A culture seen through a story from another country

Grade 9 Reading Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The Lunchbox Relay (story set in India)

   [1] In Mumbai, Esme stayed for a week with the Kulkarni family and noticed that, each morning at about ten, a man on a bicycle came to collect a round metal lunch tin. [2] Mrs. Kulkarni explained that the man was a dabbawala, one of thousands who carried home-cooked lunches from kitchens to offices across the city, and that the tin would reach her husband's desk before noon. [3] Esme could not see how a tin handed to a stranger on a bicycle could cross a crowded city and arrive at the right desk. [4] The next morning, Esme followed the dabbawala to a station, where a dozen men sorted hundreds of tins on the platform, reading small painted marks on each lid.

   [5] The marks, the dabbawala explained, were a code of colors, letters, and numbers that told where each tin began its trip, which station it would pass through, and which building it was going to. [6] A tin passed through several pairs of hands without anyone reading the family's name, since each worker needed to know only one part of the code.

   [7] Esme asked what happened when someone made a mistake, and the dabbawala shrugged and said that a lunch was a person's morning in a tin, and nobody wanted to ruin it. [8] At noon, Mr. Kulkarni telephoned to say that the lunch had arrived hot, in the correct tin, on time, as it had for years.

   [9] That afternoon, Esme waited at the corner to see the empty tin return, and it came back through the same chain of hands, down to the same bicycle rack. [10] Esme tried to imagine being one link in that chain, and understood that the dabbawalas were trusted less for speed than for never breaking the chain. [11] On the last day, Esme gave the dabbawala a small drawing of a lunch tin, and the drawing was pinned inside the dabbawala's cap without a word. [12] Back home, Esme found that the walk to school felt different, now that the city seemed to be made of small promises kept by many people.

2. 1.

   Ari links the culture cell to the plot. How does the dabbawalas' painted code shape what happens to the lunch tin?

   • The lunch arrives on time because the dabbawala is in a hurry to go home.
   • The dabbawalas use a code and the lunch arrives at noon, but the story does not connect the two facts.
   • Because the lunch reaches the right desk each day, the dabbawalas painted a code on the lids.
   • Because each tin carries a painted code that each worker reads for one part of the trip, the lunch can pass through many hands and still reach the right desk.
3. 2.

   Bo links the culture cell to the plot. How does the dabbawalas' sense of trust shape the answer the dabbawala gives about mistakes?

   • The dabbawala shrugs, and the lunch arrives on time, but the two facts are not linked.
   • The dabbawalas treat each lunch as a person's morning, so nobody wants to be the one who breaks the chain, and a mistake is taken very seriously.
   • The dabbawalas are fined by the city whenever a tin is late, so nobody wants to break the chain.
   • Because nobody wants to break the chain, the dabbawala says that lunches are only tins.
4. 3.

   Esme compares two views on the strip. How do Esme and the dabbawala see the lunch tin differently at first?

   • Esme sees a tin handed to a stranger and doubts that it will arrive, while the dabbawala sees a person's morning that must not be ruined.
   • Esme and the dabbawala both see the tin as a person's morning that must not be ruined.
   • Esme sees the tin as a gift for Mr. Kulkarni, while the dabbawala sees it as a job done for pay.
   • Esme sees a person's morning that must not be ruined, while the dabbawala sees a tin handed to a stranger.
5. 4.

   Kira separates an idea that holds for people everywhere from the local custom that shows it. Which choice does that?

   • Universal: people trust those who keep small promises. Local: the dabbawalas of Mumbai and their painted lid codes.
   • Universal: the dabbawalas of Mumbai and their painted lid codes. Local: people trust those who keep small promises.
   • Universal: people trust fast delivery more than careful delivery. Local: the dabbawalas of Mumbai and their painted lid codes.
   • Universal: people trust those who keep small promises. Local: a city with many workers.
6. 5.

   Luz separates an idea that holds for people everywhere from the local custom that shows it. Which choice does that?

   • Universal: a group works when each person does one small part reliably. Local: the chain of Mumbai dabbawalas passing tins from home to desk.
   • Universal: a group works when its fastest member sets the pace. Local: the chain of Mumbai dabbawalas passing tins from home to desk.
   • Universal: the chain of Mumbai dabbawalas passing tins from home to desk. Local: a group works when each person does one small part reliably.
   • Universal: dabbawalas carry lunch tins across Mumbai. Local: people sometimes eat lunch away from home.

7. The Walnut Oarlock (story set in Italy)

   [1] In Venice, where Milo was spending a spring week with the Rossi family, the narrow canals were crowded with boats of every kind, but the most admired were the black gondolas. [2] Mr. Rossi worked in an old boatyard called a squero, where gondolas were built and repaired by hand, and Mr. Rossi invited Milo to watch an apprentice carve a forcola. [3] A forcola, Mr. Rossi explained, is the carved wooden oarlock on which the gondolier's long oar rests, and no two are shaped alike, because each one is cut to fit a single rower. [4] The apprentice, a young woman named Chiara, held a block of walnut in a clamp and removed thin curls of wood with a small curved blade.

   [5] Milo noticed that Chiara stopped every few minutes to hold the block up to the light, turn it, and run a thumb along a curve. [6] When Milo asked how long a forcola took, Mr. Rossi laughed and said that the wood would not be hurried, and that the first one Chiara had made had taken a month and then gone into the stove.

   [7] Milo found this hard to believe, and asked why anyone would throw away a month of work. [8] Chiara answered, without looking up, that a forcola that was almost right would be wrong every day for twenty years, and that the gondolier's shoulder would know.

   [9] Over the week, Milo watched the shape slowly emerge, with its curves and notches like a small abstract sculpture, and began to see why the boatyard smelled of patience as much as of wood. [10] On Friday, Chiara fitted the finished forcola to a practice oar and let Milo test it by leaning into a stroke on dry land. [11] The wood moved against the oar with a quiet, certain click, and Milo grinned despite trying to look serious. [12] Back home, Milo kept a single walnut curl in an envelope, labeled with the date and the word forcola.

8. 6.

   Milo links the culture cell to the plot. How does the custom of fitting each forcola to one rower shape what happens to Chiara's first forcola?

   • Chiara's first forcola went into the stove because Chiara was in a bad mood that day.
   • A forcola is cut for one rower, and the first one Chiara made went into the stove, but the story does not connect the two facts.
   • Because a forcola has to fit one rower exactly, a forcola that was almost right was thrown away, even after a month of work.
   • Chiara's first forcola went into the stove because the blade was too dull to finish it.
9. 7.

   Noah links the culture cell to the plot. How does the squero's way of working shape Milo's week?

   • Milo watches for the whole week because Milo has nothing else to do in Venice.
   • Milo watches for the whole week because Mr. Rossi has promised Milo a gondola ride at the end.
   • Because Milo is patient, the boatyard decides not to hurry the craft.
   • Because the craft cannot be hurried, Milo spends the week watching a shape slowly emerge, and begins to see patience in the boatyard.
10. 8.

    Pia compares two views on the strip. How do Milo and Chiara see the discarded forcola differently?

    • Milo sees a forcola that would be wrong every day for twenty years, while Chiara sees a month of work thrown away.
    • Milo sees a forcola that was too ugly, while Chiara sees a forcola that was too expensive.
    • Milo and Chiara both see a month of work thrown away.
    • Milo sees a month of work thrown away, while Chiara sees a forcola that would be wrong every day for twenty years.
11. 9.

    Tala separates an idea that holds for people everywhere from the local custom that shows it. Which choice does that?

    • Universal: work that is almost right can be wrong every day for years. Local: a wooden object used on a boat.
    • Universal: work that is almost right can be wrong every day for years. Local: a forcola cut for one gondolier in a Venice boatyard.
    • Universal: a forcola cut for one gondolier in a Venice boatyard. Local: work that is almost right can be wrong every day for years.
    • Universal: work should be done quickly so that nothing is wasted. Local: a forcola cut for one gondolier in a Venice boatyard.
12. 10.

    Zee separates an idea that holds for people everywhere from the local custom that shows it. Which choice does that?

    • Universal: apprentices in Venice carve walnut. Local: people sometimes begin a craft when young.
    • Universal: a Venetian apprentice remaking a forcola from a new block of walnut. Local: skill grows when a person is willing to start again.
    • Universal: skill grows when a person is willing to start again. Local: a craft done in a place by the water.
    • Universal: skill grows when a person is willing to start again. Local: a Venetian apprentice remaking a forcola from a new block of walnut.