Title: Lang Arts - Quiz 7
Course: Health Care Language Arts > Section: Learning Modules

This quiz is based on chapter 7 of Contemporary's GED Language Arts, Reading and chapter 9 of Contemporary's GED Social Studies.

This quiz is based on chapter 7 of Contemporary's GED Language Arts, Reading and chapter 9 of Contemporary's GED Social Studies. You can take the quiz as many times as you like, but only your last score will be recorded.

Q: Read Langston Hughes's poem, "Life is Fine," and then answer the question at the end.

I went down to the river,

I set down on the bank.

I tried to think but couldn't,

So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!

I came up twice and cried!

If that water hadn't a-been so cold

I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator

Sixteen floors above the ground.

I thought about my baby

And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!

I stood there and I cried!

If it hadn't a-been so high

I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',

I guess I will live on.

I could've died for love--

But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,

And you may see me cry--

I'll be dogged, sweet baby,

If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!

Question:

What did the narrator of the poem contemplating doing twice?
- committing suicide
- celebrating life
- swimming
- fishing
A: committing suicide

Q: Read Langston Hughes's poem, "Life is Fine," and then answer the question at the end.

I went down to the river,

I set down on the bank.

I tried to think but couldn't,

So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!

I came up twice and cried!

If that water hadn't a-been so cold

I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator

Sixteen floors above the ground.

I thought about my baby

And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!

I stood there and I cried!

If it hadn't a-been so high

I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',

I guess I will live on.

I could've died for love--

But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,

And you may see me cry--

I'll be dogged, sweet baby,

If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!

Question:

What most likely just happened to the narrator of the poem?
- His girlfriend just broke up with him.
- He lost his job.
- He won the lottery.
- He moved from the country to the city.
A: His girlfriend just broke up with him.

Q: Read Dylan Thomas's poem, "Do Not Go Gentle into the Night," and answer the question at the end.

o not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Question:

What is the best description of what "night" refers to in this poem?
- death
- darkness
- evening
- sleep
A: death

Q: Read the excerpt below from Walt Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." Then, answer the question at the end.

FLOOD-TIDE below me! I watch you face to face;

Clouds of the west! sun there half an hour high! I see you also face to face.

Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes! how curious you are to me!

On the ferry-boats, the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose;

And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence, are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.

The impalpable sustenance of me from all things, at all hours of the day;

The simple, compact, well-join’d scheme—myself disintegrated, every one disintegrated, yet part of the scheme:

The similitudes of the past, and those of the future;

The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings—on the walk in the street, and the passage over the river;

The current rushing so swiftly, and swimming with me far away;

The others that are to follow me, the ties between me and them;

The certainty of others—the life, love, sight, hearing of others.

Others will enter the gates of the ferry, and cross from shore to shore;

Others will watch the run of the flood-tide;

Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and west, and the heights of Brooklyn to the south and east;

Others will see the islands large and small;

Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross, the sun half an hour high;

A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred years hence, others will see them,

Will enjoy the sunset, the pouring in of the flood-tide, the falling back to the sea of the ebb-tide.

Question:

What is the main idea that Whitman is expressing?
- the commonality of experience across time
- the beauty of a ferry ride to Brooklyn
- the way cares and troubles are washed away by time
- the diversity of people and experience in New York City
A: the commonality of experience across time

Q: Read Langston Hughes's poem, "I, Too, Sing America," and answer the question at the end.

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

Question:

What does Hughes mean by "darker brother?"
- black man
- evil sibling
- melancholy personality
- thing one wants to hide
A: black man

Q: Read Langston Hughes's poem, "I, Too, Sing America," and answer the question at the end.

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

Question:

What does Hughes mean by the words "Tomorrow, I'll be at the table?"
- In the future, African Americans will be seen as full American citizens.
- He will be old enough to sit with the adults.
- His education will allow him access to the most important political conversations.
- He will have acheived enough in life to be admitted to the main table.
A: In the future, African Americans will be seen as full American citizens.

Q: Read Langston Hughes's poem, "I, Too, Sing America," and answer the question at the end.

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

Question:

Why does Hughes say that they will be ashamed?
- Because they will be embarrassed by the history of racism in the United States.
- Because they will be embarrassed that he is sitting at their table.
- Because they will realize they are not as beautiful as he is.
- Because they will realize they had made a grave mistake by allowing him to sit at the table.
A: Because they will be embarrassed by the history of racism in the United States.

Q: Read Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise," and then answer the question at the end.

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Question:

What best expresses the main idea of the poem?
- Despite the ways white Americans have oppressed them, African Americans will succeed.
- The narrator continues to get out of bed day after day, despite untold hardships.
- Despite the ways others have beaten her down, the narrator continues to maintain her self respect.
- Though hardships are many, any self-respecting person should continue to struggle against oppression.
A: Despite the ways white Americans have oppressed them, African Americans will succeed.

Q: Read Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise," and then answer the question at the end.

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Question:

What best express what Angelou means by "history's shame?"
- slavery in the American past
- the bad things that have happened to her in the past
- the humiliation of things that have happened in the past
- the legacy of sexual violence
A: slavery in the American past

Q: Read Walt Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!" to answer the question at the end.

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;

The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills;

For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding;

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head;

It is some dream that on the deck,

You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;

The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;

From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;

Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!

But I, with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

Question:

Walt Whitman wrote this poem at the end of the Civil War. Based on the text of the poem, who or what was the "Captain" he was writing about?
- Abraham Lincoln
- slavery
- the Union cause
- Robert E. Lee
A: Abraham Lincoln

Q: Use the information contained in the passage below to answer the question that follows.

Before the 1790s, American planters in the South knew that there were two types of cotton they could grow: short staple and long staple. The short staple cotton, which could be grown easily anywhere across the South, had a dense boll with lots of seeds inside it, making it very labor intensive to separate the useful fibers from the other material. Long staple cotton, on the other hand, had long, flowing fibers that could be easily separated from the seeds and stem. Consequently, cotton growers focused on growing long staple cotton, because it proved to be the only profitable type of the two. However, long staple cotton could only be grown in the rich soils near the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, significantly reducing the area that could be cultivated.

In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. Using a series of brushes that rubbed against each other and were turned by a crank, the gin could easily separate the cotton fibers from the seeds and stem of the plant. After the invention of the cotton gin, cotton agriculture expanded ten-fold in each of the coming decades. While Whitney initially thought his invention would reduce the need for slaves by saving the pain-staking labor of separating the fibers from the seeds, the cotton gin arguably became the single biggest factor in the spread of slavery during the early nineteenth century.

Question:

Before 1793, why did southerners not grow a lot of short staple cotton?
- because it was too expensive to process
- because they did not have enough slaves
- because southerners had only settled along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina
- because they did not yet have access to enough short staple seeds
A: because it was too expensive to process

Q: Use the information contained in the passage below to answer the question that follows.

Before the 1790s, American planters in the South knew that there were two types of cotton they could grow: short staple and long staple. The short staple cotton, which could be grown easily anywhere across the South, had a dense boll with lots of seeds inside it, making it very labor intensive to separate the useful fibers from the other material. Long staple cotton, on the other hand, had long, flowing fibers that could be easily separated from the seeds and stem. Consequently, cotton growers focused on growing long staple cotton, because it proved to be the only profitable type of the two. However, long staple cotton could only be grown in the rich soils near the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, significantly reducing the area that could be cultivated.

In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. Using a series of brushes that rubbed against each other and were turned by a crank, the gin could easily separate the cotton fibers from the seeds and stem of the plant. After the invention of the cotton gin, cotton agriculture expanded ten-fold in each of the coming decades. While Whitney initially thought his invention would reduce the need for slaves by saving the pain-staking labor of separating the fibers from the seeds, the cotton gin arguably became the single biggest factor in the spread of slavery during the early nineteenth century.

Question:

Why did the invention of the cotton gin encourage the expansion of slavery?
- because it allowed people to profitably cultivate short staple cotton
- because it generated an increased demand for cotton
- because it allowed the long staple cotton to be grown in more areas
- because it more easily separated the long staple cotton fibers from the seeds
A: because it allowed people to profitably cultivate short staple cotton

Q: Using the information below, answer the following question.

Some historians argue that there are seven things that limit industrial development: access to capital, a large market, cheap transportation, available raw materials, a ready workforce, technological know-how, and power to run the machinery.

In the United States, the first industrialized factory began operating in 1793 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island along the banks of the Blackstone River. Samuel Slater, a former artisan in a British factory, and Moses Brown, the scion of a wealthy merchant family established the textile factory, using cheap, immigrant and child labor.

In the 1810s and 1820s, much larger factories than Slater and Brown's started to spring up along rivers across New England. Financed by pools of wealthy investors, these factories often attracted young, unmarried women from the countryside to work there. They also used immense amounts of cotton and turned out finished products on a scale Slater and Brown could not have imagined.

Question:

What is the best assumption about where the technology for the Pawtucket factory came from?
- Slater stole the ideas from the factory he worked at in England.
- Slater and Brown invented the technology themselves.
- Brown purchased the plans for the factory from an inventor.
- Professors at the longest established university in the United States, Harvard, developed the plans.
A: Slater stole the ideas from the factory he worked at in England.

Q: Using the information below, answer the following question.

Some historians argue that there are seven things that limit industrial development: access to capital, a large market, cheap transportation, available raw materials, a ready workforce, technological know-how, and power to run the machinery.

In the United States, the first industrialized factory began operating in 1793 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island along the banks of the Blackstone River. Samuel Slater, a former artisan in a British factory, and Moses Brown, the scion of a wealthy merchant family established the textile factory, using cheap, immigrant and child labor.

In the 1810s and 1820s, much larger factories than Slater and Brown's started to spring up along rivers across New England. Financed by pools of wealthy investors, these factories often attracted young, unmarried women from the countryside to work there. They also used immense amounts of cotton and turned out finished products on a scale Slater and Brown could not have imagined.

Question:

If the historians are correct about industrial development, what is the best guess about what happened between the 1790s and 1820s to allow for the bigger factories?
- Improvements in transportation made access to markets and raw materials easier.
- New sources of power were discovered.
- The United States Congress passed laws restricting immigration and child labor.
- Slater and Brown's factory went out of business.
A: Improvements in transportation made access to markets and raw materials easier.

Q: Using the information below, answer the following question.

Some historians argue that there are seven things that limit industrial development: access to capital, a large market, cheap transportation, available raw materials, a ready workforce, technological know-how, and power to run the machinery.

In the United States, the first industrialized factory began operating in 1793 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island along the banks of the Blackstone River. Samuel Slater, a former artisan in a British factory, and Moses Brown, the scion of a wealthy merchant family established the textile factory, using cheap, immigrant and child labor.

In the 1810s and 1820s, much larger factories than Slater and Brown's started to spring up along rivers across New England. Financed by pools of wealthy investors, these factories often attracted young, unmarried women from the countryside to work there. They also used immense amounts of cotton and turned out finished products on a scale Slater and Brown could not have imagined.

Question:

What is the best guess for what powered the factories in the United States from the 1790s through the 1820s?
- water
- coal
- electricity
- horses
A: water

Q: Use the selection below to answer the question at the end.

This selection uses material from the Wikipedia article "Solidarity Action", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Solidarity action (also known as "secondary action" or "boycott" or "sympathy strike") is industrial action by a trade union in support of a strike initiated by workers in another, separate enterprise. The term "secondary action" is often used with the intention of distinguishing different types of trade dispute with a worker's direct employer, and so may be used to refer to a dispute with the employer's parent company, its suppliers, financiers, contracting parties, or any other employer in another industry.

Question:

Which of the following is an example of a solidarity action?
- Workers at a textile factory goes out on strike over unsafe working conditions. The unionized truckers who deliver cotton to the factory refuse to drop off material at the factory until the strike is settled.
- At a unionized autoplant, a worker is killed by a piece of unsafe machinery. After the company refuses to make safety improvements, the workers go out on strike.
- In a town with two electronics factories, the workers at one factory vote to strike over the lack of proper exhaust systems in their workplace. At the factory across town, the workers speed up production to make up for the increased demand caused by the drop in production at the striking factory.
- A unionized group of nurses have several issues with the hospital they work for. Some of the nurses are incensed that they are called in at a moment's notice because the manager forgot to schedule someone. Others are upset that they have not received a raise in four years. Still other nurses are concerned about the fact that only two nurses are on staff on some halls, despite the fact that state regulations call for at least three nurses to be on staff at all times. Driven by these different reasons, they all vote to go out on strike together.
A: Workers at a textile factory goes out on strike over unsafe working conditions. The unionized truckers who deliver cotton to the factory refuse to drop off material at the factory until the strike is settled.

Q: Use the selection below to answer the question at the end.

This selection uses material from the Wikipedia article "Trophic Cascade", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Trophic cascades occur when predators in a food web suppress the abundance or alter traits (e.g., behavior) of their prey, thereby releasing the next lower trophic level from predation (or herbivory if the intermediate trophic level is a herbivore). For example, if the abundance of large piscivorous fish is increased in a lake, the abundance of their prey, smaller fish that eat zooplankton, should decrease. The resulting increase in zooplankton should, in turn, cause the biomass of its prey, phytoplankton, to decrease.

This theory has stimulated new research in many areas of ecology. Trophic cascades may also be important for understanding the effects of removing top predators from food webs, as humans have done in many places through hunting and fishing activities.

Question:

Which of the following is not an example of the effect of a trophic cascade?
- When wolves returned to Yellowstone National Park for the first time in 100 years, the number of elk in the park diminished.
- All of these are examples of trophic cascades.
- In the 1910s, the United States Forest Service stopped native peoples from hunting deer in northern Arizona. Within a few years, a massive overpopulation of deer resulted in devestation of the ecosystem.
- Removing starfish, which predate on mussels, from an inter-tidal zone caused an explosion in the mussel population and devastated other species which competed with the mussels.
A: All of these are examples of trophic cascades.

Q: Use the selection below to decide whether the statement at the end is true or false.

This selection uses material from the Wikipedia article "Moore's Law", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

"Moore's law" is the observation that, over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years. The observation is named after Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of the Intel Corporation and Fairchild Semiconductor, whose 1965 paper described a doubling every year in the number of components per integrated circuit. In 1975, he revised the forecast doubling time to two years. His prediction has proven to be accurate, in part because the law now is used in the semiconductor industry to guide long-term planning and to set targets for research and development. The capabilities of many digital electronic devices are strongly linked to Moore's law: quality-adjusted microprocessor prices, memory capacity, sensors and even the number and size of pixels in digital cameras. All of these are improving at roughly exponential rates as well.

Question:

Based on the information above, we know numbers of transitors in a dense integrated circuit will continue to double approximately every two years.
- True
- False
A: False

Q: Using the information below, answer the question at the end.

The United States has over 30,000 dams that are three feet high or taller. For a long time, nobody questioned the drive to build all these dams across the country. The dams controlled flooding, stored water, and provided electricity. But, now, a growing number of scholars, engineers, and activists say are arguing that these dams cause more harm than good. These people point out that the dams are extremely expensive to run, tremendous amounts of water evaporate from the reservoirs behind dams, few dams produce appreciable amounts of electricity, and the dams cause massive environmental damage by flooding ecosystems, changing the water temperature, and starving downstream ecosystems of water and silt.

Question:

What is the purpose of the passage above?
- to explain how ideas about the usefulness of dams have changed
- to argue for the removal of dams
- to explain how the federal government wastes money and resources
- to argue in support of more dam building
A: to explain how ideas about the usefulness of dams have changed

Q: Using the information below, answer the question at the end.

The United States has over 30,000 dams that are three feet high or taller. For a long time, nobody questioned the drive to build all these dams across the country. The dams controlled flooding, stored water, and provided electricity. But, now, a growing number of scholars, engineers, and activists say are arguing that these dams cause more harm than good. These people point out that the dams are extremely expensive to run, tremendous amounts of water evaporate from the reservoirs behind dams, few dams produce appreciable amounts of electricity, and the dams cause massive environmental damage by flooding ecosystems, changing the water temperature, and starving downstream ecosystems of water and silt.

Question:

In deciding whether dams are useful, why is it important to consider the amount of water that evaporates from a reservoir?
- Because the evaporation will reduce the amount of water stored behind the dam.
- Because evaporation will lead to more rain in areas downwind of the reservoir.
- Because evaporation will end up leading to more devastating floods.
- Because evaporation will allow the reservoirs to hold more water.
A: Because the evaporation will reduce the amount of water stored behind the dam.