warming" phenomenon.

In what way was the modernist element of disillusionment shown in “the jitling of granny weatherall”? a) the story rejects traditional, chronological order. b) granny feels jilted at both her wedding and her deathbed. c) the narration makes heavy use of symbolism. d) granny’s thoughts are hard to distinguish from real events

Hurry i am on the semester test which theme is evident in this excerpt from robert frost's "mending wall"? but at spring mending-time we find them there. i let my neighbor know beyond the hill; and on a day we meet to walk the line and set the wall between us once again. we keep the wall between us as we go. to each the boulders that have fallen to each. and some are loaves and some so nearly balls we have to use a spell to make them balance: "stay where you are until our backs are turned! " we wear our fingers rough with handling them. oh, just another kind of out-door game, one on a side. it comes to little more: there where it is we do not need the wall: he is all pine and i am apple orchard. my apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under his pines, i tell him. he only says, “good fences make good neighbors." spring is the mischief in me, and i wonder if i could put a notion in his head: "why do they make good neighbors? isn't it where there are cows? but here there are no cows. before i built a wall i'd ask to know what i was walling in or walling out, and to whom i was like to give offence. . " a. the human desire for material gain b. the influence of financial constraints c. the positive effects of friendship d. the uncertain nature of human relations e. the futility of human yearning