Kepler Mission
Read these sentences from the article:
A team of NASA scientists monitored data from the Kepler spacecraft, with its unblinking eye on the sky, for almost ten years. The astronomical telescope observed, from a fixed position, more than 100,000 sun-like stars at the same time.
The word “fixed” in this sentence most closely means
stationary
The strong link between brain damage and football injuries, he says, “hovers like a dark cloud over the game at all levels.”
Figurative Language
The Klondike gold rush began in July of 1897 when two ships docked in San Francisco and Seattle carrying miners returning from the Yukon with bags of gold. The press was alerted and papers carried the story to the masses.
Soon, miners of all shapes and sizes, called “stampeders,” were on their way to the gold fields. Within six months, approximately 100,000 gold-seekers set off for the Yukon. Only 30,000 completed the trip.
Chronological Order
"There was only daylight, it was always hot, so hot that sleep was impossible. The people, already tired from long hours of work, became short tempered and irritable. Everyone was on edge."
What two words from the passage that help the reader understand the meaning of the phrase on edge.
irritable, tired, short tempered
Which words and phrases best show the sentimental tone in the passage below?
I got out of the old car and took a few halting steps up the driveway. A cloud of warmth drifted out of the window and embraced me like a comforting hug. I knew that smell: fresh bread that Papa had just taken from the oven. I heard the familiar pitch of his whistle as he slowly stirred tomato soup on the stovetop. I ran to open the screen door because, now, I knew where I was. I was home.
"cloud of warmth" "embraced" "comforting hug" "home"
What does the word “particular” mean in this sentence from paragraph 1 of the passage?
"In the story, a very particular little girl slips into an empty house looking for the perfect bowl of porridge."
choosy
What is the tone of the following sentence?
"Don't worry about a thing...because every little thing is going to be alright..."
hopeful, optimistic, positive, promising...
In a text with a compare and contrast text structure, the author does what?
explains how things are similar and different.
Read this sentence:
“The mirror let doctors remove a tumor with only minimally invasive surgery, instead of a major operation.”
Which antonym in the sentence clarifies the meaning of minimally?
major
Which quotation best helps the reader to determine the meaning of lack of precision?
Although the increase and decrease could be seen, the thermoscope could not measure the degree of the change in a mathematical way. Despite this lack of precision, Galileo had constructed a wonderful invention. Yet, he considered it to be a useless toy and even called it a “little joke.”
could not measure the degree of the change in a mathematical way
Read this sentence from the article:
"Imagine humanlike creatures who can communicate with each other, build cities, care for families, and make discoveries—beings who are as curious about us as we are about them."
Why does the author most likely include this sentence in the article?
to describe how many people think of life on other planets
Meanwhile, it was a total zoo in Barrow with all the reporters there. At the time, we didn’t know why this had captured the whole world’s attention, but all eyes were on us.
What tone does "it was a total zoo" convey?
chaotic, disarray, disheveled,
Which text structure would use the following key words?
as a result, because, since, due to
cause-effect
"Despite this lack of precision, Galileo had constructed a wonderful invention."
What is the meaning of the word precision in the phrase lack of precision?
A. exactness B. flexibility C. clarity D. value
exactness
My parents would try to talk to me over a bowl of kimchi stew, and I would pout and ask, in English, if we could order the Meat Lover’s pie from Pizza Hut. For my 11th birthday, my mom made me my favorite Korean dish, oh jing uh bokkeum (spicy stir-fried squid), and I looked at her with disdain as I declared, “This is disgusting.” The next day for dinner, she made me a cheeseburger. I promptly told her it tasted inauthentic and made her drive me to McDonald’s.
Which detail best develops the speaker losing his Korean Identity?
When he rejected the oh jing uh bokkeum
Read this sentence from the article:
I think it is vital to consider the scientific definition of life, however, and to take the recent excitement with a grain of salt.
Explain the meaning of the phrase “with a grain of salt” as it is used in the sentence. Use details from the article to support your answer.
The phrase "with a grain of salt" means "with doubt." The author uses it to best view the excitement about the possibility of life on other planets with doubt. Life on other planets could be "nothing more than some bacteria"
Often you feel you’ve done nothing when you’ve actually done a lot. That’s because what you did do seemed beneath notice—it was so small that it didn’t “count.” But it did—just as each stitch counts toward a finished dress, each brick or nail toward a house you can live in, each mistake toward knowing how to do things right.
What is the tone?
inspiring, motivating, encouraging
Rosie the Riveter is not an actual person but an idea that represents an era in history and the women who were part of that era. A riveter is someone who uses a rivet gun to attach metal parts, but not all Rosie the Riveters were actual riveters. Rosie the Riveter is an idea that represents all of the American women who worked in factories, shipyards, and other manufacturing plants during World War II to help the American war effort. She has also come to represent women’s economic power and feminism, which is the movement that fights for the equal rights of women.
How does the author introduce Rosie the Riveter?
The author outlines the ideas that Rosie stood for
After finding employment as a laborer, Douglass began to attend abolitionist meetings and speak about his experiences in slavery. He soon gained a reputation as an orator, landing a job as an agent for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. The job took him on speaking tours across the North and Midwest.
What does the word orator mean as it is used in the text?
skilled public speaker
"The neighbors' heads turned the afternoon the bus sputtered up the street and farted its way across our lot. . . . Baba killed the engine and let the bus roll silently into our designated spot. We sank in our seats, laughed until tears rolled down our cheeks, and, more important, until we were sure the neighbors weren't watching anymore. The bus was a sad carcass of rusted metal, shattered windows replaced with black garbage bags, balding ties, and upholstery shredded down to the springs."
What literary device used in this passage creates a giddy or silly tone?
The example of personification, “the bus . . . farted its way across our lot.”
The author makes several references to Goldilocks throughout the article. To whom or what does the author compare Goldilocks?
Compares Goldilocks to NASA scientists because they are looking for something that is "just right."
Scientists have nicknamed the habitable zones "Goldilocks Zones" because they are regions in space where temperature is just right for water to exist on the planets surface.
The author compares herself to Goldilocks because she is waiting until the timing is "just right" to celebrate life on other planets
What type of language is this sentence and what does it mean?
"children are carpets, they should be stepped on occasionally" mean?
Figurative (Metaphor) and that parents should discipline their children
What is the effect of proposing a thought experiment at the beginning of a text?
(Thought experiments are performed in the imagination. We set up some situation, we observe what happens, then we try to draw appropriate conclusions. In this way, thought experiments resemble real experiments, except that they are experiments in the mind.)
it encourages the reader to consider each choice and personally invest in the content and speculate before discovering the author's findings.
Here I was to be free from the dead drudgery for bread that held me down in Russia. For the first time in America, I’d cease to be a slave of the belly. I’d be a creator, a giver, a human being! My work would be the living job of fullest self-expression.
What does the author mean when she say's she will no longer be a slave of the belly?
She will no longer work just any job in order to eat
My first real beat-down, and I was furious and ashamed, but above all else I was afraid. Afraid of my assailants. Afraid they would corner me again. Afraid of a second beat-down. Afraid and afraid and afraid. Eventually the bruises and the rage faded, but not the fear. The fear remained. An awful withering dread that coiled around my bowels — that followed me into my dreams. (‘‘Hit him in the teeth.’’) I guess I should have told someone, but I was too humiliated.
Which piece of evidence supports a constant fear?
An awful withering dread that coiled around my bowels — that followed me into my dreams.