A. Gautam
After a busy day of skipping breakfast, little lunch and a very light dinner, Darla was exhausted. She was a little hazy when her dog appeared by her bedside and she asked, “Ralph, why the long face?” Darla didn’t even laugh at her own joke.
Just then, her phone buzzed with a text from her best friend Lori.
“Still on at 3?”
Darla was about to reply with a question mark when she realized that Lori had added her to a group text on accident. Texts started flooding in like an overflowing river in April. Darla quickly understood that her three best friends were planning a celebration for her early acceptance into Yale. At 12, Darla was going to college, which was a big deal indeed. But Darla loved attention as much as she loved eating rotten food. How can I stop this? Darla asked herself as she walked into the kitchen for a late-night snack. After all, her stomach was a hollow pit. The light was on, and she saw her mother fixing a sandwich.
“Mom, why are you eating after 10?” Darla asked her mother who was supposedly on a diet. She saw her mother hide a chocolate bar in the drawer quicker than Flash.
“Kid, why are you still up? Hush. I don’t think I'm allergic to wheat. I miss bread too much,” Laney explained. Her doctor had asked her to keep a close watch on her diet to rule out the allergen that was hard to test.
“I need your help. Lori and others are throwing a party for me. Help me get out of it. She accidentally sent a text to me with the details,” Darla blurted it out.
“Wait a minute, maybe she did it on purpose. That’s just to throw you off. Maybe the real party is a secret,” Laney said. She always considered Lori her second kid and knew her well.
“Could it be?” Darla argued. “I am going 200 miles away. She can’t let me go just like that. What is the plan then?”
“Don’t sweat too much. Anything Lori plans will be pain free for you. Trust me. Go read something boring to sleep. Maybe a dictionary will make your life more meaningful,” Laney said, laughing.
“Wow. Yeah. I will go now,” Darla said, shaking her head at her mother’s jokes that always sent her running. I wonder if I make such corny jokes, she asked herself.
Question
What similarities between the passages builds on the same idea?
Responses
A A youth in need of good friends A youth in need of good friends
B A character with an unusual quality A character with an unusual quality
C A girl with strong relationship with family A girl with strong relationship with family
D A character half-aware of a secret A character half-aware of a secret
1 answer
The correct response that identifies the similarities between the passages is:
C. A girl with strong relationship with family
In the passage, Darla has a supportive relationship with her mother, who offers her advice and humor to help her cope with the situation. This strong family dynamic is a central theme that connects the ideas in both parts of the passage.
