Ministry of Education

Al-Motaqadimah International School

Nozha District

Name:       Date:      

“Dark They Were, and

Golden-Eyed”
Ray Bradbury

FIRST READ: Comprehension

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

      1. What is Harry Bittering’s main emotion in the first half of “Dark They Were,
and Golden-Eyed”?
a. He is curious about the fate of the Martians.
b. He is angry at his wife for wanting to stay on Mars.
c. He is afraid of being changed by the Martian environment.
d. He is annoyed by the other Earth people in the town on Mars.

      2. Which event in “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” is most important in
preventing the family’s return to Earth?
a. The family is happy living on a farm in the new settlement.
b. The return ticket to Earth costs more than the family has.
c. A rocket that Harry builds does not function.
d. An atomic world war breaks out on Earth.

     3. In “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed,” what is Mr. Bittering’s first clue that
his world is changing?
a. His children want to adopt Martian names.
b. His peach tree sheds strange new blossoms.
c. His wife’s and his children’s eyes turn a golden color.
d. His neighbors calmly accept all the changes around them.

      4. In “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed,” what does Mr. Bittering do to cope
with his fears about living on Mars? Choose two options.
a. He investigates Martian ruins to understand them better.
b. He tries to build a rocket to take his family back to Earth.
c. He persuades his wife and family to return with him to Earth.
d. He spends time with other settlers, who talk him out of his fear.
e. He concentrates on his work on their small farm and other chores.
f. He encourages his family to change their names and act like Martians.
g. He moves his family to a Martian villa in the hills to escape the summer
heat.
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 GRADE 7 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

“DARK THEY WERE, AND GOLDEN-EYED” BY RAY BRADBURY

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 GRADE 7 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

“DARK THEY WERE, AND GOLDEN-EYED” BY RAY BRADBURY

Name:       Date:      

      5. Which sentence best describes the Bittering family members at the conclusion
of “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed”?
a. They are completely changed into Martians and have no memory of their
past selves.
b. They are resigned to living on Mars but are unhappy with their lives
there.
c. They are different physically but still think and act like Earth people.
d. They are eager to return to Earth now that the atomic war is over.

FIRST READ: Concept Vocabulary

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

      6. If a road can correctly be described as submerged in water, which of the

following must be true? Base your answer on the meaning of submerged.
a. The road is impossible to navigate.
b. The area has experienced a long drought.
c. The location of the road is high in the mountains.
d. The road needs extensive work by the highway department.

      7. What is the most accurate meaning of atmosphere in this sentence?

The atmosphere of the Earth consists of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen,
and 1 percent other gases.

a. space
b. chemistry
c. cloud cover
d. surrounding air

      8. Which of the following situations could best be used to illustrate the meaning
of forlorn? Base your answer on the meaning of forlorn.
a. a soccer team that has just won a game
b. an abandoned dog sitting alone in the rain
c. a teenage babysitter watching two young children play
d. a busy man on a city street who has just missed a bus

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 GRADE 7 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

“DARK THEY WERE, AND GOLDEN-EYED” BY RAY BRADBURY

NAME:       Date:      

CLOSE READ: Analyze the Text

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

9. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

      Part A In “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed,” what does the constant wind
on Mars most likely represent?
a. the power of the environment to completely change the Earth people
b. the sadness that Mr. Bittering feels when he cannot return to Earth
c. the very hot weather on Mars that disturbs the Earth people
d. the destruction of the Earth people’s settlement on Mars

      Part B Which quotation from “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” best
supports the answer to Part A?
a. The wind blew as if to flake away their identities. At any moment, the
Martian air might draw his soul from him, as marrow comes from a white
bone.
b. “Even the house. The wind’s done something to it. The air’s burned it.
The fog at night.”
c. The nights were full of wind that blew down the empty moonlit sea
meadows past the little white chess cities lying for their twelve-
thousandth year in the shallows.
d. The captain looked at the room, the dusty windows, the blue mountains
rising beyond, the canals moving in the light, and he heard the soft wind
in the air. He shivered.

     10. Which of the following best states a major theme in “Dark They Were, and
Golden-Eyed”?
a. Since we have limited resources on Earth, governments should look to
other planets to meet our needs.
b. Humans are generally open minded and peaceful in their encounters with
the unknown.
c. Though people often fear and resist it, change is unavoidable in the end.
d. Far-off worlds can be anything people imagine them to be.

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 GRADE 7 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

“DARK THEY WERE, AND GOLDEN-EYED” BY RAY BRADBURY

Name:       Date:      

11. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

      Part A At the end of “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed,” what is the attitude
of the lieutenant who has recently arrived?
a. He finds the environment on Mars unappealing.
b. He likes the Martians and believes they are peaceful.
c. He suspects the Martians’ involvement in the disappearance of the settlers.
d. He feels enthusiastic about the new settlement that the captain is planning.

      Part B Which of these quotations from “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed”
best supports the answer to Part A?
a. The captain established headquarters in an abandoned bar. His lieutenant
came back to report.
b. “Dark people. Yellow eyes. Martians. Very friendly. . . . I’m sure our
relations will be most friendly with them, sir.”
c. “Six, eight hundred, I’d say, living in those marble ruins in the hills, sir.”
d. “They hadn’t the foggiest notion of what happened to this town or its
people.”

CLOSE READ: Analyze Craft and Structure

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

     12. Which of the following quotations from “Dark They Were, and
Golden-Eyed” contains a simile?
a. The man felt . . . the tissues of his body draw tight as if he were standing
at the center of a vacuum.
b. At any moment the Martian air might draw his soul from him.
c. A few tremblings shook him, but were carried off in waves of pleasant
heat as he lay in the sun.
d. And then the water can build on that skeleton—green things, deep water
things, red things, yellow things.

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 GRADE 7 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

“DARK THEY WERE, AND GOLDEN-EYED” BY RAY BRADBURY

Name:       Date:      

     13. Why can the following sentence from “Dark They Were, and
Golden-Eyed” be correctly called a metaphor?
A river of wind submerged the house.

a. It makes the river and the wind seem like human beings.
b. It describes how wind can overpower solid objects.
c. It suggests that the wind is a powerful river.
d. It shows that the house is near a river.

     14. Which of the following quotations from “Dark They Were, and
Golden-Eyed” contains the clearest example of personification?
a. The children, small seeds, might at any instant be sown to all the
Martian climes.
b. I feel like a salt crystal,” he said, “in a mountain stream, being washed
away.”
c. The morning paper was toast-warm from the 6 A.M. Earth rocket.
d. This was the moment Mars had waited for.

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 GRADE 7 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

“DARK THEY WERE, AND GOLDEN-EYED” BY RAY BRADBURY

Name:       Date:      

15. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

      Part A Read this excerpt from “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed.”
Summer burned the canals dry. Summer moved like flame upon the meadows. In
the empty Earth settlement, the painted houses flaked and peeled. Rubber tires
upon which children had swung in back yards hung suspended like stopped clock
pendulums in the blazing air.

Which of the following best expresses the meaning of the underlined sentence
in this excerpt?
a. The rubber tire swings are peeling in the harsh summer sun.
b. The rubber tire swings swing back and forth in the breeze.
c. The rubber tire swings are no longer used as playthings.
d. The rubber tire swings are too hot to play on.

      Part B How does the use of figurative language most clearly add to the literal
meaning of the underlined sentence excerpted in Part A?
a. It suggests fear for the safety of the children.
b. It conveys a sense of nostalgia for life on Earth.
c. It expresses loss while suggesting the power of Mars.
d. It suggests dread that the settlers will return to revive the settlement.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: Word Study

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

     16. Which of the following words is a synonym of destroy?

a. uncover
b. upset
c. copy
d. ruin

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 GRADE 7 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

“DARK THEY WERE, AND GOLDEN-EYED” BY RAY BRADBURY

Name:       Date:      

     17. In the following sentence, you could replace scary with terrifying, a synonym.
Which sentence best explains the difference in nuance between the synonyms?
My brother likes roller coasters, but I find them quite scary.

a. Terrifying suggests a much more powerful feeling of fear.

b. Scary suggests a feeling that is imaginary instead of real.
c. Scary suggests a sense of resentment toward the brother.
d. Terrifying suggests a sense of fun and adventure.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: Conventions

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

     18. Which underlined term in the following sentence is in the superlative degree?
Scientists recently discovered that Mars, in the past, had the most important
elements for supporting life, including a thicker atmosphere than it has now and
more water.

a. recently
b. most important
c. thicker
d. more

     19. Which underlined terms in the following sentence are in the positive degree?
Choose three options.
The most interesting discovery made by NASA’s mechanical rover, fittingly named
“Curiosity,” was an ancient streambed that showed that a stream of water deeper
than originally thought flowed there long ago.

a. most interesting
b. fittingly
c. ancient
d. deeper
e. originally

     20. Which of the following is a comparative adverb that best completes this
sentence?
The rover Curiosity is discovering facts about Mars       than scientists expected.

a. strangest
b. quicklier
c. more quickly
d. most important

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 GRADE 7 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

“DARK THEY WERE, AND GOLDEN-EYED” BY RAY BRADBURY

Name:       Date:      

Comparing Text to Media

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

     21. Both the story text and the radio play versions of “Dark They Were, and
Golden-Eyed” include Harry Bittering as a character. Which statement best
explains how the two versions develop his character?
a. The story text’s narration directly reveals Harry’s thoughts and feelings,
which must be inferred through his dialogue in the radio play.
b. The radio play’s music and sound effects build on Harry’s thoughts and
fears, which are not as well supported in the story text.
c. The radio play’s dialogue and the actor’s interpretation of it create a
better sense of his feelings than the story text’s narration does.
d. The story text’s specific focus on Harry develops a stronger character
than the radio play’s focus on his entire family does.

     22. Which of the following are the most significant differences between the story
and the radio play version of “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed”? Choose
three options.
a. The story features fewer characters than the radio play does.
b. The children play a smaller role in the radio play than they do in the story
text.
c. The adaptation for the radio play leaves out important information from
the written story.
d. The ideas presented in the story’s narration are often left out or presented
in dialogue in the radio play.
e. The radio play not only relies on the words of the text but also adds
sound effects, music, and silence to bring the story to life.
f. The actors in the radio play interpret the characters’ traits and emotions
differently from the way described in the story.

     23. Which statement best describes the effect of beginning the radio play
version of “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” with an excerpt from the
middle of the story text?
a. Starting with this excerpt quickly establishes Mars as a threat and creates
a feeling of dread in the audience.
b. Because the excerpt is out of context, it makes little sense until the radio
play reaches the middle of the plot.
c. Beginning in the middle of the plot makes the radio play seem more
modern than the text.
d. The introductory excerpt sets up the audience to be surprised by the twist
at the end of the plot.

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