From the California High School Exit Exam released test questions Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions
searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us. We
need hours of aimless wandering or spaces of time sitting on park benches,
observing the mysterious world of ants and the canopy of treetops.
If we step away for a time, we are not, as many may think and some will accuse, being
irresponsible, but rather we are preparing ourselves to more ably perform our duties and discharge
our obligations.
When I return home, I am always surprised to find some questions I sought to evade had
been answered and some entanglements I had hoped to flee had become unraveled in my absence.
A day away acts as a spring tonic. It can dispel rancor, transform indecision, and renew the spirit.
1. Which best describes the narrator’s tone in the above passage? A persuasive B humorous C sarcastic D frustrated The courage that my mother had
The courage that my mother had
Went with her, and is with her still:
Rock from New England quarried;
Now granite in a granite hill.
The golden brooch1
my mother wore
She left behind for me to wear;
I have no thing I treasure more:
Yet it is something I could spare.
Oh, if instead she’d left to me
The thing she took into the grave!—
That courage like a rock, which she
Has no more need of, and I have.
2. Which phrase from the poem above creates a tone of sadness and regret? A “Rock from New England quarried” B “Oh, if instead she’d left to me” C “The golden brooch” D “That courage like a rock” 1
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