Grade 6 Answer Key READING FORM B

Grade 6 Answer Key READING FORM B

Please mark your answer for each multiple-choice question by filling in the circle completely for the correct answer. Mark only one answer for each question. If you do not know the answer, make your best guess.

The poem "Throwing a Tree" shows how poetry can use language to make people think about common experiences in a different way. Read the poem and then answer the questions that follow.

Throwing a Tree
New Forest

THE two executioners stalk along over the knolls,1
Bearing two axes with heavy heads shining and wide,
And a long limp two-handled saw toothed for cutting great boles,2
And so they approach the proud tree that bears the death-mark on its
5 / side.
Jackets doffed3 they swing axes and chop away just above ground,
And the chips fly about and lie white on the moss and fallen
leaves;
Till a broad deep gash in the bark is hewn all the way round,
10 / And one of them tries to hook upwards a rope, which at last he achieves.
The saw then begins, till the top of the tall giant shivers:
The shivers are seen to grow greater each cut than before:
They edge out the saw, tug the rope; but the tree only quivers,
And kneeling and sawing again, they step back to try pulling once
15 / more.
Then, lastly, the living mast sways, further sways: with a shout
Job and Ike rush aside. Reached the end of its long staying powers
The tree crashes downward: it shakes all its neighbours through-
out,
20 / And two hundred years' steady growth has been ended in less than two
hours.
—Thomas Hardy

1knolls — small, rounded hills
2boles — tree trunks
3doffed — taken off; removed

Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, from THE COMPLETE POEMS OF THOMAS HARDY, edited by James Gibson. Copyright © 1978 by Macmillan London Ltd.

Use the poem above to answer the following questions.

1. / Reread stanzas 2 and 3. Why do the men try to "hook upwards a rope"?
Ο / to carry away the tree.
Ο / to pull down the tree.
Ο / to measure the tree.
Ο / Type answer here.
2. / In line 17, what does it most likely mean that the tree "Reached the end of its long staying powers"?
Ο / The tree was old.
Ο / The tree was saved.
Ο / The tree lost its leaves.
Ο / The tree finally fell down.
3. / Who or what are the neighbours mentioned in line 18?
Ο / branches of the tree
Ο / other trees in the forest
Ο / people living in the forest
Ο / men working with Job and Ike
4. / Which word best describes the overall tone of this poem?
Ο / comforting
Ο / sorrowful
Ο / admiring
Ο / fearful

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READING OPEN-RESPONSE QUESTIONS

Read all parts of each open-response question before you begin. Write your answers to the open-response questions in the space provided in this test booklet.
Write your answer to question 5 in the space provided on the next page.

In "Throwing a Tree," the poet uses personification, a literary device that uses human qualities to describe an object.

A. Give at least two examples of personification used in the poem.

B. Explain how these examples of personification impact the mood of the poem.

Do not write on this page. Please write your
answer to this open-response question on
the next page.

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READING

In "Throwing a Tree," the poet uses personification, a literary device that uses human qualities to describe an object. Give at least two examples of personification used in the poem. Explain why each is an example of personification. Support your answer with important details from the poem.

Scoring Guide and Sample Student WorkSelect a score point in the table below to view the sample student response

Score / Description
4 / The response is a clear, complete, and accurate identification and explanation of at least two examples of personification used in the poem. The response includes important details from the poem.
3 / The response is a mostly clear, complete, and accurate identification and explanation of examples of personification used in the poem. The response includes relevant but often general details from the poem.
2 / The response is a partial identification and/or explanation of example(s) of personification used in the poem. The response includes limited details from the poem and may include misinterpretations.
1 / The response is a minimal identification and/or explanation of example(s) of personification used in the poem. The response includes few or no details from the poem and may include misinterpretations.
OR
The response relates minimally to the task.
0 / The response is totally incorrect or irrelevant.

Score Point 4

This response identifies the use of "proud" trees and "neighbors" as examples of personification and explains each one using specific details from the poem.

Score Point 3

This response identifies the use of "shivers" and "neighbors" as examples of personification and explains each one using general details from the poem.

Score Point 2

This is a partial response. Two correct examples of personification from the poem are identified ("shivers" and "staying powers") but no explanation is given.

Score Point 1

This is a minimal response. One example of personification is identified ("shivering") but no explanation is given.

Score Point 0

This response is irrelevant to the question.

The island of Surtsey is located near Iceland. Surtsey is unusual because it has only been in existence for about 40 years. Read this article about how the island of Surtsey was formed and then answer the questions that follow.

[Internet editor's note: The horizontal dark lines below the pictures under paragraph 2 and the footnotes under paragraph 6 represent page breaks in the printed document.]

An Island Is Born
by Patricia Lauber

1 / In mid-November of 1963 an island was born in the North Atlantic, some 20
miles off the southwestern coast of Iceland. It had given only one sign of its
coming. For three days farmers on the neighboring Vestmann Islands had noticed
a bad smell in the air. It was a sulfurous smell, like the odor of rotten eggs, and
the farmers could not discover where it was coming from.
2 / Early in the morning of November 14, the crew of an Icelandic fishing vessel
noticed the same smell. The engineer thought that it might have something to
do with the ship, but he could find nothing wrong. About 7:15 the cook, who
was on watch, saw something rise out of the sea to the southeast. At first, in the
dim light of dawn, he could not make out what it was. Then he realized it was
smoke. Thinking that a ship was on fire, he went below and woke the captain.
Through his binoculars the captain saw black columns erupting from the sea. He
suspected that he was seeing not a burning ship but a volcano rising from the
ocean. The hours that followed proved him right. He was watching the volcanic
eruption1 that built the island later named Surtsey.
3 / Some days earlier a volcano had started to erupt 425 feet below the surface
of the sea. It poured out gases and volcanic ash and cinder. The gases, bubbling
to the surface, accounted for the sulfurous smell in the air. The ash and cinder
began to build a mountain. By the morning of November 15 the top of the
volcano was 33 feet above the water and still growing rapidly. Columns of smoke
and gases rose two miles into the air. Explosions blew out tremendous quantities
of ash, cinder, and pumice.2 These materials rained down and built a cone that
within six weeks rose 500 feet above sea level.
4 / Violent eruptions continued through the winter. The sea steamed. Lightning
flashed and crackled in the rising column of electrically charged ash, while the
claps of thunder could be heard for miles. Whirlwinds formed in the hot, rising
gases. Winter storms and heavy seas attacked the new island, sweeping away parts
of it and changing its shape. At times it seemed as if the sea must win and the
island disappear. But eruptions continued and material piled up faster than the
sea could wash it away.
5 / In April 1964, the violent eruptions stopped and lava began to flow. Red-hot
lava flows covered the ash and cinder and cooled into a tough, hard surface. Lava
reaching the sea hardened into a collar that surrounded the island and protected
the beach and cliffs. Surtsey, it seemed, had come to stay. By summer the island
covered nearly a square mile of area and its peak was more than 500 feet tall.
These first lava flows stopped in May 1965, but new flows have since added to
the island.
6 / Surtsey had risen from the sea barren of life. Yet life of one kind or another
soon appeared on the island. First to arrive were the seagulls. Surtsey was only
two weeks old when observers saw seagulls lighting on it between explosive
eruptions. In May 1964, a biologist began to look for life on the island. He found
large numbers of microbes3 in the air above it. By summer, although the lava
flows were continuing, there were butterflies and flies on Surtsey. Migratory birds
had started to rest on the island in spring. Seals came ashore on the beaches.
By the summer of 1965 kittiwakes4 were nesting on lava cliffs built only six
months earlier.

1eruption — a violent bursting forth of lava from a volcano
2pumice — a form of volcanic rock
3microbes — microscopic living things
4kittiwakes — a species of gull

5sea rocket, lyme grass, and angelica — names of different kinds of plants

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7. / According to the article, what was the very first sign of Surtsey?
Ο / smoke
Ο / explosions
Ο / a violent storm
Ο / an unusual smell
8. / According to the article, what was the first life form to appear on Surtsey?
Ο / butterflies
Ο / microbes
Ο / seagulls
Ο / seals
9. / According to the article, what do the islands of Surtsey and Iceland have in common?
Ο / Both were formed by volcanic activity.
Ο / Both are considered to be new islands.
Ο / Both were observed as they were formed.
Ο / Both are inhabited by only a few life forms.
10. / According to the article, why is studying the Mid-Atlantic Ridge important to scientists?
Ο / It can aid in the discovery of new energy sources.
Ο / It can teach more about the formation of the earth.
Ο / It can warn people of dangerous volcanic eruptions.
Ο / It can help predict when new islands will be formed.
11. / According to the article, what is the main form of energy inside the earth?
Ο / heat
Ο / lightning
Ο / volcanoes
Ο / water

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12. / What is the main purpose of this article?
Ο / to compare Surtsey with other islands
Ο / to tell an imaginative story about volcanoes
Ο / to suggest ways to conduct scientific investigations
Ο / to provide information about the origins of Surtsey

STOP!