READING COMPREHENSION

ACTIVITY
 CITY GIRL
I am a city girl at heart. I’ve never milked a cow – never wanted to.
 I was shocked when I attended my first “pig pickin’” after my husband and I moved to North Carolina from Boston. I had to avert my eyes from the huge pig, skin and head still on, splayed open across an oil drum that had been sawed in half lengthwise and fitted with hinges so it opened and closed. This, I later learned, was called a “pig cooker.” Part of the pig’s insides were chopped up in a pan beside it and referred to as “barbecue.” Seeing all of this did not improve my appetite.
“Y’all in thuh country now, gul,” the host told me happily, apparently thrilled to be the one to indoctrinate me into country living.
When, at 8 months pregnant, I volunteered to chaperone my son’s strawberry-picking field trip, the other mothers looked at me strangely. I thought strawberries grew on tall bushes, not low to the ground. All that squatting sent me into early labor.
You should keep these incidents in mind in order to understand my attitude when I heard a “huge hurricane” was headed toward our town. I thought back to the snowstorms forecast during my days growing up in Philadelphia. The “20 inches” predicted by the weatherman never seemed to materialize.
The local newspaper ran a long checklist of things townspeople should get to prepare for the hurricane. My neighbor, Wayne, aware that I was new to town, made a point of giving me a copy of the list. I took a cursory glance and thought nothing more of it.
While my neighbors were running around taping their windows, buying fresh batteries, and prepping their generators, I was, quite literally, sitting in my glass house playing with the kids on the floor.
The rains started at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. To my amazement, this was exactly what the weatherman had predicted.
These were no ordinary rains, either. From my glass living room, I could no longer see the front lawn or the trees. The rain was as thick as a woolen curtain. By nightfall, my husband’s car had begun to float out of the driveway. The water started insidiously creeping up our front steps, overturning potted plants and benches in its wake.
“This is unbelievable!” I yelled. I reached for the phone to dial Wayne. He had been born and raised in these parts; surely he would know what to do.
“Wayne,” I said worriedly into the receiver. “The water is coming up our front steps. It’s almost to our door!”
“Ours, too,” he said, quite calmly, I thought, given the circumstances.
“What should I do?”
“Put out your sandbags. It will keep the water out as long as it doesn’t get too high.”
“Sandbags?”
“You didn’t get any?” he asked in disbelief. “They were on the list.”
No, I hadn’t.

Questions:

1) What other title might fit this passage best?
A. "An Urban Attitude"
B. "Learning Hurricanes"
 C. "Picking Strawberries"
D. "Snow Storms that Don't Come"

2) What seems to be the author's main purpose in the first four paragraphs of this passage?
A. to let the reader know that the narrator went into early labor
B. to let the reader know that the narrator does not like barbecue
C. to let the reader know that the narrator is unfamiliar with country life
D. to let the reader know that the narrator wants to move back to Boston

3) “I had to avert my eyes from the huge pig, skin and head still on, splayed open across half of an oil drum that had been sawed in half lengthwise. ”
Which of the following is the best way to rewrite the above sentence (from paragraph 2) while keeping its original meaning as used in the story?
A. I had to open my eyes to the huge pig, skin and head on, splayed open across an oil drum that had been sawed in half lengthwise.”
B. I had to direct my eyes towards the huge pig, skin and head on, splayed open across an oil drum that had been sawed in half lengthwise.
C. I had to turn my eyes away from the huge pig, skin and head on, splayed open across an oil drum that had been sawed in half lengthwise.
D. I had to fix my eyes upon the huge pig, skin and head on, splayed open across an oil drum that had been sawed in half lengthwise.

4) As used in paragraph 5, which is the best definition for materialize?
A. to be false
B. to increase in size
C. to become actual or real
D. to be concerned with consumer goods.

5) Which literary term best applies to the following quote: “Y’all in thuh country now, gul.”
A. yarn, meaning an improbable tale
B. trait, characterized as a habit or tendency in one’s personality
C. caprice, characterized as expressing fanciful or odd notions
D. vernacular, meaning the native language of people in a particular geographical area

6) Which best describes the narrator's attitude in this passage?
A. disdainful of rural life
 B. unaware of country ways
C. anxious to get back to Boston
 D. wishful for her children to grow up in the city

7) As used in the middle of the story, which is the best antonym for cursory?
A. angry and willful
 B. fast and intelligent
C. slow and deliberate
D. slow and superficial

 8) What does it mean to literally do something?
A. to think about doing something
B. to do something exactly as said
 C. to do something and regret it later
D. to do something with a bad attitude

9) What message does the author convey by having the narrator wait out the storm in a glass room?
 A. It signifies how vulnerable she is.
B. It signifies the narrator's nontraditional tastes.
C. It lets the reader know that she has not taped up her windows.
D. It lets the reader know she can see everything that's going on.

10) Which best describes the use of woolen curtain in this passage?
A. simile, meaning the direct comparison of two different things using “like” or “as.”
B. comic relief, meaning it offers humor in a tense situation.
C. personification, meaning something described as if it were human.
D. satire, meaning it ridicules the weakness of an institution.

11) If the story were to continue, what might reasonably happen next?
I. Water might get into the house.
II. The narrator might flee to Wayne’s house for safety.
III. The narrator might drive back to the store to get sandbags.
 A. I only
B. I and II
C. II and III
D. I, II, and III

12) Which lesson does the narrator most likely learn during the hurricane?
A. The early bird catches the worm.
B. Marry in haste and repent at leisure.
C. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
 D. Actions speak louder than words.

13) How might the narrator have been better able to deal with her immediate problem?
A. She could have taped her windows.
B. She could have replaced the old batteries in her appliances.
C. She could have prepped her generator.
D. She could have purchased the items from the hurricane list.