Euphemism, oxymoron, paradox and idiom
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
The Brochure (personal essay)
[1] The brochure for Camp Larkspur promised counselors "a rustic, immersive setting," "flexible duties," and "a close-knit staff family," and I signed the contract before I thought to ask what any of those phrases meant. [2] I learned the first one on arrival, when I discovered that the cabins had no electricity and that the nearest shower was a ten-minute walk downhill. [3] "Flexible duties," it turned out, meant teaching canoeing in the morning, washing dishes at noon, and spending evenings patching the dock, which leaked in roughly the places where people liked to stand.
[4] The third phrase took longer to decode. [5] There were eleven of us on staff for ninety campers, and we slept in two cabins, so "close-knit" described our sleeping arrangements more accurately than our friendships. [6] For the first week, I kept a list of complaints in the back of my notebook, and it grew faster than my list of canoeing students.
[7] Somewhere in the third week, the list stopped growing. [8] I cannot point to the day, but I remember a night when the dock flooded again and all eleven of us stood knee-deep in the lake, passing sandbags in the dark and laughing at nothing. [9] I had never been so tired, and I had never felt so rested. [10] On the last morning, the quietest camper in my group, who had refused to paddle for two weeks, led all four canoes home through a sudden wind while I sat in the back and did nothing at all.
[11] Before I left, I tore the complaint list out of my notebook. [12] I kept the brochure, though, because its writers had described the hard parts as if they were the good parts, and by August, to my annoyance, they were. [13] I have signed up again for next summer, and this time, when the brochure promises flexible duties, I will bring better boots.
Ari links sentence 9 to sentences 6 to 8. How can the narrator be so tired and yet feel so rested?
- The shared work drained the body but ended the grudges that the complaint list held.
- The narrator swings between exhaustion and rest, feeling each one on different nights.
- Canoeing was tiring, but the evenings off let the narrator recover each night.
- The flood was exhausting, so "rested" is the narrator's joke about getting no sleep.
Bo reads sentence 1 against sentence 5. What did "a close-knit staff family" hide that a new counselor needed to know?
- That the cabins had no electricity and the shower was a long walk away.
- Just that the staff would grow close quickly, as the night of the flood later shows.
- That the staff already knew one another, so a newcomer would start as an outsider.
- That eleven staff would look after ninety campers and share two cabins.
Esme compares the narrator's irony in sentences 1 to 6 with sentences 11 to 13. How does the tone shift, and what causes it?
- From mocking the brochure to fond irony, after the flooded dock draws the staff together.
- It stays mocking; signing up again is just the narrator's last joke at the camp's expense.
- From fond to bitter, as the narrator realizes how badly the brochure misled the staff.
- From mocking to fond, after the camp finally repairs the cabins and the leaking dock.
Jun reads sentence 12 with sentences 3, 5 and 8. In what sense did the hard parts become the good parts?
- The brochure called the camp both good and bad, so in the end it contradicted itself.
- The camp fixed the cabins and the dock by August, so the hard parts improved.
- The leaking dock and crowded cabins became the shared moments the narrator valued most.
- The writers dressed up hardships as perks, and the narrator learned to see through them.
A Bigger Market (news feature)
[1] When the city announced in March that the Saturday market on Elm Street would be "relocated to a more spacious venue," most of its forty vendors greeted the news with cautious hope. [2] The old site, a narrow lot behind the library, had room for only two rows of tables, and on busy mornings shoppers moved through it single file. [3] The new site, a paved field beside the county fairgrounds, can hold three times as many stalls.
[4] The city's letter to vendors described the change in equally bright terms. [5] It mentioned "a modest adjustment to participation fees" and promised "a streamlined application process designed to welcome fresh voices." [6] Few vendors asked questions at the time, partly because the letter arrived only two weeks before the deadline to apply.
[7] By the market's second month at the fairgrounds, the picture looked different. [8] The new site sits four miles from the town center, and no city bus stops there on Saturdays, so many of the older shoppers who once walked to Elm Street no longer come. [9] Stall fees rose from $20 a morning to $55, and eleven longtime vendors, most of them small growers, did not reapply.
[10] Rosa Delgado, who has sold honey at the market for nineteen years, stayed. [11] "We have more room than ever, and we are more crowded than ever," she said, pointing to the three vendors who now share a single tent to split the fee. [12] Asked about the promise of fresh voices, she paused and said that she had certainly heard some new ones, mostly from vendors asking where the customers went. [13] The city has said that it will review the location next spring.
Kira reads sentence 5, then sentences 8 to 11. What did "a modest adjustment" hide that vendors needed to know before applying?
- Just a small rise that vendors could absorb, as Rosa Delgado's decision to stay shows.
- That no bus would reach the new site on Saturdays, cutting off walk-in shoppers.
- That fees would now be charged for each table a vendor uses instead of for each vendor.
- That fees would nearly triple, a cost that some small growers could not carry.
Noah reads sentence 1, then sentence 8. What did "a more spacious venue" hide that vendors needed to know?
- That the city meant to close the market for good after one season at the field.
- Just that a paved field would feel plainer than the old lot behind the library.
- That the site is four miles out with no Saturday bus, so walk-in shoppers would stop coming.
- That stall fees would jump from $20 to $55 a morning at the new site.
For Sale
One Hatchback (story): [1] My aunt Nadia wrote the ad for her old hatchback at our kitchen table, reading each line aloud as if introducing a guest of honor. [2] The car, she wrote, was "loaded with personality," showed "minor cosmetic wear," and "starts reliably once it has warmed up to you." [3] I asked how a car could warm up to anyone, and she explained that it needed three tries on cold mornings, which was hardly worth mentioning.
[4] The cosmetic wear was a dent in the passenger door the size of a dinner plate, and the personality was mostly a radio that played one station at a volume of its own choosing. [5] Nadia had driven the car for fourteen years, through two moves and every one of my birthday parties, and she spoke about its faults the way people speak about a favorite uncle's terrible jokes.
[6] The first person to answer the ad was a college student named Owen, who arrived on a frosty Saturday with his savings in an envelope. [7] Nadia handed him the keys, and the car, naturally, declined to start on the first try or the second. [8] Owen looked at Nadia, Nadia looked at the car, and for a long moment nobody said anything at all.
[9] Then Nadia sat down on the front step and told him everything: the door, the radio, the cold mornings, and the mechanic's warning that the brakes would need about $400 of work by spring. [10] I expected Owen to leave, but he stayed an hour, asking questions and writing down the answers. [11] He bought the car that afternoon for two hundred dollars less than she had asked, and Nadia said afterward that the truth had cost her two hundred dollars and was the best deal she had ever made. [12] Every winter since, Owen has sent her a photograph of the hatchback in the snow, still running, still dented, and still, as far as anyone knows, playing that one station.
Pia compares Nadia's words in sentences 1 to 3 with sentence 9. How does the tone shift, and what causes it?
- It stays playful; the confession on the front step is one more joke about the car.
- From playful to plain, once Owen offers less money than Nadia had asked for.
- From playful mock-praise to plain honesty, once the failed start leaves no room for spin.
- From honest affection to embarrassed hiding, as Nadia tries to cover up each of the car's faults.
Ren reads sentence 11 with sentence 12. How can a truth that cost two hundred dollars be Nadia's best deal?
- The lower price was a bad deal, so Nadia's remark about the deal is a joke about losing money.
- Nadia means the sale was both a loss and a win, and she cannot tell which.
- She lost money on the price but sold the car to someone who would care for it.
- Owen later paid her back for the brakes, so she recovered the two hundred dollars.
Tala reads the ad in sentence 2 against the rest. Which phrase hid a problem that affects whether the car can be driven, and what exposes it?
- "Loaded with personality": the cold mornings that need three tries to start, in sentence 3.
- "Starts reliably once it has warmed up to you": the two failed starts in sentence 7.
- "Starts reliably once it has warmed up to you": the $400 brake repair in sentence 9.
- "Minor cosmetic wear": the dent in the passenger door the size of a dinner plate in sentence 4.
Zee sets "hardly worth mentioning" in sentence 3 beside sentences 7 and 8. How does the later scene change the tone of that phrase?
- It turns a breezy brush-off into irony, since the cold start is what Owen meets first.
- It leaves the phrase as plain fact, since three tries is a small problem for a driver.
- It makes the phrase ironic, since the brakes, not the cold start, turn out to matter most.
- It makes the phrase sound wise, since Owen buys the car in spite of the cold start.