What a thing, a whole story or a reference stands for

Grade 11 Reading Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The Great Stone Face, from the opening (Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850)

   [1] One afternoon, when the sun was going down, a mother and her little boy sat at the door of their cottage, talking about the Great Stone Face. [2] They had but to lift their eyes, and there it was plainly to be seen, though miles away, with the sunshine brightening all its features. … [3] The Great Stone Face, then, was a work of Nature in her mood of majestic playfulness, formed on the perpendicular side of a mountain by some immense rocks, which had been thrown together in such a position as, when viewed at a proper distance, precisely to resemble the features of the human countenance. … [4] It was a happy lot for children to grow up to manhood or womanhood with the Great Stone Face before their eyes, for all the features were noble, and the expression was at once grand and sweet, as if it were the glow of a vast, warm heart, that embraced all mankind in its affections, and had room for more. [5] It was an education only to look at it. … [6] The purport was, that, at some future day, a child should be born hereabouts, who was destined to become the greatest and noblest personage of his time, and whose countenance, in manhood, should bear an exact resemblance to the Great Stone Face. [7] Here “purport” means the substance of an old legend that the mother has told the boy.

2. 1.

   Kira traces the Great Stone Face from part 2 to part 6. How does its meaning grow?

   • From a sight on the horizon, to an influence on the children who grow up beneath it, to the standard the legend sets for greatness.
   • From the legend's standard of greatness, to an influence on the children, to a sight on the horizon the mother points out.
   • From a sight on the horizon, to a rock formation shaped by chance, which part 3 explains and which is the whole of what the passage claims.
   • From a sight on the horizon, to a teacher the children obey, to the legend's promise that a ruler will come to the valley.
3. 2.

   Milo studies “a work of Nature in her mood of majestic playfulness” (part 3). What effect does the phrase have?

   • It shows that nature makes beautiful things on purpose, for the sake of those who look at them.
   • It shows that the narrator is mocking the villagers who admire the Face from their doors.
   • It joins grandeur and lightness, so the Face seems awesome and approachable at once.
   • It stresses play, so nature is shown as careless of the people who admire the Face.
4. 3.

   Tala asks what the frame adds: a mother and her boy sit before the Face (part 1) as she tells the legend (part 6). Which answer is best?

   • It shows that the Face matters most to the very young of the valley, since children are the villagers the passage keeps in view throughout.
   • The legend shows that the village has forgotten the Face, since the mother must remind the boy of it.
   • The legend passes from parent to child in the Face's sight, so the symbol is renewed with each generation that looks at it.
   • Legends in valleys like this one are told by mothers, so the story shows how legends in general begin in a family.
5. 4.

   Zee reads part 5, “It was an education only to look at it.” What does this short sentence do after the long sentence in part 4?

   • It states plainly what part 4 has built toward: the Face teaches by being seen.
   • It undercuts the grandeur of part 4 with a dry remark, so the narrator seems to doubt the Face's influence.
   • It repeats part 4 in fewer words to stress how noble the features are.
   • It suggests that the children were made to study the Face as a school subject.
6. 5.

   Ren reads the legend's phrase “the greatest and noblest personage of his time” (part 6). How is it best read in context?

   • As the narrator's joking exaggeration of what the villagers hope to see in the Face one day, which the story invites us to doubt.
   • As the narrator's flat prediction of who will be born, which the story is certain to confirm.
   • As a grand phrase in the legend's voice, setting a very high standard that the story will go on to test.
   • As a plain report of a real child already born in the valley, who has grown up there beneath the Face and is named in the legend.

7. Use this

   The Clock on Market Street (an original newspaper column, by Dolores Finch in the Harwick Herald): [1] For forty years the clock above the old bank on Market Street has shown twenty past four, and most of us have stopped noticing that it stopped. [2] Last spring the town council crossed the Rubicon and voted to restore it, and within the week the first gear was shipped away for repair. [3] Since then, the restoration committee has behaved rather like Mr. Micawber, cheerfully confident that a generous donor would turn up before the bills did. [4] No donor has turned up, but two high school volunteers, Dara and Emeka, have spent every Saturday since June cleaning the brass hands and oiling the long iron rods that drive them. [5] They have found, among other things, a pigeon's nest in the gear train and a 1962 newspaper folded into the bearings. [6] Last week the committee went back to the council, bowl in hand like Oliver Twist, and asked, with a mixture of embarrassment and courage, for more. [7] I hope the council says yes, and not only because I am tired of being told that it is twenty past four. [8] The hour has bothered me longer than the delay: it was a Tuesday, the afternoon the bank closed its doors, and the clock has kept the bank's last appointment faithfully ever since. [9] Nobody on Market Street ever needed that clock to learn the time, since everyone carries a watch; what it gave us was the sight of the whole street looking up at once. [10] When it stopped, nobody decided to stop sharing, but somehow we drifted into separate schedules on separate phones. [11] Fixing it will not make us punctual, and it will not settle every argument on the council. [12] It might, however, give us something to look up at together, which is more than the phones have managed.

8. 6.

   Luz reads sentence 2. What does “crossed the Rubicon” add that “voted to restore it” alone would leave out?

   • It names a small river in northern Italy, which an army crossed in 49 BC.
   • It shows the council as a conqueror seizing power it had no right to hold, defying the town's own law.
   • It hints that the council will soon regret the vote, as Caesar's rivals later regretted theirs.
   • It frames the vote as a point of no return, so the gear shipped away within the week shows the council committed.
9. 7.

   Bo reads sentence 3. What does comparing the committee to Mr. Micawber add that “cheerfully confident” alone would leave out?

   • It gently teases the committee for hoping, with no plan, that a donor will turn up in time, as Dickens's Micawber always did.
   • It praises the committee's realism in expecting no help from donors and in planning without them.
   • It shows the committee as a family on the edge of poverty, like Micawber's own, with debts piling up faster than any donor could pay them.
   • It names a character from a novel by Dickens who is always sure that something will turn up.
10. 8.

    Ari reads sentence 6. What does “bowl in hand like Oliver Twist” add to the picture of the committee?

    • It shows the committee demanding more from the council in a loud and angry way.
    • It names a hungry boy in a workhouse who holds out his bowl and says, “Please, sir, I want some more.”
    • It casts the council as the workhouse master Oliver faced, a cold refuser, whom the column then condemns.
    • It shows the committee asking humbly for more, which the column treats with sympathy and humor.
11. 9.

    Esme lines up the three allusions in order: the Rubicon, Micawber, Oliver Twist. What do they show about the restoration?

    • A humble request, then a hopeful wait, then a decisive step, so the order of the stages is reversed.
    • A series of failures, since each allusion names a character who fails at what he tries.
    • Growing anger at the donors, with each allusion a little sharper than the one before.
    • A decisive start, a hopeful wait, then a humble request, so each allusion marks a stage.
12. 10.

    Jun reads sentence 11, “Fixing it will not make us punctual.” What does it do for the ending?

    • It lowers expectations on purpose, so the hope in sentence 12 reads as modest and earned.
    • It mocks the restoration as pointless, so the column ends by turning against the committee.
    • It warns the council not to expect thanks, since a restored clock earns no praise.
    • It lists the clock's practical limits and stops there, so the ending has no further point.