Read this excerpt from "The All-American Slurp." The lady harpist stopped playing to take a rest. And in the silence, our family’s consumption of soup suddenly seemed unnaturally loud. You know how it sounds on a rocky beach when the tide goes out and the water drains from all those little pools? They go shloop, shloop, shloop. That was the Lin family, eating soup.

What story element does the author develop in this excerpt?

plot details about the Lins’ dining experience
setting details about the French restaurant
conflict between family members
character traits of the harpist

Which one of these lines use him to permitte which one of these lines uses iambic pentameter?

4. how does the speaker's comparison of sinners to aninsect (paragraph 7) contribute to the central idea of thetext? o a it emphasizes the negative view god has ofsinners and how inconsequential they are to him.o b it stresses the connection that exists between allof god's creatures, whether they be human orinsect.o c it suggests that sinners can change for the better,as insects are known to go throughtransformations.o d it portrays sinners as being just as prevalentaround the earth as the wide variety of insects.

The “big dig” the “big dig” (the central artery/tunnel project) has been complex and challenging. located in boston, massachusetts, this tunnel is eight lanes wide and three-and-a-half miles long. what is most amazing about this tunnel is that it is constructed under a major highway and skyscrapers located in boston’s financial district. construction crews used “clamshell excavators” during this dig. these machines carved narrow trenches, and then a special substance was pumped into the trench to keep the dirt from caving in. finally, steel beams were lowered into the trench and concrete was pumped in. one problem that engineers faced while constructing the tunnel is the fact that the soil beneath boston is extremely loose and soggy. engineers solved this dilemma by freezing the soil and pumping very cold water into pipes beneath the city. to strengthen the soil even further, a special type of glue was injected into the ground to with the consolidation of the soil. 23 which phrase best defines the word excavator as used in the passage? a. a device used to measure underground temperatures b. a device used to level uneven surfaces c. a device used to move heavy objects d. a device used to dig holes