A hard choice, and views that clash
Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
The Cash Box (story)
[1] Odette and Prentiss had shared the robotics club's cash box since September, and every Friday they sat on the floor outside the shop room to match the receipts against Odette's neat columns. [2] The account held three hundred and twelve dollars, which had to cover the regional entry fee and nothing else until the spring fundraiser. [3] On the last Friday of March, Prentiss slid a gas receipt across the tiles and pointed to the date, which was the Saturday of the scrimmage in Harlow.
[4] The reimbursement form stapled to it was signed by Wendell Aro, the junior who had driven teammates to Harlow when the school van would not start, and it asked for eight dollars and twenty cents for each of five riders. [5] Wendell had also filled that tank twice in January without a word, and he had once lent the team his own soldering iron for most of a week. [6] The sign-in sheet from the scrimmage, however, showed only three riders, because two of the five had gone home that evening with their parents.
[7] Odette said the club should simply pay the full forty-one dollars, since a little confusion on a form was a small thing to set against everything Wendell had given. [8] Prentiss said that the columns meant something only if a stranger could check them against the sign-in sheet, and that Wendell would surely want the form fixed before anyone else noticed. [9] "He would want that," Odette admitted, "but he would also hear it as the club counting his miles." [10] Prentiss turned the receipt over and said nothing for a while, because it was true that Wendell had never once mentioned the cost.
[11] Down the hall, someone dropped a toolbox, and the clatter echoed past the vending machines and faded. [12] Odette erased the number she had written in the column, leaving a pale gray patch on the page. [13] On Monday morning the two of them carried the form to the shop room together, and Prentiss held the pencil. [14] Wendell looked up from a half-built gearbox and asked what they needed.
Ari names the dilemma Odette and Prentiss face over the reimbursement form. Which statement names it best?
- Whether the club's records should match the sign-in sheet, since a treasurer's columns must be checkable by a stranger who reads them.
- Whether the club should hide the receipt so that no one discovers the form lists five riders.
- Whether to pay the form as written, honoring a friend's generosity, or to correct it so the club's records can be checked.
- How the club can cover the regional entry fee when just three hundred and twelve dollars remain in the account.
Bo fills in the what-this-one-values cell for Odette. Which value best explains Odette's wish to pay the full amount?
- A quick, quiet end to the Friday count, with no awkward talk about the form.
- Neatness, shown by the care Odette takes with her columns each Friday.
- Gratitude to a friend whose help was larger than any line on the form.
- Records so clear that a stranger could check them against the sign-in sheet.
Esme fills in the cell for Prentiss. Which value best explains Prentiss's wish to correct the form?
- Honest records, so that a stranger checking the columns would find them fair.
- Keeping the account high enough to pay the regional entry fee.
- Gratitude to Wendell for his rides, his gas and a soldering iron he lent the team.
- Patience, shown when Prentiss goes quiet after hearing Odette out.
Jun looks for the place where the two views first meet head-on. Which sentence is it?
- [7] Odette said the club should simply pay the full forty-one dollars, since a little confusion on a form was a small thing to set against everything Wendell had given.
- [10] Prentiss turned the receipt over and said nothing for a while, because it was true that Wendell had never once mentioned the cost.
- [4] The reimbursement form stapled to it was signed by Wendell Aro, the junior who had driven teammates to Harlow when the school van would not start, and it asked for eight dollars and twenty cents for each of five riders.
- [8] Prentiss said that the columns meant something only if a stranger could check them against the sign-in sheet, and that Wendell would surely want the form fixed before anyone else noticed.
Seedling Prices (story)
[1] On the second Saturday of May, Linnea and Gideon ran the folding table at the Alder Street Community Garden, where the tomato seedlings were priced at four dollars each, a figure the volunteers had voted on in March. [2] Linnea had written the price on every label in block capitals, and she had taped a copy of the vote to the cash tin so that nobody could say the price had been a secret. [3] By noon, forty-one seedlings had gone to people who had counted out four dollars without comment, including a boy who paid in quarters.
[4] Mrs. Okafor, who lived across the street and had donated the two compost bins at the garden's back fence, came to the table at half past twelve with a Brandywine seedling in both hands. [5] She laid three dollars in the tin, apologized for having left her purse at home, and began to say she would return on Monday with the rest. [6] Gideon, who had been wrapping a receipt, said that a neighbor like Mrs. Okafor should be allowed to take it for three.
[7] Linnea reminded him, evenly, that last year the garden had given one family a discount and had heard about it from six others by the following week. [8] "She would bring the dollar," Gideon said, "and if we start counting up everything she has given, we owe her a whole greenhouse." [9] Linnea turned the cash tin around so that the taped copy of the vote faced him, though she did not say what it said. [10] Behind the table the line had lengthened, and a man in a canvas hat took out his wallet and began counting again.
[11] Mrs. Okafor, who could hear every word, stood with the seedling against her coat and looked at the sign about the compost bins. [12] Gideon rubbed the back of his neck, and Linnea rested her pen on the sheet where she kept the day's total. [13] A breeze lifted the corner of the taped vote and let it fall flat again against the tin. [14] The man in the canvas hat cleared his throat politely and asked whether anyone was selling the Brandywines.
Luz fills in the what-this-one-values cell for Linnea. Which value best explains Linnea's refusal to lower the price?
- Keeping the day's total on her sheet exactly where it was planned.
- Kindness to a neighbor whose gift of two compost bins is unrepaid.
- Openness, shown by the copy of the vote she taped to the cash tin.
- Fairness, so that no buyer later learns that another buyer was favored.
Milo looks for the first sentence in which Linnea's view answers Gideon's. Which sentence is it?
- [6] Gideon, who had been wrapping a receipt, said that a neighbor like Mrs. Okafor should be allowed to take it for three.
- [4] Mrs. Okafor, who lived across the street and had donated the two compost bins at the garden's back fence, came to the table at half past twelve with a Brandywine seedling in both hands.
- [7] Linnea reminded him, evenly, that last year the garden had given one family a discount and had heard about it from six others by the following week.
- [13] A breeze lifted the corner of the taped vote and let it fall flat again against the tin.
Second Clarinet (story)
[1] The Marlow Youth Orchestra's spring showcase was set for the first Saturday of June, and for four months Tamsin had also known that the same evening belonged to a graduation party for Odalys, a sister. [2] In February, Tamsin had promised to play two pieces on the clarinet at the party, and Odalys had printed the program with Tamsin's name beside the words "live music" in a cursive font. [3] On the Tuesday before the showcase, the orchestra's director telephoned to say that the first clarinetist had come down with the flu and that Tamsin was the only player who knew the solo in the slow movement.
[4] The director added, in a voice so careful that it sounded rehearsed, that the hall had sold three hundred tickets and that the whole season had been building to that movement. [5] Tamsin hung up and found Odalys at the kitchen table, folding napkins into the shape of small gray boats. [6] Odalys listened to the whole story without interrupting, then said that a promise made in February did not shrink because a bigger audience had appeared in June.
[7] Tamsin said that three hundred ticket holders and forty musicians were also counting on someone, and that a party could surely survive one evening with recorded music. [8] "It is not recorded music I invited," Odalys said, and she pressed another crease into a napkin with her thumbnail. [9] Tamsin's reply came a moment too late: the director had not asked for a favor, she said, but for the one thing nobody else could do.
[10] Neither of them mentioned that the party began at seven, which was the very hour the orchestra's call time began, so that no clever schedule could hold both evenings. [11] The napkin boats stood in a row on the table, each pointed toward the window, and the kitchen clock ticked past four o'clock. [12] Odalys picked up the last napkin and creased it twice. [13] Tamsin picked up one of the boats and turned it over, as though a schedule might be written on the underside. [14] Neither of them said anything more about it that night.
Pia names the dilemma Tamsin and Odalys face. Which statement names it best?
- How Tamsin can fit two clarinet pieces into a short program at a crowded graduation party for a large family.
- Whether Tamsin should skip both events and tell neither the director nor her sister about the hard choice.
- Whether a promise made in February should be honored, since Odalys printed it in the party program with Tamsin's name beside it.
- Whether to keep a promise made to a sister or to answer an orchestra's urgent need, when one evening cannot serve both.
Ren fills in the what-this-one-values cell for Tamsin. Which value best explains Tamsin's wish to play at the showcase?
- Pleasure in playing the clarinet, which both events would need.
- Responsibility to people who depend on a player nobody else can replace.
- A promise that stays binding even after a bigger audience appears.
- The honor of being the one player who knows the solo in the slow movement.
Tala fills in the cell for Odalys. Which value best explains Odalys's refusal to release Tamsin from the party?
- Duty to the ticket holders and musicians who depend on one player.
- Live music at the party in place of recorded music.
- A promise treated as binding even when a bigger obligation appears.
- Care for details, shown in the printed program and napkins.
Zee looks for the first sentence in which Tamsin answers Odalys's view. Which sentence is it?
- [7] Tamsin said that three hundred ticket holders and forty musicians were also counting on someone, and that a party could surely survive one evening with recorded music.
- [6] Odalys listened to the whole story without interrupting, then said that a promise made in February did not shrink because a bigger audience had appeared in June.
- [8] "It is not recorded music I invited," Odalys said, and she pressed another crease into a napkin with her thumbnail.
- [4] The director added, in a voice so careful that it sounded rehearsed, that the hall had sold three hundred tickets and that the whole season had been building to that movement.
