Com mon Cor e Edition
New York CCLS
Practice
6
English Language Arts
To the Student
Ready New York CCLS Practice is a
review program for the Common Core
Learning Standards for English Language
Arts. This book has three practice tests.
In each practice test, you will answer 53
ELA questions (44 multiple-choice, 7 shortresponse, and 2 extended-response).
Your teacher will explain how you will do
the practice tests and record your answers.
Be sure to follow the directions for each
practice test. As you complete the practice
tests, read the passages and answer the
questions carefully. Use the Answer Forms
beginning on page 109 to record your
answers to the multiple-choice questions.
Remember to fill in the answer bubbles
completely. If you change an answer, you
must erase your first answer fully. You will
write out your answers to the short- and
extended-response questions in the book.
While you work on the practice tests, use
the Testing Tips below. Read these helpful
tips carefully. They can make you a better
test taker.
Testing Tips for Answering
Multiple-Choice Questions
• Read each question carefully before you
try to answer it.
• Be sure you know what the question is
asking you to do.
• Cross out any answer choices that are not
reasonable. Then make your choice from
the remaining choices.
• Read the question again. Check that your
answer makes sense.
Contents
Practice Test 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Practice Test 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Practice Test 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Answer Form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Passage Credits:
Nick D’Alto, “Heard It Through the Grapevine” adapted
from Odyssey, September 2004 issue: Wired World.
Copyright © 2004 by Carus Publishing Company,
published by Cobblestone Publishing, 30 Grove Street,
Suite C, Peterborough, NH 03458. All rights reserved.
Used by permission of the publisher.
Sylvia Kamerman, adapted excerpts from “Langston
Hughes: Poet of the People” from The Big Book of
Large-Cast Plays. Reprinted with permission of the
publisher, PLAYS/Sterling Partners, Inc., PO Box 600160,
Newton, MA 02460.
Ela Banerjee, “Embers of Moonlight” adapted from
Weekly Reader, April/May 2007. Copyight © 2007 by
Weekly Reader Corporation. Reprinted with permission
of Scholastic Inc.
Charles F. Baker, “Archimedes and the Siege of
Syracuse” from Calliope, May/June 2008 issue: The
World’s Firsts. Copyright © 2008 by Carus Publishing
Company, published by Cobblestone Publishing,
30 Grove Street, Suite C, Peterborough, NH 03458. All
rights reserved. Used by permission of the publisher.
Gillian Bradshaw, adapted excerpt from The Sand
Reckoner, Forge Books, 2000.
Amy Leinbach Marquis, “A Mountain Calling” adapted from
National Parks, fall 2007. Copyright © 2007 by National
Parks Magazine/NPCA. Reprinted with permission.
All third-party content has been permissioned or is in the
process of being permissioned.
ISBN 978-0-7609-7888-7
©2013—Curriculum Associates, LLC
North Billerica, MA 01862
No part of this book may be reproduced by any means
without written permission from the publisher.
All Rights Reserved. Printed in USA.
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Practice Test 1: Book 3
Read the passages. Then answer the questions that follow.
John White and Roanoke
by Brendan Wolfe
  1 John White was an artist by training. He traveled the world and painted what he saw. In 1585, with a
group of English colonists, he sailed to Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina. There he composed
watercolor paintings of the Native Americans the English encountered and the villages in which they lived. He
visited the town of Dasemunkepeuc, and he became friends with Manteo, a Native American whose mother
was chief on the island of Croatoan. Still, not all relations between the colonists and the Native Americans
were friendly. Many of the natives worried that the English planned to steal their land, and a year after
arriving, the colonists thought it wise to sail back to England.
  2 They returned in 1587, this time led by White. The colony’s new governor was a brilliant painter but
perhaps not a great leader. He argued with the ship’s pilot, who would only plant the English on Roanoke
Island again. White had planned to settle their colony, called Virginia, farther to the north. Meanwhile, some
Native Americans, especially those who lived in Dasemunkepeuc, were still angry about the colonists’
presence and threatened to do battle. Not all was lost, however. Manteo’s friendship was like an unbreakable
knot. On August 13, White helped Manteo convert to the English religion and, for his “faithful service,” made
him Lord of Roanoke. Then, five days later, White’s daughter, Eleanor, gave birth to a daughter. Virginia, as
she was called, was the first English baby born in America.
  3 A week later, White decided to leave. Someone needed to tell the colony’s sponsors in England where the
colonists had settled. Someone needed to round up additional supplies. But when White asked for volunteers, no
one said a word. Instead, he himself boarded the ship and sailed to England. Unfortunately, war with Spain
prevented him from returning for three years. When he did land back on Roanoke, the island was empty. A fire
that he thought might have been a signal had merely been a fire sparked by lightning. Letters carved into a tree
suggested that the 117 men, women, and children he left behind had moved to Croatoan, perhaps to live with
Manteo’s people. White guessed they were safe, but there also were signs that his enemies at Dasemunkepeuc had
been there. Many of White’s paintings and maps, hidden in buried trunks, had been dug up and destroyed. As he
boarded the boat again, John White gazed back at Roanoke. It was August 18, 1590—his granddaughter’s third
birthday.
  4 White assumed he would next sail to Croatoan, where he hoped to be reunited with his family and
the other colonists. However, the ship’s captain refused. A storm had drowned some of his crew, and he
wanted to leave these dangerously shallow waters as soon as possible. White argued, but in vain. They sailed
away, never to return. Never found, the Lost Colonists of Roanoke became an American legend. And John
White—a painter thrust into the uncomfortable role of leader—died alone three years later.
Go On
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29
John White’s Narrative of the 1590
Voyage to Virginia
“John White’s Narrative of the 1590 Voyage to Virginia” from The Principal Navigations, Voyages,
Traffiques & Discoveries, Volume 3 by Richard Hakluyt, published by E. P. Dutton & Company, 1907.
  1 But before we could get to the place where our planters1 were left, it was so exceedingly dark that we
overshot the place a quarter mile. There we spied toward the north end of the island the light of a great fire
through the woods, to which we presently rowed. When we came right over against it, we let fall our grapnel2
near the shore, and sounded with a trumpet a call, and afterwards many familiar English tunes and songs,
and called to them friendly, but we had no answer. We therefore landed at daybreak, and coming to the fire,
we found the grass and sundry rotten trees burning about the place. From hence we went through the woods
to that part of the island directly over against the town of Dasemunkepeuc, and from thence we returned by
the water side, round about the north point of the island, until we came to the place where I left our colony in
the year 1586.
  2 In all this way we saw in the sand two or three Indian footprints trodden in that night. And as we
entered up the sandy bank we came upon a tree, in the very brow thereof were curiously carved these fair
Roman letters, “CRO.” We knew these letters to signify the place where I should find the planters seated,
according to a secret token agreed upon between them and me at my last departure from them. If they moved,
they should not fail to write or carve on the trees or posts of the doors the name of the place where they
should be seated, because when I left they were prepared to remove from Roanoke fifty miles to the mainland.
Therefore at my departure from them in Anno 1587 I willed them that if they should happen to be distressed
in any of those places, that they should carve a cross over the letters or name, but we found no such sign of
distress.
  3 At our return from the creek, we[e] found five chests that had been carefully hidden by the planters,
and then later dug up. Of the same chests, three were my own, and about the place many of my things spoiled
and broken, and my books torn from the covers, the frames of some of my pictures and maps rotten and
spoiled with rain, and my armor almost eaten through with rust. This could be no other but the deed of our
enemies at Dasemunkepeuc, who had watched the departure of our men to Croatoan; and as soon as they
were departed, dug up every place where they suspected anything to be buried. But although it much grieved
me to see such spoil of my goods, yet on the other side I greatly joyed that I had safely found a certain token of
their safe being at Croatoan, which is the place where Manteo was borne, and the Indians of the island our
friends.
1
2
planters: those who settle a new colony
grapnel: an anchor
30
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50
Read this sentence from “John White and Roanoke.”
Still, not all relations between the colonists and the Native Americans were friendly.
How does the author support this argument? Use two details from the passage to support
your answer.
Write your answer in complete sentences.
51
From information in “John White’s Narrative of the 1590 Voyage to Virginia,” what did
White most likely think the “great fire” was? Use two details from the passage to support
your answer.
Write your answer in complete sentences.
32
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53
“John White and Roanoke” and “John White’s Narrative of the 1590 Voyage to Virginia”
both tell the same story, but in different ways. How are two passages similar and different in
terms of how the authors present their interpretation of events?
In your response, be sure to:
• describe how the first author presents the events
• describe how the second author presents the events
• explain the similarities and differences between the way the authors present the events
• use details from both passages in your response
Write your answer in complete sentences.
Go On
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35
Practice Test 2: Book 1
Read the poem and the story. Then answer the questions that follow.
Talking in Their Sleep
“Talking in Their Sleep” by Edith M. Thomas, from Nature Study Made Easy
by Edward Byrne Shallow, Winifred T. Cullen, published by Macmillan Company, 1909.
5
10
“You think I am dead,”
The apple tree said,
“Because I have never a leaf to show–
Because I stoop,
And my branches droop,
And the dull gray mosses over me grow!
But I’m still alive in trunk and shoot;
The buds of next May
I fold away–
But I pity the withered grass at my root.”
15
20
“You think I am dead,”
The quick grass said,
“Because I have parted with stem and blade!
But under the ground
I am safe and sound
With the snow’s thick blanket over me laid.
I’m all alive, and ready to shoot,
Should the spring of the year
Come dancing here–
But I pity the flower without branch or root.”
25
30
“You think I am dead,”
A soft voice said,
“Because not a branch or root I own.
I never have died,
But close I hide
In a plumy seed that the wind has sown.
Patient I wait through the long winter hours;
You will see me again–
I shall laugh at you then,
Out of the eyes of a hundred flowers.”
Go On
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45
Embers of Moonlight
by Ela Banerjee, Writing Weekly Reader
  1 The moon was sitting on my roof.
  2 Yet it wasn’t really that bizarre.1 After all, it was the last night of the month, the Night of Rebirth. The
night when the sky trickled down and the plants shriveled and the tiny creatures of Wood shuddered with one
last heartbeat. The night when all things east of The Mountains died, waiting for a new birth at dawn.
  3 A few falling stars had landed earlier on the top of my rickety house, which nestled precariously2 on
the highest, most eastern edge of The Mountains. They had only lasted for a handful of moments, giggling
uncontrollably, and then crumbling in a sudden spark of gold.
  4 But the moon had never landed upon my roof. I had sat there, high in The Mountains, on the border
of a strange world, every month as long as I could remember. I would watch, mesmerized,3 as the place no one
else ever entered began to rot away. I watched the animals retreat and the stars tumble down, but when the
feeling of death became overwhelming, I slipped back into my bed, thinking of the world on the other side of
The Mountains.
  5 I had heard rumors of the moon herself landing, but they were mangled and debated. But here she sat
with poignant4 patience, her ivory dress delicately rippling like shattered lake water over her willowy arms and
legs, a collection of folded limbs that shone with a strange and pallid5 luminescence.6 Her hair glinted like
polished glass as two perfect sapphire spheres studied my face.
  6 An expectant silence tinged with the distant flickering of literally dying stars followed.
  7 “So, what was it like in the sky?” I began awkwardly.
  8 “Like how you feel up here.” Her voice was odd. Musical and elegant, yet strangely hoarse and low.
“Like why you come up here each month.”
  9 Not sure how to respond, I looked out over the jagged ledge of The Mountains and into the realm
where the moon came from and I did not.
10 I watched as the world died with simultaneous7 regularity. The trees yawned with their branches and
collapsed heavily to the ground. Their cracked leaves fluttered to the grass, which itself curled from bright
green to aged brown before my eyes.
11 Flowers savored one last brilliant hue, and then turned to ashened dust, while rich patches of soil
withered into cracked gray.
bizarre: strange, odd, out of the ordinary
precariously: in an unsteady or uncertain way
3
mesmerized: fascinated
4
poignant: touching or moving, with a strong effect
5
pallid: pale, white
6
luminescence: glow
7
simultaneous: happening at the same time, all at once
1
2
46
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12 As the moon continued, I closed my eyes, her voice melting with the diminishing call of a
nightingale. “I know you and your kin hide in these peaks. Yet you are the only one who ventures out to
witness these nights. It is a strange thing how this world passes on each month, how each thing so carefully
sculpted is suddenly destroyed. I know you wonder why it happens.
13 “I have died many times. I fall with the sky each month, with the stars and the clouds and the air. Is
it an ending? Or is it a beginning?”
14 Something touched my arm, a surface as cold as bitter metal. My eyes snapped open to see the
moon’s chalkwhite hand gently touching my own. I looked into her face and stifled a gasp. Her once-ivory
skin was now crumpled in a bed of sagging wrinkles; her arm, I now noticed, was thin and interrupted by
bruised veins. Yet her eyes were still pierced with sudden blue and now held my own.
15 “But there is no difference, is there? I see this night as you do. It is destruction; it is hope-a revision, a
new view. But it continues, on and on. You see this, I know. This is why I have alighted on your roof, on The
Mountains tonight. You always go back before the night is over-before it really ends. Now you will finally see.”
16 As she broke away from my arm, I suddenly realized that I was surrounded by a cloud of utter and
endless darkness. All the stars had long since burnt out; all the creatures had been forgotten. The only light
was the moon herself, her pale glow a single flicker in the dead night.
17 But she was dimming. . . . Slowly, she began to fade, her skin gaining transparency, her eyes only a
twinkle of indigo. Soon, I could only see a shimmer of white.
18 I closed my eyes as the moon died, unwilling to watch her disappear.
19 After many moments, I dared to watch the world again. Blackness, lifeless and silent, enveloped me.
No moon, no stars, no Wood.
20 I sighed, and was about to settle to the ground, when a glinting caught my eye. I looked down and
saw a sprinkle of silvery, sparkling dust. I smiled.
21 That night, I closed my eyes to the embers of moonlight.
17
Read line 7 from the poem, “Talking in Their Sleep.”
But I’m still alive in trunk and shoot.
Which meaning of the word “trunk” is intended here?
A large container with a hinged lid
B long nose-like snout
C baggage compartment of a vehicle
D main part or stem
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47
18
Which lines from the poem “Talking in Their Sleep” explain why plants may seem to be dead
in the winter?
A “Because I stoop/and my branches droop . . .”
B “But under the ground/I am safe and sound . . .
C “Should the spring of the year/Come dancing here–”
D “Patient I wait through the long winter hours . . .”
19
Which of these is a theme of the poem ”Talking in Their Sleep”?
A In nature, plants grow throughout the year.
B Winter is a time of rest rather than death.
C People always fail to understand nature.
D Living things are not alive until spring.
20
Read lines 29 and 30 from the poem “Talking in Their Sleep.”
I shall laugh at you then,
Out of the eyes of a hundred flowers.
Why does the poet use the phrase “the eyes of a hundred flowers”?
A She is comparing the center of a flower to an eye.
B She is comparing beautiful women to flowers.
C She is comparing flowers to a pair of glasses.
D She is comparing springtime to a field of flowers.
21
How does the repeated line “You think I am dead” help to develop the ideas of the poem
”Talking in Their Sleep”?
A It suggests that the observer’s original beliefs about plants may actually be true.
B It shows that the plants feel humans are responsible for the death of green things.
C It introduces something that might be assumed about plants but is then disproved.
D It gives an example of something plants might say to the snows and ice of winter.
48
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26
In paragraph 20 of “Embers of Moonlight,” what is the most likely reason that the narrator
smiles?
A The narrator is pleased that some part of the moon remains.
B The narrator is excited to discover the valuable silver dust.
C The narrator is happy that the night has finally ended.
D The narrator is glad that the darkness will continue on.
27
How does the moon change throughout “Embers of Moonlight”?
A She changes from bright colors to dark colors.
B She changes from beautifully dressed to poorly dressed.
C She changes from high in the sky to low in the sky.
D She changes from young and beautiful to old and weak.
28
Which of these details from “Embers of Moonlight” best supports the central idea that the
Night of Rebirth is a necessary part of a cycle?
A The narrator watches falling stars land on her roof and crumble away.
B The narrator has heard rumors that the moon sometimes lands too.
C The moon slowly fades and then dissapears into the blackness of night.
D The moon questions whether her death is an ending or a beginning.
50
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29
Which of the following is the best summary of “Embers of Moonlight”?
A This is one of the most entertaining stories and tells of a strange world where all living
things die once a month on the Night of Rebirth. The story has only two characters: a
narrator and a beautiful ghostly moon who lands on the narrator’s home. The author
uses richly creative descriptions in the story.
B The story creates a unique fantasy world that at first seems dark and depressing. On the
Night of Rebirth at the end of each month, all creatures living east of The Mountains die,
only to be reborn at dawn. Sadly for the narrator, the moon dies before her very eyes,
becoming only a shimmer of white.
C On each Night of Rebirth, the narrator watches as everything in the eastern lands dies
before being reborn. On one of these nights, the moon lands on the narrator’s house
and asks the narrator to finally watch the end of the night. The moon dies in front of the
narrator but leaves behind embers in the darkness.
D On the last night of the month, the narrator watches as plants shrivel, creatures die, and
the moon and stars fall from the sky. The moon lands on the narrator’s house one night
and explains that the night can be viewed as an ending or a beginning. The narrator is
too frightened by the darkness, though.
30
Which statement best compares how “Talking in Their Sleep” and “Embers of Moonlight”
approach the idea of rebirth?
A The poem focuses mainly on the continuation of life, while the story focuses on the death
that occurs before rebirth.
B The poem focuses on darkness and the idea that death cannot be avoided, while the story
focuses on life and new beginnings.
C The poem suggests that all life must eventually come to an end, while the story suggests
that life is a never-ending cycle.
D The poem suggests that life is a pattern that repeats over and over again, while the story
suggests that life and death are unexpected.
31
How are the flower in “Talking in Their Sleep” and the moon in “Embers of Moonlight” alike?
A They both feel bitter about dying, and they are angry that nature has taken life from
them before they were ready.
B They both appear to have died, but they have left behind a piece of themselves to
continue the cycle of life.
C They both feel sad about how their beauty fades, but they take comfort in knowing
that they brought joy to others.
D They both have experienced death many times, and each peacefully accepts
death as a necessary final ending to life.
Go On
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51
Practice Test 3: Book 1
Read the passages. Then answer the questions that follow.
A Mountain Calling
by Amy Leinbach Marquis, National Parks
  1 John Muir never liked the word “hike.” Even in the 19th century, American society’s connection to
nature had grown increasingly shallow, people’s time outdoors rigid and hasty. Muir, on the other hand,
preferred to saunter. “Sauntering meant taking your time, valuing what you see,” says Tad Shay, lead
interpretive ranger at John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, California. “It meant stopping to enjoy
the view of a lake, not running past it.”
  2 Born in 1838 in the seaside town of Dunbar, Scotland, Muir began his love affair with nature at a
young age. . . .
  3 In 1849, Muir’s father sacrificed the family’s wealth in Dunbar for a harsh farming life in America,
claiming an 80-acre plot of land in central Wisconsin. It was in this pastoral wilderness—its open skies,
frozen meadows, and thousands of migrating birds—that Muir found his own religion. . . .
  4 Muir was nearly 30 the first time he ventured into California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. He was
overwhelmed by the landscape, scrambling down steep cliff faces to get a closer look at the waterfalls,
whooping and howling at the vistas, jumping tirelessly from flower to flower. “We are now in the mountains
and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us,” he
wrote.
  5 Muir quickly found work as a sheepherder to keep this precious place near. Guiding his flock
through the foothills and into higher elevations, he began his lifelong courtship with the Sierra Nevada. He
spent much of his thirties alone in the mountains, carrying a tattered blue journal that he filled with sketches,
scientific observations, and soulful writing.
  6 Although he preferred living on society’s fringe, he also longed for human companionship. Muir
began publishing his writing in 19th-century travel publications that East Coast tourists read on trains bound
for the West. Soon, famous scientists and writers joined him in the Sierra Nevada. Ralph Waldo Emerson
affected Muir deeply. So did President Teddy Roosevelt, whom Muir invited on a camping trip in the sequoia
forest with one stipulation: No politics allowed. Roosevelt went on to establish Yosemite as a national park. . .
  7 “We like to say that Muir got the ball rolling for the National Park System,” Shay says. Four more
significant designations would follow, thanks to Muir’s influence: Grand Canyon, Mount Rainier, Petrified
Forest, and Sequoia. America would come to know Muir as “The Father of Our National Parks.”
  8 In his 76 years, Muir published more than 300 articles and 12 books. He moved a president to create
the U.S. Forest Service and co-founded the Sierra Club, which helped establish several new national parks
years after his death, and now boasts 1.3 million members.
  9 It’s quite a legacy for a man who was so adamant1 about taking his time.
10 “Our lives are so rapid these days,” Shay says. “Perhaps the best way to honor Muir is simply to slow
down and appreciate nature for its beauty.”
1
adamant: firmly fixed
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Albert Palmer was a companion of John Muir on several memorable “saunterings” through the Sierras. His
memoir is a treasure of the early conservation movement in America.
from The Mountain Trail and Its Message
Excerpts from The Mountain Trail and Its Message by Albert W. Palmer,
published by The Pilgrim Press, 1911.
  1 There is a fourth lesson of the trail. It is one which John Muir taught me [during an early Sierra Club
outing].
  2 There are always some people in the mountains who are known as “hikers.” They rush over the trail
at high speed and take great delight in being the first to reach camp and in covering the greatest number of
miles in the least possible time. [They] measure the trail in terms of speed and distance.
  3 One day as I was resting in the shade Mr. Muir overtook me on the trail and began to chat in that
friendly way in which he delights to talk with everyone he meets. I said to him: “Mr. Muir, someone told me
you did not approve of the word ‘hike.’ Is that so?” His blue eyes flashed, and with his Scotch accent he replied:
“I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains—not hike!
  4 “Do you know the origin of that word ‘saunter?’ It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages
people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they
passed asked where they were going, they would reply, “A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they
became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to
saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”
  5 John Muir lived up to his doctrine. He was usually the last man to reach camp. He never hurried. He
stopped to get acquainted with individual trees along the way. He would hail people passing by and make
them get down on hands and knees if necessary to see the beauty of some little bed of almost microscopic
flowers. Usually he appeared at camp with some new flowers in his hat and a little piece of fir bough in his
buttonhole.
  6 Now, whether the derivation1 of saunter Muir gave me is scientific or fanciful, is there not in it
another parable? There are people who “hike” through life. They measure life in terms of money and
amusement; they rush along the trail of life feverishly seeking to make a dollar or gratify an appetite. How
much better to “saunter” along this trail of life, to measure it in terms of beauty and love and friendship! How
much finer to take time to know and understand the men and women along the way, to stop a while and let
the beauty of the sunset possess the soul, to listen to what the trees are saying and the songs of the birds, and
to gather the fragrant little flowers that bloom all along the trail of life for those who have eyes to see!
  7 You can’t do these things if you rush through life in a big red automobile at high speed; you can’t
know these things if you “hike” along the trail in a speed competition. These are the peculiar rewards of the
man who has learned the secret of the saunterer!
1
derivation: origin
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17
How does the author of “A Mountain Calling” introduce the idea of “sauntering” to the
reader?
A by giving the dictionary definition
B by quoting a national park ranger
C by relating it to Muir’s childhood
D by showing a part of Muir’s journal
18
Which detail from “A Mountain Calling” shows that Teddy Roosevelt was greatly influenced
by his camping trip with John Muir?
A “No politics allowed.”
B “So did President Teddy Roosevelt, whom Muir invited on a camping trip . . .”
C “Roosevelt went on to establish Yosemite as a national park. . . .”
D “America would come to know Muir as “‘The Father of Our National Parks.’”
19
Which detail from “A Mountain Calling” seems to go against the claim that Muir preferred to
saunter?
A “‘Sauntering meant taking your time, valuing what you see,’ says Tad Shay. . . .”
B “He was . . . scrambling down steep cliff faces to get a closer look at the waterfalls,
whooping and howling at the vistas, jumping tirelessly from flower to flower.”
C “He spent much of his thirties alone in the mountains, carrying a tattered blue journal . . . “
D “He moved a president to create the U.S. Forest Service and co-founded the Sierra Club,
which helped establish several new national parks years after his death. . . .”
20
With which of these ideas is the author of “A Mountain Calling” most likely to agree?
A Private nature parks should be turned over to the U.S. Forestry Service.
B Rushing to see as much of a natural park as possible is sometimes necessary.
C America finally has enough national parks to satisfy everyone’s needs.
D Every American should try to visit a national park at least once in his or her life.
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83
21
Which detail from “A Mountain Calling” proves that John Muir played an important role in
protecting America’s wilderness?
A Muir’s family gave up wealth to move from Scotland to rural Wisconsin.
B Muir enjoyed spending lots of time outdoors in the mountains.
C Muir wrote travel publications, and these were read by tourists traveling west.
D Muir helped start the Sierra Club, which helped established national parks.
22
Which idea should be left out of a summary of “A Mountain Calling”?
A Muir is clearly the greatest defender of the great outdoors in American history.
B Muir wanted others to appreciate the beauty of the American wilderness.
C Muir traveled with famous people like Ralph Waldo Emerson and President Roosevelt.
D Muir influenced the creation of the National Parks System and U.S. Forest Service.
23
How does the author of The Mountain Trail and Its Message introduce John Muir to readers?
A by describing what Muir looked and sounded like
B by quoting from Muir’s journal
C by retelling a conversation he had with Muir
D by giving a short biography of Muir
24
In paragraph 5 of The Mountain Trail and Its Message, what does the word “hail” relate to?
A a threat
B a greeting
C a storm
D a suggestion
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29
Which of these activities is the author of The Mountain Trail and Its Message most likely to
enjoy?
A going for a drive through the country
B jogging briskly along a forest path
C competing in a long-distance marathon
D canoeing slowly along a stream
30
Which sentence from The Mountain Trail and Its Message best supports the idea in
“A Mountain Calling” that Muir “longed for human companionship”?
A “[Hikers] rush over the trail at high speed and take great delight in being the first to
reach camp and in covering the greatest number of miles in the least possible time.”
B “One day as I was resting in the shade Mr. Muir overtook me on the trail and began to
chat in that friendly way in which he delights to talk with everyone he meets.”
C “There is a fourth lesson of the trail. It is one which John Muir taught me [during an early
Sierra Club outing].”
D “How much better to ‘saunter’ along this trail of life, to measure it in terms of beauty
and love and friendship!”
31
Which idea from “A Mountain Calling” has the most support in The Mountain Trail and Its
Message?
A “Born in 1838 in the seaside town of Dunbar, Scotland, Muir began his love affair with
nature at a young age. . . .”
B “Muir quickly found work as a sheepherder to keep this precious place near.”
C “. . . ’Perhaps the best way to honor Muir is simply to slow down and appreciate nature
for its beauty.’“
D “‘Four more significant designations would follow, thanks to Muir’s influence. . . .”
86
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