The University of the State of New York REGENTS HIGH SCHOOL EXAMINATION ...

COMPREHENSIVE ENGLISH

The University of the State of New York REGENTS HIGH SCHOOL EXAMINATION

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION

IN

ENGLISH

Wednesday, August 12, 2015 -- 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., only

The possession or use of any communications device is strictly prohibited when taking this examination. If you have or use any communications device, no matter how briefly, your examination will be invalidated and no score will be calculated for you.

A separate answer sheet has been provided for you. Follow the instructions for completing the student information on your answer sheet. You must also fill in the heading on each page of your essay booklet that has a space for it, and write your name at the top of each sheet of scrap paper.

The examination has four parts. Part 1 tests listening skills; you are to answer all eight multiple-choice questions. For Part 2, you are to answer all twelve multiple-choice questions. For Part 3, you are to answer all five multiple-choice questions and the two short constructed-response questions. For Part 4, you are to write one essay response. The two short constructed-response questions and the essay response should be written in pen.

When you have completed the examination, you must sign the statement printed at the bottom of the front of the answer sheet, indicating that you had no unlawful knowledge of the questions or answers prior to the examination and that you have neither given nor received assistance in answering any of the questions during the examination. Your answer sheet cannot be accepted if you fail to sign this declaration.

DO NOT OPEN THIS EXAMINATION BOOKLET UNTIL THE SIGNAL IS GIVEN.

COMPREHENSIVE ENGLISH

Comp. Eng. -- Aug. '15

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NOTES

DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO.

Comp. Eng. -- Aug. '15

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[OVER]

Part 1 (Questions 1?8)

Multiple-Choice Questions

Directions (1?8): Use your notes to answer the following questions about the passage read to you. Select the best suggested answer to each question and record your answer on the separate answer sheet provided for you.

1 According to the speaker, why are convenience foods having a "devastating long-term impact" on people?

(1) They cost too much. (2) They are connected to obesity-related issues. (3) They encourage increased sodium

consumption. (4) They are treated with pesticides.

2 Communities with rural food systems differ from communities with urban food systems because they

(1) have fewer grocery stores (2) supplement with processed foods (3) reject locally grown produce (4) rely solely on restaurants

3 In the phrase, in "Iowa, alternative food markets such as farmers' markets, on-farm sales, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) are proliferating rapidly," "proliferating" probably means

(1) losing revenue

(3) fluctuating

(2) becoming outdated (4) increasing

4 According to the speaker, people prefer to eat locally grown foods because they are

(1) inexpensive (2) more durable

(3) tastier (4) ripe sooner

5 People are encouraged to join Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups in order to (1) improve personal health (2) learn to grow vegetables (3) lower grocery prices (4) decide which meats to eat

6 Participants in the CSA program are challenged to (1) budget more carefully (2) purchase more prepared foods (3) eat more adventurously (4) listen to healthcare professionals

7 According to the speaker, the concept of "fresh" food has changed since the 1970s because (1) companies are distributing greater quantities of food (2) people are demanding higher quality foods (3) farmers are growing fewer food varieties (4) governments are creating stricter food regulations

8 What organizational technique does the speaker use to end the account? (1) a humorous story (2) a personal anecdote (3) a rhetorical question (4) a clarifying statement

Comp. Eng. -- Aug. '15

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Part 2 (Questions 9?20)

Directions (9?20): Below each passage, there are several multiple-choice questions. Select the best suggested answer to each question and record your answer on the separate answer sheet provided for you.

Reading Comprehension Passage A

I was given a voice. That's what people said about me. I cultivated my voice, because it would be a shame to waste such a gift. I pictured this voice as a hothouse plant, something luxuriant, with glossy foliage and the word tuberous in the name, and a musky scent at night. I made sure the voice was provided with the right temperature, the right degree of humidity, 5 the right ambience.1 I soothed its fears; I told it not to tremble. I nurtured it, I trained it, I watched it climb up inside my neck like a vine.

The voice bloomed. People said I had grown into my voice. Soon I was sought after, or rather my voice was. We went everywhere together. What people saw was me, what I saw was my voice, ballooning out in front of me like the translucent greenish membrane of a 10 frog in full trill.

My voice was courted. Bouquets were thrown to it. Money was bestowed on it. Men fell on their knees before it. Applause flew around it like flocks of red birds.

Invitations to perform cascaded over us. All the best places wanted us, and all at once, for, as people said--though not to me--my voice would thrive only for a certain term. Then, 15 as voices do, it would begin to shrivel. Finally it would drop off, and I would be left alone, denuded--a dead shrub, a footnote.

It's begun to happen, the shrivelling. Only I have noticed it so far. There's the barest pucker in my voice, the barest wrinkle. Fear has entered me, a needleful of ether,2 constricting what in someone else would be my heart. 20 Now it's evening; the neon lights come on, excitement quickens in the streets. We sit in this hotel room, my voice and I; or rather in this hotel suite, because it's still nothing but the best for us. We're gathering our strength together. How much of my life do I have left? Leftover, that is: my voice has used up most of it. I've given it all my love, but it's only a voice, it can never love me in return. 25 Although it's begun to decay, my voice is still as greedy as ever. Greedier: it wants more, more and more, more of everything it's had so far. It won't let go of me easily.

Soon it will be time for us to go out. We'll attend a luminous occasion, the two of us, chained together as always. I'll put on its favourite dress, its favourite necklace. I'll wind a fur around it, to protect it from the drafts. Then we'll descend to the foyer, glittering like 30 ice, my voice attached like an invisible vampire to my throat.

--Margaret Atwood "Voice" from "Seven Love Letters"

The Walrus, July/August 2005

1ambience -- the special atmosphere surrounding a person, place, or thing 2ether -- a volatile, highly flammable liquid formerly used as an anesthetic

Comp. Eng. -- Aug. '15

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[OVER]

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