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Read the following passage carefully before you choose your…
Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers.
This passage is taken from an eighteenth-century letter from a president to the citizens of the United States of America.
(1) So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld.
(2) As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils? Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.
(3) Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.
(4) The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.
(5) Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.
(6) Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?
(7) It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.
1.Which word best describes the tone of the last paragraph? (5 points)
A. Furious
B. Afraid
C. Resolved
D. Hopeful
2. Which stylistic device does the author use in paragraph three to illustrate the potential ills of foreign alliances? (5 points)
A. descriptive adjectives
B. elevated diction
C. extended metaphor
D. rhetorical question
3. In the first sentence of paragraph 4 (reproduced below), the writer is considering deleting the bolded text, adjusting the punctuation as necessary.
The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.
Should the writer keep or delete the bolded text? (5 points)
A. Keep it, because it qualifies that while political relationships should be curtailed, commercial relationships are necessary.
B. Keep it, because it clarifies that caution is required for both commercial relationships and political relationships alike.
C. Delete it, because it contradicts the writer’s overall argument which is developed later in the speech.
D. Delete it, because it repeats the point contained in first part of the sentence and contributes no additional meaning.
4. What is the relationship between paragraphs five and six in the excerpt? (5 points)
A. Paragraph 5 outlines advantages of not being aligned with other nations, and paragraph 6 elaborates on those advantages.
B. Paragraph 5 justifies the presidents position with examples, while paragraph 6 recognizes that there are weaknesses to his claim.
C. Paragraph 5 Establishes the nations current position, and paragraph 6 raises questions that point out citizens concerns.
D. Paragraph 5 describes the need for aligning with other nations, while paragraph 6 illuminated the drawbacks of that choice.
5. which rhetorical strategy does the author adopt in paragraph 7? (5 points)
A. He lists examples and then asserts his position in a declarative statement.
B. He begins with a tone shift followed by a list of examples illustrating his claim.
C. He acknowledges the opposition and then justifies his position with examples.
D. He clarifies his claim by recognizing a condition of carrying out his position.
Read the following passage from G.K. Chesterton’s “The Philosophy of the Schoolroom” and answer the questions.
(1) What modern people want to be made to understand is simply that all argument begins with an assumption; that is, with something that you do not doubt. (2) You can, of course, if you like, doubt the assumption at the beginning of your argument, but in that case you are beginning a different argument with another assumption at the beginning of it. (3) Every argument begins with an infallible dogma, and that infallible dogma can only be disputed by falling back on some other infallible dogma; you can never prove your first statement or it would not be your first. (4) All this is the alphabet of thinking. (5) And it has this special and positive point about it that it can be taught in a school, like the other alphabet. (6) Not to start an argument without stating your postulates could be taught in philosophy as it is taught in Euclid, in a common schoolroom with a blackboard. (7) And I think it might be taught in some simple and rational degree even to the young, before they go out into the streets and are delivered over entirely to the logic and philosophy of the Daily Mail.
6. Which of the following sentences, if placed before sentence 1, would best orient the audience and provide an engaging introduction to the topic of the paragraph? (5 points)
A. All students of discourse and debate need to learn how to argue effectively; they should practice regularly to hone their craft.
B. Argumentation is so abundant in the modern era that we ought to teach even the youngest children about dogma and postulates.
C. Those who study the art of argumentation and debate understand one simple fact: dogma is the enemy of an effective line of reasoning.
D. With arguments bombarding us almost constantly, it is imperative that we understand argumentation and how it works.
7. The writer is considering adding the following sentence after sentence 4.
In other words, you cannot argue c without considering and including a and b as part of your argument.
Should the writer add this sentence after sentence 4? (5 points)
A. Yes, because it develops the counter argument more fully by including a direct example.
B. yes, because it reduces the complexity of the argument and elaborates on the idea in sentence 4.
C. No, because it makes the argument too simplistic and does not match the writers complex syntax.
D. No, because it detracts from the direct and easily understood statement in sentence 4.
8. In sentence 2 (reproduced below), the writer is considering deleting the bolded text.
You can, of course, if you like, doubt the assumption at the beginning of your argument, but in that case you are beginning a different argument with another assumption at the beginning of it.
Should the writer keep or delete the bolded text? (5 points)
A. Keep it, because it is essential to the line of reasoning which will follow.
B. Keep it, because its personal address effectively engages the audience.
C. Delete it, because it adds unnecessary wordiness without adding meaning.
D. Delete it, because it contradicts the line of reasoning which will follow.
Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers
This passage is taken from a nineteenth-century speech given in Massachusetts after the conviction of a fugitive slave.1
(1) I walk toward one of our ponds; but what signifies the beauty of nature when men are base? We walk to lakes to see our serenity reflected in them; when we are not serene, we go not to them. Who can be serene in a country where both the rulers and the ruled are without principle? The remembrance of my country spoils my walk. My thoughts are murder to the State, and involuntarily go plotting against her.
(2) But it chanced the other day that I scented a white water-lily, and a season I had waited for had arrived. It is the emblem of purity. It bursts up so pure and fair to the eye, and so sweet to the scent, as if to show us what purity and sweetness reside in, and can be extracted from, the slime and muck of earth. I think I have plucked the first one that has opened for a mile. What confirmation of our hopes is in the fragrance of this flower! I shall not so soon despair of the world for it, notwithstanding slavery, and the cowardice and want of principle of Northern men. It suggests what kind of laws have prevailed longest and widest, and still prevail, and that the time may come when man’s deeds will smell as sweet. Such is the odor which the plant emits. If Nature can compound this fragrance still annually, I shall believe her still young and full of vigor, her integrity and genius unimpaired, and that there is virtue even in man, too, who is fitted to perceive and love it. It reminds me that Nature has been partner to no Missouri Compromise. I scent no compromise in the fragrance of the water-lily. It is not a Nymphoea Douglasii.2 In it, the sweet, and pure, and innocent are wholly sundered from the obscene and baleful. I do not scent in this the time-serving irresolution of a Massachusetts Governor, nor of a Boston Mayor. So behave that the odor of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere, that when we behold or scent a flower, we may not be reminded how inconsistent your deeds are with it; for all odor is but one form of advertisement of a moral quality, and if fair actions had not been performed, the lily would not smell sweet. The foul slime stands for the sloth and vice of man, the decay of humanity; the fragrant flower that springs from it, for the purity and courage which are immortal.
(3) Slavery and servility have produced no sweet-scented flower annually, to charm the senses of men, for they have no real life: they are merely a decaying and a death, offensive to all healthy nostrils. We do not complain that they live, but that they do not get buried. Let the living bury them: even they are good for manure.
9. the authors attitude towards nature can best be described as (5 points)
A. Positive, because time spent in nature brings rest and clarity
B. Hopeful, because nature mirrors humanity in many ways
C. Whimsical, because nature is an effective escape from problems
D. Practice, because nature provide humans with important resources
10. The final sentence implies that (5 points)
A. The audience should turn the misdeeds of some into something good
B. The speaker has lost all hope in humanity’s ability to care for others
C. Slavery and, therefore, abolition efforts are coming to an end
D. Lawmakers are justified in their desire to protect slave owners
