Reading Comprehension 1
What makes the sickness in The Story of Anniko especially frightening?
a) It only affects children.
b) It spreads quickly and harms everyone except Anniko.
c) It can be cured easily.
d) It only affects animals.
b) It spreads quickly and harms everyone except Anniko.
What lesson does Anniko learn from the chief?
a) Physical appearance is the most important.
b) True beauty comes from within.
c) Always follow the crowd.
d) Strength is the key to success.
b) True beauty comes from within.
Why do the Longnecks trust Anniko when she arrives in their village?
a) She brings gifts.
b) She sings for them right away.
c) She is kind, honest, and respectful.
d) She has a long neck like them.
c) She is kind, honest, and respectful.
Why did Panchito and Roberto hide when the school bus came by the fields?
a) They were afraid of being caught for not attending school.
b) They didn’t want to go to school.
c) They were playing a game.
d) They wanted to surprise their brother.
a) They were afraid of being caught for not attending school.
What does the staircase in the poem Mother to Son symbolize?
a) The speaker’s house
b) The path to wealth
c) A long climb to school
d) The challenges and struggles of life
d) The challenges and struggles of life
Why does the mother in Mother to Son keep climbing even though the stairs are difficult?
a) She is trying to win a prize.
b) She wants her son to see that she doesn’t give up.
c) She is looking for a crystal stair.
d) She wants to avoid her family.
b) She wants her son to see that she doesn’t give up.
What type of figurative language is used when the mother in My Mother Pieced Quilts is compared to a river current (“you were the river current”)?
a) Simile
b) Metaphor
c) Personification
d) Alliteration
b) Metaphor
In My Mother Pieced Quilts, how does the speaker feel about the quilts her mother made?
a) She dislikes them because they are old.
b) She is confused by them.
c) She admires them and sees them as memories and love.
d) She thinks they are too colorful.
c) She admires them and sees them as memories and love.
What is the speaker mourning in the poem Cocoon?
a) The loss of her friends.
b) The loss of a loved one.
c) The loss of the cocoon, where she felt protected.
d) The loss of her family.
c) The loss of the cocoon, where she felt protected.
In the poem Cocoon, why does the speaker feel “torn” between two desires?
a) She wants to sleep but must work.
b) She wants to fly freely but also wants the safety of the cocoon.
c) She wants to travel but can’t afford it.
d) She wants to go home but is lost.
b) She wants to fly freely but also wants the safety of the cocoon.
What does the “cocoon” represent in the poem Cocoon?
a) A real insect home
b) A place of comfort and protection
c) A room in the speaker’s house
d) A box that was lost
b) A place of comfort and protection
Which of the following inferences is best supported by the second stanza (lines 6-8) from the poem Teenagers?
I pace the hall, hear whispers,/a code I knew but can’t remember,/ mouthed by mouths I taught to speak.
a) The speaker of the poem used to work as an English teacher.
b) The speaker’s children are whispering so that their parents can’t hear them.
c) The speaker of the poem is beginning to lose her memory.
d) The speaker’s teenage children are learning another language at school.
b) The speaker’s children are whispering so that their parents can’t hear them.
Why does the speaker in Teenagers feel like a stranger in her own home?
a) Her children no longer talk openly with her.
b) She moved to a new house.
c) She cannot remember her children’s names.
d) Her children have left home forever.
a) Her children no longer talk openly with her.
Why does the narrator in The Circuit become nervous when the secretary speaks to him in English?
a) He does not want to talk to adults.
b) He has not heard or spoken English in months.
c) He thinks he is in trouble.
d) He does not want to go to school.
b) He has not heard or spoken English in months.
Why does Papá become worried when he sees the school bus coming in The Circuit?
a) He forgot to take the children to school.
b) He thinks the bus is lost.
c) He worries the children will be punished for not attending school.
d) He wants the bus driver to help him pick grapes.
c) He worries the children will be punished for not attending school.
What is simile? Give an example.
Simile is a comparison using “like” or “as.” Example: She ran like the wind.
What is personification? Give an example.
Personification is when we give human actions or feelings to something that is not human. Example: The sun smiled down at us.
What is alliteration? Give an example.
Alliteration is when the same sound is repeated at the beginning of nearby words.
Example:
Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers.
What is the theme of the story Amigo Brothers?
The theme is that friendship is more important than winning.
What does this mean, "It is not the length of your neck that is important; it is the goodness of your heart" in The Story of Anniko? Explain.
It means that being kind and good is more important than how you look. Your character matters more than your appearance.
In The Circuit, why was the narrator’s family moving to Fresno?
They are moving for a new job - picking strawberries.
In the poem Cocoon the speaker misses the “cocoon” where she was protected. What kind of connotation does the word “cocoon” have?
The word “cocoon” has a positive connotation.
It suggests feelings of safety, warmth, comfort, and protection.
In the poem Mother to Son, what does the mother mean when she says: “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”?
It means the mother’s life has not been easy. She has faced many problems and hardships, but she keeps going.
What advice does the mother give to her son in the poem Mother to Son?
In the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, the mother advises her son to never give up, even when life is hard.
She tells him that life isn’t easy, but she has kept going, and she encourages her son to keep climbing and not turn back.
In the poem Teenagers, the speaker says that “we become strangers in our own home.”
Who are the strangers in this home? Why are they strangers?
The parent and her teenage children are strangers because the teenagers don't speak to their parents anymore. They stay in their rooms almost all the time. Parents don't understand them anymore.