Read the following excerpt from the article "vision, voice and the power of creation: an author speaks out," by t. a. barron, and answer the question that follows: another way to tap the power of imagination is through place. my own background as a writer is rooted in nature, having grown up reading henry david thoreau, rachel carson, and john muir long before i ever dipped into madeleine l'engle, lloyd alexander, ursula le guin, e. b. white, or j. r.r. tolkien. my early writings were really nature journals; at nine, i wrote a complete biography—of a tree. (it was a once-majestic chestnut tree not far from my home.) so it should come as no surprise that i view place as much more than just a setting for a story. it is, in truth, another form of character, no less alive and complex, mysterious and contradictory, than the richest character in human form. the author writes that he "wrote a complete biography—of a tree." what message is implied about the tree with this statement? the author couldn't think of any other subject for a biography. the author didn't think a partial biography was enough. the author didn't want to speak for the tree. the author believed the tree had a life story, like a person.

Read the two excerpts from act 4, scene 3, and act 5, scene 5, of julius caesar. cassius. ha! portia? brutus. she is dead. cassius. how scaped i killing when i crossed you so? o insupportable and touching loss! upon what sickness? brutus. impatient of my absence, and grief that young octavius with mark antony have made themselves so strong—for with her death that tidings came. with this, she fell distraught, and, her attendants absent, swallowed fire. brutus. why this, volumnius. the ghost of caesar hath appeared to me two several times by night—at sardis once, and this last night, here in philippi fields. i know my hour is come. volumnius. not so, my lord. brutus. nay, i am sure it is, volumnius. thou seest the world, volumnius, how it goes. our enemies have beat us to the pit, [low alarums] it is more worthy to leap in ourselves than tarry till they push us. good volumnius, thou know’st that we two went to school together. even for that, our love of old, i prithee, hold thou my sword hilts, whilst i run on it. . so fare you well at once, for brutus’ tongue hath almost ended his life’s history. night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest, that have but laboured to attain this hour. . i prithee, strato, stay thou by thy lord. thou art a fellow of a good respect. thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it. hold then my sword, and turn away thy face while i do run upon it. wilt thou, strato? which statement best compares brutus’s remarks at the death of his wife, portia, to his words before his own death? brutus shows more sadness for portia’s death than he does for his own. brutus is more philosophical about his own death than he is about portia’s. brutus uses more imagery when speaking about portia’s death than about his own. brutus reacts more matter-of-factly about his own death than he does about portia’s.

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.

Ineed . read the passage, and choose the two (2) inferences that are most firmly based on the given information. according to one joke, scientists are now using lawyers instead of rats in laboratory experiments. there are three reasons for this change. for one thing, there are more lawyers than rats. for another, the scientists become less emotionally attached to the lawyers. and finally, certain things are so disgusting that rats won’t do them. 1. a lawyer must have made up this joke. 2. some people feel there are too many lawyers. 3. lawyers have the reputation of being willing to do anything. 4. scientists have the reputation of