Read the selection and choose the best answer for each question.
The History and Legends of Anne Bonney and Mary Read
adapted from Krewe of Bonney Read
1 Anne Bonney and Mary Read are the most famous—and ferocious—women pirates in history. They are the only ones known to have plied their trade in the Western Hemisphere.
2 Anne Bonney, born in County Cork, Ireland, was the daughter of lawyer William Cormac and his housemaid. They came to America after Anne’s birth in the late 1600s and settled on a plantation near Charleston, South Carolina. A headstrong young woman “with a fierce and courageous temper,” she ran away with a young ne’er-do-well, James Bonney, against her father’s wishes. James took her to a pirates’ lair in New Providence in the Bahamas. In 1718, Bahamian Governor Woodes Rogers offered the King’s pardon to any pirate. James turned informant. Anne was disgusted with his cowardice. Soon after, she met and fell in love with the swaggering pirate Captain Jack Rackham. Disguising herself as a male, she began sailing with him on his ship Vanity, with its famous skull-and-crossed-daggers flag, preying on Spanish treasure ships off Cuba and Hispaniola.
3 Mary Read was born at Plymouth, England, about 1690. Her father was a seafaring man who left on a long voyage and was never heard from again. Her mother waited years for her husband to return. When her money ran out, she took Mary to London to appeal to her mother-in-law for financial help. She knew this old woman disliked girls, so she dressed Mary in boy’s clothes and made her pretend to be her son. The mother-in-law was fooled. She promised a crown a week to help support them. Mary continued to masquerade as a boy for many years, even after the old woman died and the financial aid ended.
4 Then a teenager, Mary was hired out as a footboy to a French woman. But according to history, “for growing bold and strong, and having also a roving mind, she entered herself on board a man-of-war, where she served some time; then quitted it.” Still disguised as a male, she enlisted in a foot regiment in Flanders and later a horse regiment. She fell in love with a fellow soldier, disclosed her true sex, and began dressing as a female. After their marriage, she and her husband became innkeepers, owning the Three Horseshoes near the castle of Breda in Holland. Unfortunately, he died young, and her fortunes soon dwindled.
5 She knew that life in the 1700s was much easier as a man than as a woman, so she reverted back to men’s clothing and started her life over. This time she went to sea on a Dutch merchant ship heading to the Caribbean. On one voyage, the ship was commandeered by English pirates with whom she sailed and fought until they accepted the King’s pardon in 1718 and began operating as privateers. Soon afterwards, their ship was overtaken by Captain Jack Rackham’s Vanity. Bored of the legitimate life, she again turned pirate. Anne Bonney was already part of Rackham’s crew, and she and Mary quickly discovered each other’s secret and became close friends. Despite her tough exterior, Mary found a boyfriend on board and is said to have saved his life by protecting him from a duel. She picked a fight with his opponent first. With deadly use of her sword and pistol, she ended his life before he could harm her husband-to-be.
6 Both Anne and Mary were known for their violent tempers and ferocious fighting. They shared a reputation as “fierce cats.” Their fellow crewmembers knew that—in times of action— no one else was as ruthless and bloodthirsty as these two women were. Captain Jack, nicknamed “Calico Jack” for his love of colorful cotton clothing, was a well-known pirate in those days. His reputation has survived through the ages primarily because of these two infamous women pirates on his crew.
7 In late October 1720, Rackham’s ship was anchored off Point Negril, Jamaica, and the pirates were celebrating recent victories. Suddenly a British Navy ship—the man-o'-war Albion, headed by Captain Jonathan Barnet—surprised them. The male pirates quickly hid below deck, leaving only Anne and Mary to defend their ship. The women yelled at their pirate mates to “come up, you cowards, and fight like men!” But the women were eventually overwhelmed by the British Navy, and the entire crew was captured and taken to Jamaica to stand trial.
8 Captain Jack and the male members of his crew were tried on November 16, 1720, and were sentenced to hang. Anne was allowed to visit her boyfriend in his cell before his execution. Instead of the consoling, loving words he was undoubtedly expecting, her scathing comments live on throughout history: “Had you fought like a man, you need not have been hang’d like a dog.” Anne and Mary were tried one week after Rackham’s death and were also found guilty.
9 Mary is said to have died of a violent fever in the Spanish Town prison in 1721. Other reports say she faked death and was sneaked out of the prison under a shroud.
10 No record of Anne’s execution has ever been found. Some say that her wealthy father bought her release after the birth of her child and she settled down to a quiet family life on a small Caribbean island. Others believe that she lived out her life in the south of England, owning a tavern where she regaled the locals with tales of her exploits.
11 And yet others say Anne and Mary moved to Louisiana where they raised their children together and were friends to the ends of their lives.
2271E_Crash
Read the selection and choose the best answer for each question.
adapted from Crash Coogan
by Jerry Spinelli
April 20, 2014
1 I hardly ate breakfast. I didn’t pay attention in class. I kept drifting in and out and thinking of the race-off today that helps Coach decide who will run in the relays on Friday.
2 The four-by-one-hundred-meter relay means four runners each run a hundred meters. Each runner passes the baton to the next runner. The baton looks like a foot-long pipe, but it’s light and made of aluminum.
3 Since I’m the fastest, I’ll probably run the anchor leg. The anchor gets the baton last. The anchor crosses the finish line. The anchor is your chance to win. The anchor gets the glory.
4 All day long I pictured Friday’s race: Huber leads off, he hands the baton to Noles halfway through the first turn, Noles tears down the backstretch, hands to Caruso. I crouch. I look back past my shoulder. They’re all coming, eight sprinters sprinting. I pick out Caruso. He’s leaning into the final turn, he’s fifteen meters from me…ten meters…I take off, I drag my left hand behind me, palm open, fingers spread (Hit it! Hit it! Now!). I feel the baton smack into my left hand, I curl my fingers around it, I switch it to my right hand and take off down the chalk-striped brick-colored lane. I’m dead last, ten meters behind everybody. It’s hopeless. By the time I hit the straightaway I’m passing the next-to-last runner, then the next, and the next. Forty thousand people leap to their feet. Eighty thousand eyes slide from the leader to the kid who’s coming out of nowhere. “Who is he?” they ask, and the answer comes, “It’s Coogan! Crash Coogan of Springfield!” I pass another, and now there are only three ahead of me, but there’s not enough time. “He can’t do it!” they scream, and now there are two ahead of me and the red ribbon across the finish line seems close enough to be a blindfold and they’re hanging from the railing and stomping on the scoreboard and there’s only one ahead of me now and the human hurricane is chasing me around the track, blowing at my back, and I’m on the leader’s shoulder and for an instant the world freezes because we’re dead even— seeing us sideways we look like one—and I remember Coach saying in a close race the one who leans will win, so now with one last gasp I throw my arms back and my chest forward and the red ribbon breaks like a butterfly across my shirt. I slow down, I stop. I stand on the brick-colored track. I heave the baton into the air high as the pennants wave over the stadium, and the hurricane finally catches me and I close my eyes and let it wash over me: “COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGAN!” Which idea is presented in both the story and the article?
A.Wealth is the only true pathway to success.
B.Perseverance is essential to being a success.
C.Deception is necessary to be successful.
D.Approval is an important part of being successful
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The best answer to the question "Which idea is presented in both the story and the article?" is:
B. Perseverance is essential to being a success.
In both selections, the characters exhibit perseverance in the face of challenges. Anne Bonney and Mary Read show determination as they navigate their pirate lives and stand firm against their captors, while Crash Coogan demonstrates his drive and dedication through his actions in the relay race, overcoming obstacles to achieve victory.
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