Euphemism, oxymoron, paradox and idiom
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Leaving It Alone (personal essay)
[1] When I first walked into Mrs. Okafor's workshop, I expected to learn how to fix furniture, and instead I spent three weeks learning how to leave it alone. [2] She restored old furniture for a living, and her rule, which she repeated whenever I reached for the power sander, was that a good restorer does as little as possible as slowly as possible. [3] I assumed this was a joke until she showed me a cabinet that an earlier owner had "improved" with glossy paint, which had trapped moisture and split the wood.
[4] My first project was a rocking chair with a cracked arm, and I attacked it with what Mrs. Okafor later called my "patient hurry." [5] I spread the glue with great care, but then I checked the joint every ten minutes, pressing and wiping and adjusting, until it was weaker than when I had started. [6] Mrs. Okafor looked at the arm, tapped it twice, and said that it was "a bold choice," which was the closest she ever came to scolding anyone.
[7] By the second week, I understood that her slowness was not laziness. [8] She could spend an afternoon deciding not to replace a loose spindle, because the old one, wobbly as it was, carried a century of wear that no new piece could copy. [9] When customers asked her to make a table look new, she offered them what she called "an honest finish," which meant that every scratch would stay exactly where it was, only cleaner.
[10] Near the end of the month, I repaired a stool on my own, and I barely touched it: a little wax, one tightened screw, and nothing else. [11] It was the hardest work I did all summer. [12] When Mrs. Okafor inspected it, she said it was "not bad for a beginner," and then she set it in the front window, where she kept only the pieces she was proudest of.
Ari reads sentences 4 and 5. What does Mrs. Okafor's phrase "patient hurry" come to mean for this repair?
- The narrator was careless from start to finish and merely pretended to take care.
- The narrator kept switching speeds, working slowly on one day and quickly on the next.
- Each motion was careful, but the narrator would not leave the joint alone to set.
- The narrator rushed the gluing, then waited calmly for the joint to dry on its own.
Bo reads sentences 5 and 6. What does "a bold choice" hide, and why does Mrs. Okafor say it that way?
- That the repair left the joint weaker; she flags the mistake without scolding outright.
- That the narrator used the power sander against her rule; she avoids an open scolding.
- That the repair left the joint weaker; she wants customers to think the change was planned.
- Nothing; she admires the narrator for trying a daring new method on the cracked arm.
Jun reads sentences 10 and 11. How can barely touching the stool be the narrator's hardest work?
- The two sentences contradict each other, showing the narrator is still unsure what work is.
- The narrator now believes that broken furniture should simply be left as it is.
- Holding back, against the habit that spoiled the rocking chair, took the most discipline.
- The stool was in worse shape than the chair, so even the small repairs were exhausting.
Open by Being Closed (news column)
[1] At Tuesday's meeting of the Fernvale Parks Board, Director Lyle Brandt announced that the town pool would enter "a season of focused service" this summer. [2] Under his plan, the pool will open at noon instead of nine, close at five instead of eight, and stay shut on Mondays. [3] Mr. Brandt said the change would give families "a more curated swimming experience," and several board members nodded as though they had been promised a new diving board.
[4] Residents who spoke during public comment were less impressed. [5] Ana Ruiz, who has led a morning lap group for twelve years, said her swimmers had been "invited to explore other facilities," and she asked where those facilities were, since the nearest public pool is forty minutes away. [6] Mr. Brandt replied that the board was "not in a position to speak to regional options at this time." [7] Another resident pointed out that the lifeguards, most of them high school students, would lose nearly half their summer hours.
[8] Then came the moment that turned the evening. [9] Gene Park, a retired swim coach, stood and said that the board had found a clever way to keep the pool open, which was to keep it closed. [10] The room laughed, and Mr. Brandt, to his credit, laughed with it. [11] He then admitted that the budget had fallen about $30,000 short and that cutting hours had seemed simpler than asking the town for help. [12] By the end of the night, the board had delayed its vote for two weeks and invited residents to propose ways to raise the money, which counts, in Fernvale, as high drama.
Kira reads sentences 1 and 2. What does "a season of focused service" hide, and why would Mr. Brandt choose it?
- That a swim will cost more per visit; it makes a higher price sound like a better product.
- That the pool will lose hours and Mondays; it makes a forced cut sound like a plan.
- Nothing; the staff will give swimmers better attention during fewer, busier hours.
- That the pool will lose hours and Mondays; it warns families plainly so they can plan.
Luz reads sentences 9 and 10. What does "to his credit" show about the writer's attitude toward Mr. Brandt at this point?
- Grudging fairness: after mocking his phrases, the writer admits that he can laugh at himself.
- Sharper scorn: the writer hints that Mr. Brandt laughed just to avoid answering the coach.
- Full support: the writer now agrees that cutting the pool's hours was the right plan.
- The coach's view: the words report that Gene Park praised Mr. Brandt for laughing.
Milo reads sentence 9 with sentence 2. What does the coach mean by keeping the pool open by keeping it closed?
- The plan saves the pool on paper by shutting it during the hours people use it.
- The coach means that closing the pool for repairs now will keep it open for years.
- The coach means the board plans to close the pool for good and is hiding it.
- The coach means the plan is impossible, since a pool cannot be open and closed at once.
Noah reads sentence 5. What does "invited to explore other facilities" hide from the lap swimmers, and why is it phrased as an invitation?
- Nothing; the board has arranged visits for the group at other pools in the region.
- That they lose their morning swim; it offers them a real welcome at a pool nearby.
- That they lose their morning swim; an invitation makes being pushed out sound like a choice.
- That their group is being broken up for low numbers; it spares the swimmers hurt feelings.
Theo's Friday Dinner (story)
[1] My brother Theo announced on Friday that he would cook dinner for the whole family, and our mother, who had once watched him boil an egg dry, called this "an exciting development." [2] He chose a recipe for vegetable soup with fresh bread, which the cookbook described as "simple," a word I have since learned to distrust. [3] By five o'clock the kitchen held every pot we owned, two cutting boards, a fog of flour, and a smell that our father, after a long pause, described as "ambitious."
[4] I want to be fair to Theo, because he worked harder that afternoon than I had ever seen him work at anything. [5] He cut each carrot into identical cubes, leveled every spoonful of salt with one finger, and read each step of the recipe aloud twice. [6] The trouble was that the bread needed four hours to rise, and he had started it at half past four.
[7] At seven we sat down to soup that was, in our father's words, "very nearly warm," beside a bowl of dough that had risen so eagerly it was climbing over the rim. [8] Theo looked at the table and admitted that the evening had not gone quite according to plan. [9] Then our grandmother, who rarely says more than she must, took a second bowl of soup without a word.
[10] We ate the bread at eleven that night, standing around the counter in our pajamas, and it was the best bread any of us had tasted. [11] Our mother said later that the dinner had been a complete failure and the nicest evening of the year. [12] Theo has cooked every Friday since, he still starts the bread too late, and nobody has ever asked him to change it.
Pia reads sentence 7. How does "very nearly warm" shape the tone of the father's comment on the soup?
- Fair praise: the soup was close to the right heat, so the meal was a near success.
- Harsh mockery: it ridicules Theo in front of the family for serving cold soup.
- Polite despair: the father has given up hope that Theo will ever learn to cook.
- Gentle teasing: it admits the soup was cold while sparing Theo a blunt complaint.
Ren reads sentence 11 with sentences 6 and 10. How can the dinner be a complete failure and the nicest evening?
- The soup failed but the bread succeeded, so the evening was half failure, half success.
- The mother cannot decide how she feels, so she gives two opposite verdicts on one night.
- The meal came out cold and late, but the late bread drew everyone into a shared night.
- The mother means the family enjoyed laughing at Theo more than eating his cooking.
Zee reads sentence 2 with what follows. What does "a word I have since learned to distrust" show about the narrator's attitude?
- Wry hindsight: knowing how the night went, the narrator teases the cookbook's promise.
- Plain caution: the narrator found the recipe's instructions too hard to follow.
- Theo's embarrassment: the aside shows that Theo now refuses to trust any recipe.
- Lasting anger: the narrator still blames the cookbook for ruining the family's dinner.
