Comprehension
In “The Seventh Man,” which statement best summarizes what
happens to the seventh man in the weeks following K.’s death?
a. He falls ill and has nightmares.
b. He moves to Nagano.
c. He starts attending a different school.
d. He spends hours studying K.’s artwork.
a. He falls ill and has nightmares.
Which is the most likely reaction a person might have to a
desperate situation?
a. a feeling of boredom
b. a desire for sleep
c. a feeling of panic
d. a desire to learn
c. a feeling of panic
What does the giant wave most clearly represent to the
seventh man?
a. It represents death, which causes hatred among people.
b. It represents art, which can capture the spirit of nature.
c. It represents our fears, which keep us from doing what we should.
d. It represents nature, which is both beautiful and awe-inspiring.
c. It represents our fears, which keep us from doing what we should.
Which best describes the seventh man’s reaction to K.’s death in
“The Seventh Man”?
a. He feels hurt because he thinks K. blamed him for K.’s death.
b. He feels hurt because K.’s death has left him without a friend.
c. He feels responsible for K.’s death because he lied to K. about the storm.
d. He feels responsible for K.’s death because he thinks he could have
saved K.
d. He feels responsible for K.’s death because he thinks he could have
saved K.
In which circumstances is a person most likely to be entranced?
a. when watching a beautiful sunset
b. when hearing a window break in a storm
c. when looking for a lost wallet
d. when saying goodbye to old friends
a. when watching a beautiful sunset
When the seventh man begins to tell his story, he introduces
it in this way:
“In my case, it was a wave,” he said. “There is no way for me to
tell, of course, what it will be for each of you. But in my case it just
happened to take the form of a gigantic wave. It presented itself
to me all of a sudden one day without warning. And it was
devastating.”
What does this excerpt most clearly imply? To help you choose your
answer, consider the events of the story.
a. He believes that in life, every individual must confront fear in some
form or another.
b. He believes that his life was changed by a disaster in a way that others
cannot understand.
c. He believes that he has succeeded despite not knowing what will happen
to others.
d. He believes that in life, everyone will face the risk of a giant wave
caused by a storm.
a. He believes that in life, every individual must confront fear in some
form or another.
In “The Seventh Man,” why does the seventh man’s view of the
past begin to change?
a. Studying K.’s art, he remembers that K. was gentle and realizes that his
last look was not one of hatred.
b. After his father dies, he returns home and realizes that he did not need to
move to Nagano.
c. Studying K.’s art, he realizes that K. would not have minded dying in
the wave.
d. After his father dies, he realizes that it was the second wave, not the
first, that killed K.
a. Studying K.’s art, he remembers that K. was gentle and realizes that his
last look was not one of hatred.
If a person experiences profound sorrow, which of the following
must be true?
a. The person’s feeling of sorrow will last briefly.
b. The person’s feeling of sorrow is deep and intense.
c. The person appears to feel sorrow but does not really.
d. The person thinks long and hard about his or her feelings.
b. The person’s feeling of sorrow is deep and intense.
At the end of the story, the narrator says that if we “turn our
backs on” fear, “we take the most precious thing inside us and
surrender it to something else.” What does he most likely mean by
these statements?
a. If we avoid our fear, then we will lose our lives to a natural force such
as a storm.
b. If we avoid our fear, then we give the fear power over ourselves and lose
our freedom.
c. If we do not respect our fear, then we will need to surrender to our
enemies.
d. If we do not respect our fear, then others will lose their respect for us.
b. If we avoid our fear, then we give the fear power over ourselves and lose
our freedom.
In “The Seventh Man,” what is the most important discovery that
the seventh man makes when he returns to his hometown?
a. He discovers that K. was a gentle and artistic soul.
b. He learns that his father has died of cancer.
c. He sees that the town remains the same as when he was a boy.
d. He realizes that the dark shadow of K.’s death has left him.
d. He realizes that the dark shadow of K.’s death has left him.
Read the following passage from “The Seventh Man.”
Almost in reconciliation, it seemed, the same waves that had washed up on
the beach when I was a boy were now fondly washing my feet, soaking black
my shoes and pant cuffs. There would be one slow-moving wave, then a long
pause, and then another wave would come and go.
Which word(s) helps to create a comforting mood in this passage?
A) fondly
B) slow-moving
C) reconciliation
D) all of the above
D) all of the above
In what way does “The Seventh Man” illustrate the statement
"If we avoid our fear, then we give the fear power over ourselves and lose
our freedom."
a. K. dies because he is too afraid to move out of the way of the wave.
b. If K. had respected his fear, he would have known the wave was bearing
down.
c. The seventh man is afraid his brother no longer respects him.
d. When the seventh man flees his past instead of confronting it, he loses
his joy in life.
d. When the seventh man flees his past instead of confronting it, he loses
his joy in life.
Read the passage from “The Seventh Man.”
Most of it was useless junk, but there was one bundle of pictures that K. had painted and given to me. My parents had probably put them away for me as a keepsake of K., but the pictures did nothing but reawaken the old terror.
What is the function of the flashback found in this passage?
A) The flashback explains how the narrator’s internal conflict began.
B) The flashback explains how the narrator’s internal conflict ended.
C) The flashback explains how the narrator feels about the events in the present.
D) The flashback explains how the narrator felt about the events in the past.
D) The flashback explains how the narrator felt about the events in the past.