Question

Part A
​​​​​​​What is surprising about what happens to the dog in “There Will Come Soft Rains”?
A. The robot mice are trained to recognize the dog but do not help it.
B. The house tries to provide medical aid to the dog but it refuses help.
C. The dog gets sick even though it has no outward symptoms of illness.
D. The hungry dog cannot get food even though the house can still cook.
Part B
What detail from the story supports the answer to Part A?
A. A dog whined, shivering, on the front porch. The front door recognized the dog voice and opened.
B. The dog, once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud.
C. [The dog] sniffed the air and scratched the kitchen door. Behind the door, the stove was making pancakes which filled the house with a rich baked odor and the scent of maple syrup. The dog frothed at the mouth, lying at the door, sniffing, . . .
D. [The dog] ran wildly in circles, biting at its tail, spun in a frenzy, and died. It lay in the parlor for an hour. . . . Delicately sensing decay at last, the regiments of mice hummed out as softly as blown gray leaves in an electrical wind. Two-fifteen. The dog was gone.

Answer 1

Part A: D. The hungry dog cannot get food even though the house can still cook.

Part B: C. The stove is making pancakes and maple syrup fills the house while the dog froths at the mouth, lying at the door, sniffing — it can smell the food but cannot eat.