“Cynthia in the Snow”



“Cynthia in the Snow”

By Gwendolyn Brooks

It SHUSHES,

It hushes

The loudness in the road

It flitter-twitters,

And laughs away from me.

It laughs a lovely whiteness,

And whitely whirls away,

To be

Some otherwhere,

Still white as milk or shirts,

So beautiful it hurts.

1. Which statement is an opinion about the above poem? 2.42

A. Blowing snow can create sound

B. Snow can be so pretty that it can cause pain

C. The color of snow can represent the whiteness of milk

D. Snow blow in any direction

2. The line, “And laughs away from me” is which literary element? 3.32

A. alliteration

B. metaphor

C. simile

D. personification

3. What literary element is represented in the lines, “It SHUSHES, It hushes”? 3.32

A. metaphor

B. onomatopoeia

C. idiom

D. simile

4. The line “Still white as milk or shirts,” is an example of which literary element? 3.32

A. alliteration

B. metaphor

C. personification

D. simile

5. Another good title for this poem could be 2.12

A. “The Playful Snow”

B. “The White Milk”

C. “The Painful Season”

D. “ Ice in my Veins”

In 1992, the Republicans supported President George Bush in his bid for reelection, while the Democrats nominated Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton as their candidate. The Independent third party chose billionaire Texas businessman H. Ross Perot as their candidate. During the campaign, Clinton pledged to reconstruct America’s healthcare system and welfare system. He favored an active government that supported pro-business policies and stressed American’s concerns about the economy. On the other hand, Ross Perot urged the need to end the federal government’s deficit spending- spending more money than it takes in. In the election, Clinton won with only 43% of the popular vote. Bush won 38% of the popular vote, and Perot received 19%, the best showing for a third-party candidate since 1912. Many voters felt that President Bush would win a second term in office, but a lengthening recession raised doubts about his leadership.

6. The best title for this passage would be 2.12

A. Clinton’s Landslide Victory

B. The Third Party Winner

C. Presidential Election of 1992

D. Bush Takes the Prize

7. Which statement is a supporting detail of the main idea? 1.12

A. President Bush was reelected in 1992

B. Clinton received 43% of the popular vote

C. Perot made better campaign promises

D. The Republicans supported Bill Clinton

8. From the passage, the reader can infer 2.22

A. the American people wanted a change in leadership

B. more Americans voted for Bush than Clinton

C. Ross Perot was the most popular of the candidates

D. the recession was not an issue during the election of 1992

9. What is the best synonym for the bolded word reconstruct? 4.12

A. abandon

B. preserve

C. maintain

D. transform

10. Which of the following facts is a similarity between Clinton and Perot? 5.52

A. They both are from the state of Arkansas.

B. They both received the majority of the votes in the election.

C. They both were running against the current president of the United States.

D. They both wanted to reconstruct the welfare system.

3.32 Analyze literary elements in fiction

Choose the meaning of the bold faced idiom as each is used in the following selections.

11. “I’m not sure how Anna is going to get her report finished by tomorrow morning

since she hasn’t started it yet, but I’m sure she has an ace up her sleeve.”

Ace up her sleeve means_____

A. carry cards in your pocket

B. a tricky surprise

C. you are a number one golf player

D. play a game of hide the card

12. Mary does not play tennis very much, but she is constantly shooting off her mouth

about how good she plays. Yet, she is truly fooling nobody. Mary is somewhat of a

bragger and boaster because she won her second game of tennis. She is one who

gives annoying opinions about the game when she does not know that much about it.

Mary talks as if she has all the facts.

Shooting off her mouth means ______

A. Mary talks as if she knows everything about tennis

B. Mary has always been a very talkative person

C. Mary is an excellent tennis player

D. Everyone wants to play tennis with Mary

13. Ellen’s aunt was expecting a baby in a few months. The family was planning a

surprise baby shower for her. Ellen promised she would not tell her aunt about the

surprise, but sometimes Ellen couldn’t keep a secret very well. “I hope you don’t let

the cat out of the bag,” said her mom.

Let the cat out of the bag means_____

A. bring a cat somewhere in a bag

B. ruin a surprise

C. rescue a trapped animal

D. release a kitten from a bag

14. At last Jimmy came upon the rare stamp he had been seeking at an auction. Since

many other stamp collectors would also be bidding for it, he realized that he would

have to pay through the nose in order to have it. After considering the increasing

value of the stamp, Jimmy decided that he would not mind paying such a high price

for the stamp that was so rare!

Pay through the nose means_____

A. Jimmy worked so hard that he had a nose bleed

B. The collectors hit Jimmy in the nose because he was bidding for the stamp

C. Jimmy wanted the rare stamp so much he would pay whatever it the stamp cost

D. Jimmy could not pay to get into the auction and then also buy the stamp

15. During class Sally seems to never listen. When the teacher asked Sally to answer a

question, she does not even know what the question was! The teacher told Sally to

get her head out of the clouds.

To get her head out of the clouds means ______

A. that Sally is the tallest girl in the class

B. that Sally needs to be more attentive in class

C. that Sally should not be drawing clouds

D. that Sally’s hair looks like the clouds

3.32 Analyze literary elements in recreational reading materials

Explain the meaning of the bold faced metaphor in each sentence below.

16. Brad was a wall, bouncing every tennis ball back over the net.

This metaphor compares Brad to a wall because____

A. He was very strong.

B. He was very tall

C. He kept returning the balls.

D. His body was made of cells.

17. The electrical cord keeping the generator running split into two separate pieces.

Dad’s black electrical tape is the lifeline keeping the two pieces of cord

together.

This metaphor implies that _____

A. the generator is really alive

B. without the tape there would be no power at all to run the generator

C. each piece of the split cord was no longer useful

D. Dad did not know how to fix the problem

18. The new infant baby was so active his mom was constantly chasing him around his

room. He crawled quickly using is arms and legs like a cat while attempting to

eat everything his little hands touched! One day mom yelled to him, “ Come her you

little rug rat.”

The baby is compared to a rat because_____

A. rats run swiftly and are known for eating anything they can find

B. the baby has very short arms and legs like a rat

C. the baby can get away from him mother

D. there was no money to buy food for the baby

19. Sharon was to have been home by 9:00 P.M. However, she did not arrive until

9:30P.M., and as a result, she was now in trouble and restricted to her room after

school for at least a week. Sharon felt her room was now her prison.

This metaphor implies that_____

A. Sharon was to have no privileges or extra-curricular activities for a week

B. Sharon would be allowed to meet her friends at the mall

C. Sharon would be on time for the school dance only

D. her parents would buy her a new television for her room

20. Even a child could carry my dog, Dogface, around for hours. He’s such a feather.

This metaphor implies that Dogface _____

A. is not cute

B. looks like a bird

C. is not heavy

D. can fly

3.32 Analyze literary elements in recreational reading materials

Identify the literary element in the following examples

21. The playful wind teased the girl by snatching her hat.

A. metaphor

B. simile

C. idiom

D. personification

22. The famous boxer is a gorilla and other fighters are afraid of his strength.

A. metaphor

B. simile

C. idiom

D. alliteration

23. My crazy cousin counts coins continuously!

A. metaphor

B. simile

C. personification

D. alliteration

24. His eyes were as blue as the deep blue ocean.

A. metaphor

B. simile

C. personification

D. alliteration

25. Crash went the lamp as the playful kitten knocked it to the floor.

A. simile

B. personification

C. onomatopoeia

D. idiom

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download