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Cycle 2 Check Up

Last updated about 1 year ago
6 questions
Passage A

Christopher Columbus
by
Augusta Stevenson



Read the play. Then answer the questions that follow.
In 1492, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus believed he could find a shorter route to India. In this scene from a play, Columbus asks King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain for ships to sail to the west.
from Christopher Columbus


SCENE II
TIME: 1492
PLACE: Spain. Court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
CHARACTERS:
KING FERDINAND, King of Spain
QUEEN ISABELLA, Queen of Spain
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, the Italian explorer
WISE MEN
MONK
COURTIERS and LADIES

1 [Many COURTIERS and LADIES are seen in audience-room of palace; a throne is in the background. Enter the FIRST COURTIER.]
2 FIRST COURTIER: The King and Queen!
3 [Enter KING FERDINAND and QUEEN ISABELLA, followed by COURTIERS, LADIES and the WISE MEN. All bow as the King and Queen cross to throne and sit. Enter the MONK; he advances to throne and bows.]
4 KING: Speak, good Father.
5 MONK: I pray your Majesties to see one Christopher Columbus.
6 KING: [inquiringly] Columbus?
7 MONK: The Italian who thinks he can find a short route to the Indies, sire.
8 KING: [nodding] Ah, I remember. You brought his plans to us some time ago, good Father.
9 QUEEN: [nodding] Let us see him to-day, sire.
10 KING: [to FIRST COURTIER] Admit this Christopher Columbus.
11 [A Courtier admits COLUMBUS. He kneels before the King.]
12 KING: Rise, Columbus, and tell us what you seek.
13 COLUMBUS: [rising] Ships, sire, to prove the plans which I did send your Majesties; plans for sailing in the unknown seas.
14 QUEEN: They seemed to me most wise and sensible.
15 COLUMBUS: [with joy] Ah, your Majesty believes with me?
16 KING: [hastily] I’d have our Wise Men speak. Unfold your maps before them, sir.
17 [COLUMBUS crosses to WISE MEN and unfolds a map before them. They look at it, shake their heads and laugh.]
18 COLUMBUS: [with dignity] I propose to sail by this route to find that eastern land.
19 FIRST WISE MAN: Ha, ha! I never heard anything so absurd! He’d sail west to find the east! Ha, ha!
20 SECOND WISE MAN: [pointing to map] The edge of the world is out there in those strange waters! And you are willing to fall off with your ships into space, sir?
21 COLUMBUS: I’m sure the water continues—
22 THIRD WISE MAN: [interrupting] How could there be land beyond? ’T would be under us, and the trees would have to grow their roots in the air.
23 [WISE MEN nod wisely.]
24 SECOND WISE MAN: And the rain must needs fall upward there!
25 ALL WISE MEN: [nodding wisely] Aye! Aye!
26 QUEEN: I’ve heard you did lay your plans before King John of Portugal?
27 COLUMBUS: I did, your Majesty.
28 KING: That was bad for you, Columbus. King John sent ships, but they soon returned.
29 [Turning to CAPTAIN RIVERRA.]
30 KING: Was not that the way of it, Captain? You sailed with them, I believe?
31 RIVERRA: Yes, sire. But the failure came because the sailors were afraid and refused to go on. . . .
32 QUEEN: Would you sail again with this man as your leader, Captain?
33 RIVERRA: I would, your Majesty! I believe not in the monsters and the edge.
34 QUEEN: Nor I! Let’s provide the ships, sire.
Required
3

Select three sentences that would be most important to include in a summary of the play.

This question has two parts. First, answer Part A. Then, answer Part B.
Required
1

Part A: Which sentence best expresses a theme of the play?

Required
2

Part B: Select three underlined sentences below that best develop the theme in Part A.

Passage B

The Chore List

1 Last night, Dad called Jeb and me into the kitchen for a family meeting. It was highly unusual to have a family meeting without Mom, but things had been highly unusual in our household ever since September, when Mom went back to college to study chemistry. She still had her job as a science teacher, too, so she was extra busy.


2 Dad said, “Kids, have you noticed how hard Mom has been working?”


3 Jeb said, “Yes, she is at work all day, at school in the evening, and when she comes home, she has to study.”


4 “I woke up at midnight last night and heard her doing laundry,” I said.


5 “Well,” Dad said, “we’re going to start helping more around here so Mom can get the sleep she needs and also have time to relax and have fun.”


6 Dad put our chore chart on the table and said, “Between the three of us, we can do more of the chores.”


7 “I’ll do the dishes and take out the trash at night,” Jeb said.


8 Dad used a red pen to add “Dishes” and “Trash” next to Jeb’s name.


9 Dad said he would do all of the grocery shopping and cooking. He added his name to the chart with the red pen and wrote the chores next to it.


10 That left laundry. Dad looked at me.


11 “Zack, what about you?” he said.


12 “I don’t think I have the time,” I said. Even as I said it, I felt a little ashamed. Still, I blurted out, “I have homework every day and
my own chores.”


13 Dad raised his eyebrows but didn’t say a word. He just put the chore list back up on the refrigerator.


14 That night, I fell asleep quickly but woke up a little after midnight. I couldn’t get back to sleep. I kept thinking about Mom.


15 I quietly crept downstairs to the kitchen. I took the chore list from the refrigerator and picked up the red pen. I wrote “laundry” in big letters, right next to my name.
This question has two parts. First, answer Part A. Then, answer Part B.
Required
1

Part A: Which sentence best describes how the narrator’s behavior develops the theme of the story?

Required
1

Part B: Click one paragraph below that most clearly suggests the theme in Part A.

Required
2

Select two sentences that would be most important to include in a summary of the story.