Name: ______________________ Class: _________________ Date: _________ ID: A

Grade 12, Collection 1 Test

Analyzing Text: Literature

Directions Read the following novel excerpt. Then answer the questions that follow.

from The Lifted Veil

by George Eliot

1 The time of my end approaches. I have lately been subject to attacks of angina pectoris; and in the
ordinary course of things, my physician tells me, I may fairly hope that my life will not be protracted
many months. Unless, then, I am cursed with an exceptional physical constitution, as I am cursed
with an exceptional mental character, I shall not much longer groan under the wearisome burthen of
this earthly existence. If it were to be otherwise—if I were to live on to the age most men desire and
provide for—I should for once have known whether the miseries of delusive expectation can
outweigh the miseries of true prevision. For I foresee when I shall die, and everything that will
happen in my last moments.
2 Just a month from this day, on the 20th of September 1850, I shall be sitting in this chair, in this
study, at ten o'clock at night, longing to die, weary of incessant insight and foresight, without
delusions and without hope. Just as I am watching a tongue of blue flame rising in the fire, and my
lamp is burning low, the horrible contraction will begin at my chest. I shall only have time to reach the
bell, and pull it violently, before the sense of suffocation will come. No one will answer my bell. I
know why. My two servants are lovers, and will have quarreled. My housekeeper will have rushed
out of the house in a fury, two hours before, hoping that Perry will believe she has gone to drown
herself. Perry is alarmed at last, and is gone out after her. The little scullery-maid is asleep on a
bench: she never answers the bell; it does not wake her. The sense of suffocation increases: my
lamp goes out with a horrible stench: I make a great effort, and snatch at the bell again. I long for
life, and there is no help. I thirsted for the unknown: the thirst is gone. O God, let me stay with the
known, and be weary of it: I am content. Agony of pain and suffocation—and all the while the earth,
the fields, the pebbly brook at the bottom of the rookery, the fresh scent after the rain, the light of the
morning through my chamber-window, the warmth of the hearth after the frosty air—will darkness
close over them for ever?
3 Darkness—darkness—no pain—nothing but darkness: but I am passing on and on through
the darkness: my thought stays in the darkness, but always with a sense of moving onward …

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

4 Before that time comes, I wish to use my last hours of ease and strength in telling the strange story
of my experience. I have never fully unbosomed myself to any human being; I have never been
encouraged to trust much in the sympathy of my fellow-men. But we have all a chance of meeting
with some pity, some tenderness, some charity, when we are dead: it is the living only who cannot
be forgiven—the living only from whom men's indulgence and reverence are held off, like the rain
by the hard east wind. While the heart beats, bruise it—it is your only opportunity; while the eye can
still turn towards you with moist timid entreaty, freeze it with an icy unanswering gaze; while the
ear, that delicate messenger to the inmost sanctuary of the soul, can still take in the tones of
kindness, put it off with hard civility, or sneering compliment, or envious affectation of indifference;
while the creative brain can still throb with the sense of injustice, with the yearning for brotherly
recognition—make haste—oppress it with your ill-considered judgments, your trivial comparisons,
your careless misrepresentations. The heart will by-and-by be still—ubi saeva indignatio ulterius
cor lacerare nequit; the eye will cease to entreat; the ear will be deaf; the brain will have ceased
from all wants as well as from all work. Then your charitable speeches may find vent; then you may
remember and pity the toil and the struggle and the failure; then you may give due honour to the
work achieved; then you may find extenuation for errors, and may consent to bury them.
5 That is a trivial schoolboy text; why do I dwell on it? It has little reference to me, for I shall leave no
works behind me for men to honour. I have no near relatives who will make up, by weeping over
my grave, for the wounds they inflicted on me when I was among them. It is only the story of my
life that will perhaps win a little more sympathy from strangers when I am dead, than I ever
believed it would obtain from my friends while I was living.

1. What does the reader learn about the narrator in the first paragraph?

A He is old.
B He is wealthy.
C He is psychic.
D He is content.

2. The repetition of the word "cursed" establishes a mood of

A gloom.
B suspense.
C weirdness.
D fearfulness.

3. The phrase "groan under the wearisome burthen of this earthly existence" in paragraph 1 suggests
that the narrator's attitude is

A despairing.
B determined.
C sarcastic.
D worried.

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

4. What internal conflict does the narrator express in the second paragraph?

A loss of control of his household

B suffocation leading to his death
C desire both to live and to die
D tension among his servants

5. The description in paragraph 2 suggests a setting that is

A orderly.
B serene.
C lavish.
D chaotic.

6. Which detail best supports the inference that the narrator does not have much authority?

A His lamp is burning low.

B His two servants are lovers.
C Both servants have left the house.
D The scullery-maid is asleep.

7. What does the lamp in paragraph 2 symbolize?

A industry
B energy
C hope
D life

8. What connotation does the word content have in paragraph 2?

A ironic
B positive
C neutral
D humorous

9. Based on details in paragraph 4, the reader can infer that the narrator is

A introverted.
B judgmental.
C distrustful.
D reclusive.

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

10. The phrases "hard civility" and "sneering compliment" in paragraph 4 suggest a tone of

A modesty.
B suspicion.
C anxiousness.
D contradiction.

11. What does the inclusion of a Latin phrase and his reflections on it suggest about the narrator?

A He is pretentious.
B He is well-educated.
C He likes to puzzle others.
D He does not trust his own words.

12. Which of the following is NOT a reason given by the narrator as to why he wants to tell his
story at this time?

A He believes readers will find it interesting.

B He has never shared his experiences before.
C He thinks it will be better received after his death.
D He has no other legacy to impart to the living after his death.

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

Analyzing Text: Informational Text

Directions Read the following essay. Then answer the questions that follow.

How It Feels to Be Colored Me

by Zora Neale Hurston

1 I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the
only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother's side was not an Indian chief.

2 I remember the very day that I became colored. Up to my thirteenth year I lived in the little Negro
town of Eatonville, Florida. It is exclusively a colored town. The only white people I knew passed
through the town going to or coming from Orlando. The native whites rode dusty horses, the
Northern tourists chugged down the sandy village road in automobiles. The town knew the
Southerners and never stopped cane chewing when they passed. But the Northerners were
something else again. They were peered at cautiously from behind curtains by the timid. The more
venturesome would come out on the porch to watch them go past and got just as much pleasure out
of the tourists as the tourists got out of the village.
3 The front porch might seem a daring place for the rest of the town, but it was a gallery seat for me.
My favorite place was atop the gate-post. Proscenium box for a born first-nighter. Not only did I
enjoy the show, but I didn't mind the actors knowing that I liked it. I usually spoke to them in
passing. I'd wave at them and when they returned my salute, I would say something like this:
"Howdy-do-well-I-thank-you-where-you-goin'?" Usually automobile or the horse paused at this, and
after a queer exchange of compliments, I would probably "go a piece of the way" with them, as we
say in farthest Florida. If one of my family happened to come to the front in time to see me, of
course negotiations would be rudely broken off. But even so, it is clear that I was the first "welcome-
to-our-state" Floridian, and I hope the Miami Chamber of Commerce will please take notice.

4 During this period, white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and
never lived there. They liked to hear me "speak pieces" and sing and wanted to see me dance the
parse-me-la, and gave me generously of their small silver for doing these things, which seemed
strange to me for I wanted to do them so much that I needed bribing to stop, only they didn't know it.
The colored people gave no dimes. They deplored any joyful tendencies in me, but I was their Zora
nevertheless. I belonged to them, to the nearby hotels, to the county— everybody's Zora.

5 But changes came in the family when I was thirteen, and I was sent to school in Jacksonville. I left
Eatonville, the town of the oleanders, as Zora. When I disembarked from the river-boat at
Jacksonville, she was no more. It seemed that I had suffered a sea change. I was not Zora of
Orange County any more. I was now a little colored girl. I found it out in certain ways. In my heart as
well as in the mirror, I became a fast brown—warranted not to rub nor run.
6 But I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking
behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold
that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all but about it.
Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong
regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world—I am too busy
sharpening my oyster knife.

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

7 Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand-daughter of slaves. It fails to

register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and
the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a
potential slave said "On the line!" The Reconstruction said "Get set!"; and the generation before
said "Go!" I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep.
Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me. It is a bully adventure and
worth all that I have paid through my ancestors for it. No one on earth ever had a greater chance
for glory. The world to be won and nothing to be lost. It is thrilling to think—to know that for any act
of mine, I shall get twice as much praise or twice as much blame. It is quite exciting to hold the
center of the national stage, with the spectators not knowing whether to laugh or to weep.

8 The position of my white neighbor is much more difficult. No brown specter pulls up a chair beside
me when I sit down to eat. No dark ghost thrusts its leg against mine in bed. The game of keeping
what one has is never so exciting as the game of getting.
9 I do not always feel colored. Even now I often achieve the unconscious Zora of Eatonville before
the Hegira. I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.
10 For instance at Barnard. "Beside the waters of the Hudson" I feel my race. Among the thousand
white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, overswept by a creamy sea. I am surged upon and
overswept, but through it all, I remain myself. When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but
reveals me again.
11 Sometimes it is the other way around. A white person is set down in our midst, but the contrast is
just as sharp for me. For instance, when I sit in the drafty basement that is The New World Cabaret
with a white person, my color comes. We enter chatting about any little nothing that we have in
common and are seated by the jazz waiters. In the abrupt way that jazz orchestras have, this one
plunges into a number. It loses no time in circumlocutions, but gets right down to business. It
constricts the thorax and splits the heart with its tempo and narcotic harmonies. This orchestra
grows rambunctious, rears on its hind legs and attacks the tonal veil with primitive fury, rending it,
clawing it until it breaks through to the jungle beyond. I follow those heathen—follow them exultingly.
I dance wildly inside myself; I yell within, I whoop; I shake my assegai above my head, I hurl it true
to the mark yeeeeooww! I am in the jungle and living in the jungle way. My face is painted red and
yellow and my body is painted blue. My pulse is throbbing like a war drum. I want to slaughter
something—give pain, give death to what, I do not know. But the piece ends. The men of the
orchestra wipe their lips and rest their fingers. I creep back slowly to the veneer we call civilization
with the last tone and find the white friend sitting motionless in his seat, smoking calmly.

12 "Good music they have here," he remarks, drumming the table with his fingertips.
13 Music! The great blobs of purple and red emotion have not touched him. He has only heard what
I felt. He is far away and I see him but dimly across the ocean and the continent that have fallen
between us. He is so pale with his whiteness then and I am so colored.
14 At certain times, I have no race, I am me. When I set my hat at a certain angle and saunter down
Seventh Avenue, Harlem City, feeling as snooty as the lions in front of the Forty-Second Street
Library, for instance. So far as my feelings are concerned, Peggy Hopkins Joyce on the Boule
Mich with her gorgeous raiment, stately carriage, knees knocking together in a most aristocratic
manner, has nothing on me. The cosmic Zora emerges. I belong to no race nor time. I am the
eternal feminine with its string of beads.
15 I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I am merely a
fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries. My country, right or wrong.
16 Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me.
How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company! It's beyond me.

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

17 But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against a wall in
company with other bags, white, red and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a
jumble of small things priceless and worthless. A first-water diamond, an empty spool, bits of broken
glass, lengths of string, a key to a door long since crumbled away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes
saved for a road that never was and never will be, a nail bent under the weight of things too heavy
for any nail, a dried flower or two, still a little fragrant. In your hand is the
brown bag. On the ground before you is the jumble it held—so much like the jumble in the bags,
could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without
altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps
that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place—who knows?

13. What central idea does Hurston emphasize with the phase "became colored" in paragraph 2?

A Race is not the foundation of her identity.

B Her skin color changed when she turned thirteen.
C Social context influences how she feels about her racial identity.
D She did not always feel discriminated against because of her color.

14. The author does not include standard English punctuation in the phrase
"Howdy-do-well-I-thank-you-where-you-goin’?" in paragraph 3 in order to

A poke fun at her own dialect.

B demonstrate regional speech patterns.
C contrast her speech with that of the tourists.
D convey a realistic depiction of how she spoke.

15. Which stylized phrase in paragraphs 3–4 most effectively captures Hurston's feelings about her
interactions with the tourists who passed through her childhood town?

A "Proscenium box for a born first-nighter." (paragraph 3)

B "If one of my family happened to come to the front in time to see me, of course
negotiations would be rudely broken off." (paragraph 3)
C "I was the first 'welcome-to-our-state' Floridian … " (paragraph 3)
D "They liked to hear me "speak pieces" and sing and wanted to see me dance the
parse-me-la, and gave me generously of their small silver for doing these things
…" (paragraph 4)
16. What inference can readers make based on the details of paragraph 5?

A Hurston's color eclipsed other parts of her identity.

B Hurston was discriminated against because of her color.
C The population of Jacksonville was predominately white.
D As a thirteen-year-old, Hurston did not like her new school.

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

17. Which reason in paragraph 7 best supports Hurston's claim that she is not "tragically colored"
(paragraph 6)?

A "Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand-daughter of slaves."

B "Slavery is sixty years in the past."
C "No one on earth ever had a greater chance for glory."
D "… I shall get twice as much praise or twice as much blame."

18. What point does Hurston make with the metaphor she develops in paragraph 10?

A Hurston sometimes feels overwhelmed by the way others see her.

B Hurston's own identity remains intact despite external circumstances.
C Hurston fears that her racial identity will be eroded by her surroundings.
D Hurston's feelings about her color cannot be easily washed away by outside
forces.
19. From the description of the performance at the jazz club, the reader can infer that

A the New World Cabaret does not have many white patrons.
B the author values jazz as a part of her cultural heritage.
C the musicians in the orchestra are African American.
D the white friend did not enjoy the performance.

20. Which sentence in paragraph 11 most effectively expresses Hurston's physical connection with the
music at The New World Cabaret?

A "It constricts the throat and splits the heart with its tempos and narcotic
harmonies."
B "I hurl it true to the mark yeeeooww!"
C "I am in the jungle and living in the jungle way."
D "My pulse is throbbing like a war drum."

21. What evidence does Hurston give to support her claim that her white friend was not as affected as
she was by the music at the jazz club?

A He remains motionless as the orchestra plays.

B He merely says the music is "good."
C He looks disinterested.
D He turns pale.

22. Which sentence best summarizes the ideas in paragraphs 14–16?

A There are several markers that contribute to Hurston's perception of self.

B Sometimes Hurston defines herself by her gender more than her race.
C Hurston feels the same way about her race and her nationality.
D When Hurston is discriminated against, she takes it personally.

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

23. Based on Hurston's metaphor of the bags of miscellany, the reader can infer which statement?

A Each person is unique, regardless of his or her color.

B A person's racial identity is made up of several competing factors.
C Every person has complex feelings about his or her own racial identity.
D People of all colors are essentially made of the same human characteristics.

24. How does Hurston craft an effective conclusion?

A She restates her claim and reasons.

B She identifies and refutes a counterargument.
C She engages the reader by using the second person.
D She introduces convincing evidence to support her main points.

Written Response

Directions Write two or three sentences to answer each question about the passages.

25. Identify the conflict the narrator addresses in paragraphs 4–5 of The Lifted Veil. Is this conflict
internal or external? Use text evidence to support your response.

26. Summarize the main ideas of "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." Use text evidence to support your
response.

Vocabulary

Directions Use your knowledge of prefixes to answer the following questions.

27. Which word uses the prefix pro- in the same way it is used in protracted in paragraph 1 of The
Lifted Veil?

A proceed
B produce
C provision
D profession

28. What is the meaning of the prefix in-, as used in incessant in paragraph 2 of The Lifted Veil?

A in
B not
C into
D within

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

29. Which word uses the prefix en- in the same way it is used in encouraged in paragraph 4 of The
Lifted Veil?

A envision
B envelope
C entire
D enact

Directions Use the dictionary clues to answer the following questions.

30. Based on its etymology, what is the meaning of delusive, as used in paragraph 1 of The Lifted Veil?

Dictionary Clue: from Latin deludere, "to play; to mock"

A bewildering
B forthright
C insincere
D misleading

31. Based on the etymology of scullery, the main duty of a scullery-maid is

Dictionary Clue: from Latin scutella, "drinking bowl"

A cooking food.
B washing dishes.
C dusting furniture.
D washing clothes.

32. Based on its etymology, what is the meaning of extenuation, as used in paragraph 4 of The Lifted
Veil?

Dictionary Clue: from Latin extenuare, "to diminish"

A full pardon
B half explanation
C partial excuse
D whole reason

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

Revising and Editing

Directions Read the narrative and answer the questions that follow.

(1) My brother and I look nothing alike. (2) There are some families in which the resemblance is
uncanny. (3) Often siblings share the same facial features (eyes, noses, or smiles). (4) Annabelle,
who is one of my teammates, so much like her older sister that our soccer coach once called
her to demonstrate a drill by using the wrong name! (5) Smiling Annabelle followed the coach's
instructions without correcting him. (6) Our coach wrapped up in the demonstration he was giving
did not even notice his mistake. (7) Later, picking teams for a scrimmage match, the team captain
made the same error. (8) Neither our coach nor our teammates ever mistaken me for my brother
like that.
(9) Even though we don't resemble each other physically, my brother and I enjoy a lot of the
same things. (10) We both play the guitar and read biographies for fun. (11) Steak and eggs our
favorite breakfast. (12) We even took a cooking class together to learn how to make it ourselves. (13)
But more than anything else, we love going on long road trips, we drove all the way from Chicago to
Miami one summer. (14) That's one vacation I'll never forget, because we almost didn't make it home.
(15) Our last morning in Miami, we brought our guitars down to the beach. (16) Looking out over
the ocean, we practiced a new song, composed during the trip. (17) Our guitars never sounded better.
(18) To celebrate, we decided to take one last swim before we started our long drive home after all,
who knows when we'd see the ocean again? (19) I told my brother to put the car keys in his guitar
case so they wouldn't get lost in the surf, and then we ran into the water. (20) When it was time to go,
my brother opened his case and shouted, "Oh no! The keys aren't here! I must have
left them in my pocket, which means they're " (21) He trailed off and shifted his gaze across the
ocean. (22) We spent over an hour kicking through the sand looking for the keys. (23) Eventually,
we gave up and called the auto club to bring us a spare set. (24) With nothing to do but wait, we
decided to play our guitars to pass the time.
(25) I grabbed my case and popped the lid. (26) I couldn't believe my eyes! (27) There in my
guitar case was the keys. (28) , all I could do was laugh. (29) My brother and I learned an
important lesson that trip: we might not look alike, but our guitar cases sure do!

33. How might you rewrite sentence 3 to show correct use of punctuation?

A Often; siblings share the same facial features (eyes, noses, or smiles).
B Often—siblings share the same facial features (eyes, noses, or smiles).
C Often siblings share the same facial features, eyes, noses, or smiles.
D Often siblings share the same facial features—eyes, noses, or smiles.

34. Which word correctly fills in the blank in sentence 4?

A looking
B looked
C looks
D look

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

35. How might you rewrite sentence 5 to show correct use of punctuation?

A Smiling, Annabelle followed the coach's instructions without correcting him.

B Smiling, Annabelle followed the coach's instructions, without correcting him.
C Smiling; Annabelle followed the coach's instructions, without correcting him.
D Smiling; Annabelle followed the coach's instructions without correcting him.

36. How should sentence 6 be rewritten?

A Wrapped up in the demonstration he was giving our coach did not even notice his
mistake.
B Our coach was wrapped up in the demonstration he was giving did not even
notice his mistake.
C Our coach did not even notice his mistake wrapped up in the demonstration he
was giving.
D Our coach, wrapped up in the demonstration he was giving, did not even notice
his mistake.
37. Which word correctly fills in the blank in sentence 8?

A haven't
B have
C had
D has

38. Which word correctly fills in the blank in sentence 11?

A is
B are
C was
D we r e

39. How should you rewrite sentence 13 to show correct use of punctuation?

A But; more than anything else, we love going on long road trips, we drove all the
way from Chicago to Miami one summer.
B But more than anything else; we love going on long road trips; we drove all the
way from Chicago to Miami one summer.
C But more than anything else—we love going on long road trips, we drove all the
way from Chicago to Miami one summer.
D But more than anything else, we love going on long road trips—we drove all the
way from Chicago to Miami one summer.

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

40. How might you rewrite sentence 16 to show the correct punctuation of a participle?

A Looking out over the ocean we practiced a new song composed during the trip.
B Looking out over the ocean we practiced a new song, composed during the trip.
C Looking out over the ocean, we practiced a new song composed during the trip.
D Looking out over the ocean; we practiced a new song, composed during the trip.

41. How should you punctuate sentence 18?

A To celebrate: we decided to take one last swim before we started our long drive
home; after all—who knows when we'd see the ocean again?
B To celebrate, we decided to take one last swim before we started our long drive
home; after all, who knows when we'd see the ocean again.
C To celebrate we decided to take one last swim before we started our long drive
home: after all, who knows when we'd see the ocean again!
D To celebrate, we decided to take one last swim before we started our long drive
home—after all, who knows when we'd see the ocean again?
42. How should you fill in the punctuation missing from sentence 20?

A —
B -
C !
D ?

43. How might you rewrite sentence 27?

A There, in my guitar case, is the keys.

B There in my guitar case are the keys.
C There, in my guitar case, was the keys.
D There in my guitar case were the keys.

44. Which word correctly fills in the blank in sentence 28?

A Astonish
B Astonished
C Astonishes
D Astonishing

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D
:
A