Read the excerpt below from Chris Jacobs' narrative called Everlasting. As you read, think about how Jacobs creates an effective anecdote. "The car ride would have been long for a grown-up. For a first-grader, it was eternity. There were no iPads or even Game Boys back then to hold my focus; all I had was my red Thundercats lunchbox, the occasional emerald highway sign to mark our progress, and a tongue that churned out Whys like a Ford factory line. Why do we have to get up when it's still nighttime? Why am I going to a new school? Why does it have to be so far? Over the course of the first few weeks—once my mom caught on that these questions were actually complaints, her responses lost some of their patience. Though she handled the daily drives with grace, the bluish bags forming under her eyes told a different story: one about her years spent in poorly-funded, inner-city schools, and the doors that would close on her because of them. But I didn't get to hear that story till years later. For now, I just settled into a frustrated six-year-old silence, my attention flitting to the many switches and buttons in her aging '76 Dodge Aspen. On one morning's ride, in an attempt to run defense on my mischief, Mom held up my lunchbox. "Listen," she hushed, giving it three good shakes. I gasped, my body snapping to attention. Two shakes would have been enough for me to recognize that sound—a deep, delicious clack of candy marbles that could only be—yes, yes, they were— "Gobstoppers!!" I tore the lunchbox from her hands, pouring its contents onto my lap. "A whole box?!" I squealed.

How is this an effective beginning to the story?
A It tells the main anecdote of the story.
B It explains why the author is going to a new school.
C It gives the entire background of the author’s childhood.
D It sets up the importance of Gobstoppers in the story.

Select the correct answer. read this excerpt from leo tolstoy's the death of ivan ilyich: her attitude towards him and his diseases is still the same. just as the doctor had adopted a certain relation to his patient which he could not abandon, so had she formed one towards him—that he was not doing something he ought to do and was himself to blame, and that she reproached him lovingly for this—and she could not now change that attitude. "you see he doesn't listen to me and doesn't take his medicine at the proper time. and above all he lies in a position that is no doubt bad for him—with his legs up." she described how he made gerasim hold his legs up. the doctor smiled with a contemptuous affability that said: "what's to be done? these sick people do have foolish fancies of that kind, but we must forgive them. . " they all rose, said good-night, and went away. when they had gone it seemed to ivan ilyich that he felt better; the falsity had gone with them. but the pain remained—that same pain and that same fear that made everything monotonously alike, nothing harder and nothing easier. everything was worse. again minute followed minute and hour followed hour. everything remained the same and there was no cessation. and the inevitable end of it all became more and more terrible. based on the excerpt, how is praskovya fedorovna a character foil to ivan ilyich? a. she is kind and takes care of ivan, which is why he feels guilty about how he treated her for most of their married life. b. she is vindictive toward ivan while pretending to be worried about him, thus reminding him of how his family has never forgiven him. c. she plays the part of the worried wife without any real feeling, symbolizing the false propriety ivan upheld but now hates. d. she is young, healthy, and beautiful—everything ivan can never be again and wishes he could return to. reset next

Read the excerpt from the odyssey; 'o cyclops! would you feast on my companions? puny am i, in a caveman's hands? how do you like the beating that we gave you, you d(arn)ed cannibal? eater of guests under your roof! zeus and the gods have paid you! ' according to this excerpt, odysseus (a)is fearful of the cyclops. (b)is prideful and overly confident. (c)has been weakened by the cyclops. (d)has regrets about staying on the island.

How does the author use the character of the nurse to develop the social issue of gender inequality? the nurse’s willingness to take care of nora when nora was little demonstrates a woman’s ability to do difficult work. the nurse’s need to give up a child in order to have a job demonstrates a woman’s inability to support herself. the fact that the nurse’s child wrote to her as a young girl and as an adult demonstrates a woman’s ability to keep friends forever. the nurse’s assurance to nora that her children ask for her often demonstrates women’s role in health care.