Unit 2: Persistence and Persuasion

Read this sentence from the Newsela article "Dying of Hunger: What Is a Famine?"

Sacco said that the one thing these places all share is a prolonged conflict, such as a war. 

How does this sentence help develop one of the key concepts in “Dying of Hunger”?

• It highlights the connection between war and famine.

• It makes the assumption that famine is always a result of human actions.

• • 
    

    It suggests that virtually all wars are accompanied by periods of famine.

• • 
    

    It implies that only poor, war-torn countries are likely to suffer from famine.

Read this sentence from the Newsela article "Dying of Hunger: What Is a Famine?"

These changes [from prolonged periods without food] affect the brain and other important organs.

How does this sentence help develop a key concept in “Dying of Hunger"?

• It establishes that only a special diet can reverse the effects of long-term hunger.

• • 
    

    It implies that dying of hunger is a problem that the world ought to be able to solve.

• It explains why so many lives are lost in times of famine. 

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    It implies it is possible to recover from the long-term effects of famine.

What is a characteristic of a credible source?

• published on the Internet

• written by experts in their field of study

• • 
    

    often written anonymously

• full of facts and statistics

Which strategy would be most useful in determining an appropriate topic for an argument?

• • 
    

    Listen to local radio programs or Internet podcasts to locate current issues you feel strongly about.

• Think of topics that will provide a lot of information and material, such as global warming.

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    Make a list of your favorite books and movies, and then focus on the one you like best.

• Flip through an encyclopedia until you find a topic that interests you.

Read the excerpt from "A Flag with 50 Stars.” 

The U.S. flag at the time had six neat rows of eight stars each. What would be the best way to add two more stars while keeping the arrangement neat and orderly?

How do these sentences contribute to the text?

• They show how Bob Heft is able to find a way to organize the stars so that they fit in six neat rows.

• They indicate that Bob Heft is the only person to find a way to add two stars to the U.S. flag.

• They develop the idea that people around the country are resistant to changing the appearance of the flag. ,

• They develop the idea that new arrangement of stars posed a problem with no obvious solution.

Which evidence from the text is most relevant to Reagan's claim that large government hurts Americans?

• “Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human misery and personal indignity.”

• “It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline.”

• “Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.”

• “We have been tempted to believe . . . that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people.”

Read the sentence. 

She was proactive and boarded up the windows before the hurricane hit.

The word act means “to do something." 

Based on this, what is the best definition for the term proactive?

• • 
    

    acting in anticipation of a problem

• acting as if something is unimportant

• acting in an exaggerated way

• acting without thinking

Which word would most likely be used to talk about a feeling brought out by a poem?

• • 
    

    advocates

• • 
    

    condemns

• • 
    

    premeditates

• evokes

Which word would most likely be used to describe a former leader?

• • 
    

    stagnant

• cosmopolitan

• related

• • 
    

    deposed

Which word best completes the sentence?

Select the correct word from the choices below.

I don't want to ______ on your privacy, so please keep your door closed if you don't want visitors.

• condemn

• encroach

• graciousness

• deceptively