Information and Ideas

Chief Editor

Mar 23, 2024

Take all 3 MCQs in interactive quiz mode with timer and progress tracking

The following text is adapted from William Shakespeare's 1609 poem "Sonnet 27." The poem is addressed to a close friend as if he were physically present. Weary with toil, I [hurry] to my bed, The dear repose for limbs with travel tired; But then begins a journey in my head To work my mind, when body's work's expired: For then my thoughts--from far where I abide-- [Begin] a zealous pilgrimage to thee, And keep my drooping eyelids open wide, What is the main idea of the text?

Difficulty: Hard

The speaker is asleep and dreaming about traveling to see the friend.

The speaker is planning an upcoming trip to the friend's house.

The speaker is too fatigued to continue a discussion with the friend.

The speaker is thinking about the friend instead of immediately falling asleep.

"The Poet Walt Whitman" is an 1887 essay by Jose Marti, a Cuban author and political activist, originally written in Spanish. In the essay, Marti explores the value of literature, arguing that a society's spiritual well-being depends on the character of its literary culture: ________Which quotation from a translation of "The Poet Walt Whitman" most effectively illustrates the claim?

Difficulty: Hard

"Poetry, which brings together or separates, which fortifies or brings anguish, which shores up or demolishes souls, which gives or robs men of faith and vigor, is more necessary to a people than industry itself, for industry provides them with a means of subsistence, while literature gives them the desire and strength for life."

"Every society brings to literature its own form of expression, and the history of the nations can be told with greater truth by the stages of literature than by chronicles and decades."

"Where will a race of men go when they have lost the habit of thinking with faith about the scope and meaning of their actions? The best among them, those who consecrate Nature with their sacred desire for the future, will lose, in a sordi and painful annihilation, all stimulus to alleviate the ugliness of humanity."

"Listen to the song of this hardworking and satisfied nation; listen to Walt Whitman. The exercise of himself exalts him to majesty, tolerance exalts him to justice, and order to joy."

The following text is adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel Treasure Island. Bill is a sailor staying at the Admiral Benbow, an inn run by the narrator's parents. Every day when [Bill] came back from his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the road. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind that made him ask this question, but at last we began to see he was desirous to avoid them. When a seaman did [stay] at the Admiral Benbow (as now and then some did) he would look in at him through the curtained door before he entered the parlour; and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any such was present. According to the text, why does Bill regularly ask about "seafaring men"?

Difficulty: Medium

He's hoping to find an old friend and fellow sailor.

He's trying to secure a job as part of the crew on a new ship.

He isn't sure that other guests at the inn will be welcoming of sailors.

He doesn't want to encounter any other sailor unexpectedly.