Read the excerpt below from act 1.3 of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and answer the question that follows. CASCA: A common slave—you know him well by sight— Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn Like twenty torches joined; and yet his hand, Not sensible of fire, remained unscorched. . . . And there were drawn Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women, Transformèd with their fear, who swore they saw Men all in fire walk up and down the streets. And yesterday the bird of night did sit Even at noonday upon the market-place, Hooting and shrieking. . . . For I believe they are portentous things Unto the climate that they point upon. portentous – adj. Predicting the future. What does this passage foreshadow? Rome will continue to prosper, and all citizens will be happy. Rome will suffer revenge at the hand of a slave. Rome will suffer danger and destruction. Rome will find a renewed peace once the bird of night leaves the market-place.

Read the excerpt from the poem "growing up italian" by maria mazziotti gillan and answer the question that follows. when i was a little girl, i thought everyone was italian, and that was good. we visted our aunts and uncles, and they visted us. the italian language smooth and sweet in my mouth. in kindergarten, english words fell on me, thick and sharp as hail. i grew silent, the italian word balanced on the edge of my tongue and the english word, lost during the first moment of every question. source: gillan, maria mazziotti. "growing up italian." poetrymagazine. com. poetry magazine, n. d. web. 30 mar. 2011. what is the tone of this poem? what does the tone reveal about the speaker of the poem and the conflict she faces? based on this excerpt, what can you predict about the theme of the poem?

What reason does antigone give for her death being crueler than all the others?

Read the excerpt from cristina garcia’s dreaming in cuban. i don’t really want to talk about my father but i end up telling minnie how he used to take me horseback riding on our ranch, strapping me in his saddle with a leather seat belt he designed just for me. dad’s family owned casinos in cuba, and had one of the largest ranches on the island. there were beef cattle and dairy cows, horses, pigs, goats, and lambs. dad fed them molasses to fatten them, and gave the chickens corn and sorghum until they laid vermilion eggs, rich with vitamins. he took me on an overnight inspection once. we camped out under a sapodilla tree and listened to the pygmy owls with their old women’s voices. my father knew i understood more than i could say. he told me stories about cuba after columbus came. he said that the spaniards wiped out more indians with smallpox than with muskets. how does the structure of the excerpt add meaning to the passage? it includes historical information about the spaniards and indians to indicate the work is nonfiction. it describes the setting of the ranch owned by pilar’s cuban grandparents to explain family values. it uses several narrators to share their points of view about past and present life in cuba. it manipulates the chronological order of events to reveal the close relationship between pilar and her father.