Sana and Miri sat cross-legged by the window. The sun was shining outside, and Miri gazed out longingly at the playground.
“Just do your needlepoint, and we can go,” Sana said.
“They’ll just tell me my stitches are crooked and make me pull it out again,” Miri sulked.
“Then do your stitches straight,” Sana said without mercy.
It was easy for Sana to say. Her stitches were always straight. She woke up every morning and practiced like a hundred other children in the village, while Miri used her sewing things to conceal her storybook. It worked most of the time, too—until Exhibit Day came and ruined it all. It was the only day of the year Miri ever regretted skipping lessons…and she still didn’t regret it all that much.
With a sigh, Miri began to sew.
Question
Use the story excerpt to answer the question.
Which character action best signals rejection of a custom in this excerpt?
(1 point)
Responses
Miri’s choice to stare outside at the playground when she should be sewing shows that she rejects a custom.
Miri’s choice to stare outside at the playground when she should be sewing shows that she rejects a custom.
Sana’s choice to argue with Miri shows that she rejects a custom.
Sana’s choice to argue with Miri shows that she rejects a custom.
Miri’s choice to read every day instead of practicing her sewing shows that she rejects a custom.
Miri’s choice to read every day instead of practicing her sewing shows that she rejects a custom.
Sana’s choice to practice her sewing every day shows that she rejects a custom.
The Lady of Shalott
by Alfred Lord Tennyson
PART IV
In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
The Lady of Shalott.
And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance—
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.
Lying robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right—
The leaves upon her falling light—
Thro' the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.
Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly
And her eyes were darken'd wholly,
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.
For ere she reached upon the tide
The first house by the water side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.
Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
And around the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.
Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they cross'd themselves for fear,
All the knights at Camelot:
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in His mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."
"The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Question
Use the passage and the painting to answer the question.
A painting of The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse. She is sailing alone in a small boat on the river.
Source: IanDagnall Computing. Alamy Stock Photo
What can you learn about the Lady of Shalott from this section of the poem that is not conveyed in the painting?
(1 point)
Responses
that the Lady of Shalott is looking toward Camelot
that the Lady of Shalott is looking toward Camelot
that the Lady of Shalott had candles in her boat
that the Lady of Shalott had candles in her boat
why Sir Lancelot travels to Camelot
why Sir Lancelot travels to Camelot
that the Lady of Shallot has red hair
Which item is an example of a universal theme?(1 point)
Responses
justice
justice
forests
forests
mountains
mountains
initiation
The Metamorphoses
by Ovid
The party-wall, common to the two houses, was cleft by a small chink, which it had got formerly, when it was built. This defect, remarked by no one for so many ages, you lovers (what does not love perceive?) first found one, and you made it a passage for your voices, and the accents of love used to pass through it in safety, with the gentlest murmur. Oftentimes, after they had taken their stations, Thisbe on one side, and Pyramus on the other, and the breath of their mouths had been mutually caught by turns, they used to say, ‘Envious wall, why dost thou stand in the way of lovers? what great matter were it, for thee to suffer us to be joined with our entire bodies? Or if that is too much, that, at least, thou shouldst open, for the exchange of kisses. Nor are we ungrateful; we confess that we are indebted to thee, that a passage has been given for our words to our loving ears.’ Having said this much, in vain, on their respective sides, about night they said, ‘Farewell’; and gave those kisses each on their own side, which did not reach the other side.
Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare
THISBE.
O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
For parting my fair Pyramus and me.
My cherry lips have often kiss’d thy stones,
Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.
PYRAMUS.
I see a voice; now will I to the chink,
To spy an I can hear my Thisbe’s face.
Thisbe?
THISBE.
My love thou art, my love I think.
PYRAMUS.
Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover’s grace;
And like Limander am I trusty still.
THISBE.
And I like Helen, till the fates me kill.
PYRAMUS.
Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.
THISBE.
As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.
PYRAMUS.
O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall.
THISBE.
I kiss the wall’s hole, not your lips at all.
PYRAMUS.
Wilt thou at Ninny’s tomb meet me straightway?
THISBE.
’Tide life, ’tide death, I come without delay.
WALL.
Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;
And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.
[Exeunt WALL, PYRAMUS and THISBE.]
From A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
Question
Use the passages to answer the question. Select Passage 1 and Passage 2.
How does Shakespeare transform Ovid’s source material? Select the two correct answers.
(1 point)
Responses
Shakespeare uses Ovid’s source material to make the story new for new audiences.
Shakespeare uses Ovid’s source material to make the story new for new audiences.
Ovid’s story is a comedy, but Shakespeare turns it into a tragedy.
Ovid’s story is a comedy, but Shakespeare turns it into a tragedy.
Shakespeare has Thisbe talk to the wall, but Ovid does not.
Shakespeare has Thisbe talk to the wall, but Ovid does not.
Shakespeare takes Ovid’s story and puts it into dialogue to be performed by actors.
Shakespeare takes Ovid’s story and puts it into dialogue to be performed by actors.
Ovid’s story uses source material from an older story and makes it relevant to a new audience.
Ovid’s story uses source material from an older story and makes it relevant to a new audience.
1 answer
Here are the answers based on the provided excerpts and questions:
Which character action best signals rejection of a custom in this excerpt?
Miri’s choice to stare outside at the playground when she should be sewing shows that she rejects a custom.
What can you learn about the Lady of Shalott from this section of the poem that is not conveyed in the painting?
that the Lady of Shalott is looking toward Camelot
Which item is an example of a universal theme?
justice
How does Shakespeare transform Ovid’s source material? Select the two correct answers.
Shakespeare uses Ovid’s source material to make the story new for new audiences.
Shakespeare takes Ovid’s story and puts it into dialogue to be performed by actors.
These answers reflect the themes and interpretations of the respective literary pieces discussed in the passages.
