Reading Comprehension Cold Reads

1.

Part A

How does the language of the first three paragraphs of “A New System” differ from the rest of the passage?

• a. The first three paragraphs use formal language, while the rest of the passage uses an informal tone.

• b. The first three paragraphs use colorful imagery, while the rest of the passage provides factual details.

• c. The first three paragraphs use direct address, while the rest of the passage is written an informational tone.

• d. The first three paragraphs give factual details, while the rest of the passage uses persuasive language.

Which sentence from the first three paragraphs best supports your answer to part A?

• a. “It might begin at a fair.”

• b. “And so you agree--you walk with the stranger along the hot, dusty roads... ”

• c. “In fact, among the immigrants, it was called ‘gone to Tapu,’ which was not a specific place.”

• d. “It meant something like ‘disappeared’ or vanished,’ and carried a hint of evil or danger.”

Read this sentence from paragraph 4 of “A New System.”

This was called indenture: the new way to find

people to work the sugar fields.

What is the meaning of the word indenture?

• a. An offer for a new life brought about by kindness

• b. An agreement to work brought about by intimidation

• c. A migration of people brought about by need

• d. A station in life brought about by tradition

Which sentence from the first four paragraphs best helps in understanding the meaning of indenture?

• a. “You’re there to sell vegetables, to pick up a job for the day, or maybe just to enjoy the sights.”

• b. “Or he might buy you some roti (bread) and lentils, promise a new life, and good money, enough to send back to your poor mother and father. ”

• c. “Fine, but I have fed you for the past few days, and you must pay me back.”

• d. “The Demerara is a river in Guyana, but the words was also used to refer to a region, an even to the colony itself.”

1. Read this sentence from from paragraph 9 of “A New System.”

It is as if the hands on a great national clock

were moving together toward high noon.

What is the meaning of the authors’ use of figurative language?

• a. The era of condoning slavery in other lands and denying the right to vote to many was coming to an end in England.

• b. The frequency of slave rebellions in British territories and the influence of the English aristocracy was rapidly increasing.

• c. The decrease in the profits of the slavers and the loss of power of the English nobles was creating an economic crisis.

• d. The increase in the profits of the slavers and the rise of power of the English nobles was creating an economic boom.

Read “Crossing the Black Water” from Part Four of Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science by Marc Aronson and Maria Budhos. Then answer the questions.

1.

Part A

What is the authors’ purpose in introducing the topic of religion in the first paragraph?

• a. to illustrate the diversity of religion of the Indian people

• b. to explain how leaving the country to work in sugar went against customary Hindu beliefs

• c. to inform readers about the decline of the Hindu religion in Indian society

• d. to persuade readers that offering Indian people work that goes against their religion is wrong

Part B

Which sentence from the passage best supports your answer to part A?

• a. “Leaving home to find work was not a new idea.”

• b. “But most Indians were Hindus.”

• c. “There were Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Catholics, Parsees, Jains, even Indian Jews”

• d. “Anyone who made that fateful passage became impure, polluted. ”

1. Which sentence accurately states the advantage of including the photographs of Indian Sugar workers and the caption underneath?

.

• a. The photographs indicate that an equal number of Indian men and women found work in the colonies.

• b. The photographs indicate that many Indian sugar workers eventually replaced the plantation managers

• c. The photographs illustrate that many Indian sugar workers adapted to English culture.

• d. The photographs illustrate the strong connection the Indian sugar workers had to their culture.

1. How do the authors make distinctions between the situations of the “enslaved Africans” and the “Indian indentures”?

• a. The Indian indentures were “no more than cheap labor to keep the plantations running”, while the Africans were property and part of the family.

• b. The Indian indentures were “still individuals” as is evidenced by their “identification disk[s],” while the Africans “lost their names” and were “pure property.”

• c. The Indian indentures’ “journey was long,” but the Africans’ “Middle Passage” on ships “lasted for twenty-seven weeks.”

• d. The Indian indentures experienced “homesickness” and some “wasted away out of sadness” while the Africans did not experienced homesickness.