The worst birthday ever

The Worst Birthday Ever Vive had my fair-share of bad birthdays, but there Is one that tops them all by a long shot. In order to understand the happenings in the story to come, you must know a few things. My younger brother, Austin, had been sick a few days prior to this particular day. Austin had a high fever, a cough, and a drippy nose. Worst, or best of all, depending on how you look at it, he was constantly sleeping! By nature, my mother was worried about him. She was constantly giving her attention to him, if she wasn't working.On February 18, 2008, I woke up finally as an eight year old! I was so excited that it was my birthday and to get the extra attention. My eyes opened and I immediately thought of the cake, the presents, the attention, the birthday wishes, the money, and the food. I got up and went to the computer room. My mom was on the mall computer working while my brother was lying on a padded bench, wrapped In a blanket, sleeping. I walked In and no one said a word to me; â€Å"How dare they! † I thought. I didn't say anything and just walked over, to the spare computer, to play my favorite game, Virtual Knee Surgery.It felt like I had been on the computer for hours! I finally got up to go to the bathroom. I opened the door to see my older sister, Cattail, finally awake, sitting on the toilet. I quickly shut the door. I had to go to the bathroom so bad; I thought I was going to explode. I was waiting so long that I didn't even have to go anymore. I finally walked back to computer room. I got back on my game. Not even ten minutes went by, when, BAM! It happened. I heard a slight moaning noise coming from my brother's direction. I Immediately looked up at my, sick, little, brother and saw the Image that I can't forget no matter owe hard I try.He was shaking violently. He spitting, drooling, and even foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. His eyes were indeed opened, but his pupils were certainly not present. His eyes had rolled to the back of his head. His skin turned a bluish color. He had saliva all over his face and chest. I had been looking at him for a solid three minutes before he got loud enough for my mom to hear. I was frozen in place with my mouth open, starring in terror. I had no clue what was going on. He couldn't talk or even breathe. I remember thinking, â€Å"Oh no, not on my birthday! My mom finally looked over and freaked out.She shook him gently for a few seconds. He wouldn't budge. He wouldn't respond to anything she said. She grabbed him and carried him Into the bathroom. My sister and I sat In the doorway and watched as she ran cold water over his head. He was still shaking and foaming. My mom told us to call 91 1 and then told us what to tell them. We Immediately ran to phone. She picked up the phone and dialed 911. While it rang we fought over who got to talk to the 911 operator. I was extremely ringing and a lady answered the phone. My sister immediately yelled, â€Å"My brother is yin! Afte r the lady asked my sister a few questions she put the phone down. We waited maybe two minutes before the paramedics showed up. The walked in and went straight to the bathroom. They handled everything and got my brother under control. Later that night we left the house for my birthday dinner. I was excited to finally have the attention on myself. Nope. We got there and all the attention was on my brother. I had to sit at the end of the table while my brother sat at the front of the table getting my attention. Needless to say, that was my worst birthday ever!

Case Study Panera Bread Essay

Synopsis Panera Bread is a casual made-to-order fast food restaurant that offers specialty breads, sandwiches, tossed salads and soups. Established in 1981, with 1,562 company owned and franchised locations, Panera Bread has moved into the forefront of the restaurant business, and has strategically penetrated the market while acquiring a robust amount of loyal customers. Most of the restaurants offer the choice of indoor and outdoor dining. A fireplace inside the restaurant is appealing to many customers during the winter months, of whom are looking for a hot cup of coffee and a place to read their newspaper or book. Coffee, tea, and soda are offered with free refills, and water with lemons is complementary. Indoor tables, free refills, and comfortable tables/chairs make Panera Breads establishment a functional study place for college kids. Every restaurant is well staged with elegant displays of their specialty baked products, making it nearly impossible not to indulge. This fast growing res taurant has maintained a competitive edge due to their appealing interior design, neutral dining environment, fresh baked goods, fresh coffee and tea, made-to-order foods with possible drive-through capabilities, customer rewards card, tables equipped with electrical outlets, and efficient service. Panera Bread establishments, undoubtedly, offer an experience that can only occur at Panera Bread. Resources Panera Bread has a driving concept to provide a premium specialty bakery and cafà © experience to urban workers and suburban dwellers. Attractive & appealing menu Nationwide leader in the bakery-cafà © segment High ratings in customer satisfaction studies Good brand name Fresh dough operations & sales to franchised stores Initial success in catering Good franchisees – higher sales in franchised stores compared to company-owned Financial strength of the company – able to grow without taking on too much debt Capabilities Panera bread offers an upscale fast casual dining experience. Panera operates in three business segments: company owned bakery-cafà © operations, franchise operations, fresh dough operations. Every restaurant is well staged with elegant displays of their specialty baked products, making it nearly impossible not to indulge. This fast growing restaurant has maintained a competitive edge due to their appealing interior design, neutral dining environment, fresh baked goods, fresh coffee and tea, made-to-order foods with possible drive-through capabilities, customer rewards card, tables equipped with electrical outlets, and efficient service. Core Competencies Panera has created a casual but comfortable place where customers could eat freshly baked sandwiches, soups and salads without worrying about whether or not it is nutritious. The company is designed to visually reinforce the distinctive difference between its bakery-cafes and those of its competitors. Management of corporate and franchise growth, as well a deep sense of community involvement and the desire to give back to community, further solidify Panera’s placement as something different in today marketplace. Panera’s deep sense community can be seen as Panera gives away leftover bread to homeless shelters and collects money for other charitable causes such as the Operation Dough-Nation program. Finding of Fact #1 The Panera Bread Company does not have an aggressive marketing strategy and aims to let customers discover Panera on their own. Panera’s service is not as fast as other fast-food companies and charges higher prices. Panera has higher prices than rivals, which could be due to their operating costs. Panera has expanded in the past years but the locations are concentrated geographically. Recommedation#1 Panera has opportunities to continue their success in the fast casual industry. They can try to control operating costs that might be out of hand or unnecessary. The company should consider expanding into new markets and  expanding geographically, even internationally. Products can continually be made based on current food trends. The peak hours at Panera are breakfast and lunch, efforts could be made to attract a larger dinnertime rush. I think that they should apply dinner specials so that more customers come in during that time; this would be to increase sales during dinner times. Another idea is for online ordering, for the customers on the go. This way they can have a higher turnover rate when it comes to waiting in lines. Finding of Fact #2 Panera Bread operating cost is too high. Recommendation #2 Another thing that I would recommend Panera do, instead of making their dough at bakeries, Panera makes their dough at their stores. This could eliminate the middleman, and possibly eliminating excess materials in the process (including a reduction in transportation costs). This could potentially help their bottom line. Making low operating costs for a fast casual industry will prove successful. In an industry that has easy substitutes it is important to cut down overhead prices to make the most from your sales. Integrating vertically could cut operating costs making profit increase. Finding of Fact #3 Panera Bread management needs to strengthen the company’s competitive position. Recommendation #3 I recommend that the company focus on location to help increase their competitive position. It is a key success factor. Most consumers at a fast casual restaurant will be middle or upper class. It is important to locate these restaurants near demographic areas where many middle or upper class people can access the business. Many fast casual restaurants try to create a third place. The location of this restaurant is important because it should be placed in a central location where other commodities are surrounding it. To stay profitable in the highly competitive restaurant industry, Panera  regularly reviews and revises their menu to sustain the interest of regular customers, satisfy changing customer preferences, and be responsive to various seasons of the year. Panera develops an advantage in changing their menu over competitors such as McDonald’s and Subway who do not change their menu frequently and customers often lose interest in their menu offerings. Works Cited Wheelen, Thomas L. and J. David Hunger. Strategic Management and Business Policy Toward Global Sustainablity. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2012.

Free Essays on Community Service Learning

at the age of twelve. This goes back to really putting some thought into how much we have in life and how we take it for granted. My experience was overall a great time I actually enjoyed working with others and helping them out. This made me feel good about myself and I think others should give it a chance. When working and helping the children out I felt as if I could relate to my work in school relating to one particular class. This was leadership, a class I am currently taking and am beginning to enjoy. I can relate to this because we talk about the importance of volu... Free Essays on Community Service Learning Free Essays on Community Service Learning My experience with doing my community service hours were very important to me and special for many of different reasons. Throughout this paper I will explain to you why I thought this was important for me and everyone should try this as well. I was truly able to learn a lot and being familiar with the situations I was being put in gave me a bit of an advantage. I also leaned to a good extent how I can apply what I learned through my services to what I do in my everyday life and how I can relate to my studies. One of the main reasons why I found this experience to be special is because I enjoy working with others. I really didn’t feel like waking up early in the morning on several occasions throughout the week but I ended learning a good amount. After really putting some thought into what I was actually doing I felt bad for complaining and not wanting to help others out. I really take a lot for granted when I think about all the things I have in life and that is probably one of the biggest things I have leaned. Walking into that classroom of about ten to fifteen kids around the age of twelve I was shocked. I knew the environment I was going into and was prepared, working with children for the past few summers gave me some background. I sat down to help a boy with his history homework to soon find out that he hard time even spacing out his words at the age of twelve. This goes back to really putting some thought into how much we have in life and how we take it for granted. My experience was overall a great time I actually enjoyed working with others and helping them out. This made me feel good about myself and I think others should give it a chance. When working and helping the children out I felt as if I could relate to my work in school relating to one particular class. This was leadership, a class I am currently taking and am beginning to enjoy. I can relate to this because we talk about the importance of volu...

Little Picture Questions in SAT Reading 5 Key Tips

Little Picture Questions in SAT Reading 5 Key Tips SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Little picture, or detail, questions make up a significant amount of questions on the SAT Critical Reading sections. Of 4 post-2005 publicly available tests I surveyed, little picture questions accounted for 25% of all passage-based questions and 17% of all SAT Reading questions. This means that it is well worth your time in your SAT Reading prep to make sure you can consistently answer little picture questions accurately and in a reasonable amount of time (what that range is for accuracy and reasonableness will depend on the score you are aiming for). In this article, I’ll provide examples of the different ways the SAT will ask you to use little picture skills, explain the SAT Reading strategies you can use to help with these questions, and end with a walkthrough of a sample questions. First, however, I’ll explain what exactly I mean by â€Å"little picture† questions. Note:The advice in this article is still relevant for the new SAT (March 2016 and beyond), but some of the examples haven't been updated yet. feature image credit: Miniature Fimo Nikon D80 by 55Laney69, used under CC BY 2.0/Cropped from original. What Are Little Picture Questions? Little picture questions are questions that ask you to find specific details from a passage. Moreover, you will not just be asked about details at random; SAT Reading questions asks you specifically about details that are vital to understanding the passage (even though you don’t necessarily have to read the whole passage to find these details). For example, you might be asked, based on information from the passage, what the milky blue that appears around the edges of older dogs’ eyes signifies (cataracts); you would NOT, however, be asked the color of the film (unless that had greater significance in the passage as a whole). I’ve divided up little picture questions into two types: Type 1: Find The (Paraphrased) Detail Type 2: Given Line Information, Find What A Word/Phrase Refers To Type 1: Find the (Paraphrased) Detail These questions, which ask you to find a particular detail in the passage (sometimes paraphrased in the answer choice, sometimes stated directly using the same words as the passage), make up the majority of little picture questions. There are two ways in which the SAT Reading will ask you to fact find: 1. Find the Information in a Specific Place By far, questions that give you a location and ask you to find the detail to answer the question are the most common type of little picture question (more than half). Sometimes, you'll have to paraphrase the detail (meaning the passage uses slightly different wording than the correct answer choice). This is most often the case with questions that ask things like the following question: â€Å"Which of the following views of conflict is best supported by lines 37-40 (â€Å"These . . . one†) ?† To answer this question, you must first go to the lines cited in the question... "These places have interesting frictions and incongruities, and often, if you stand at the point of tangency, you can see both sides better than if you were in the middle of either one." ...and paraphrase the information contained in those lines. Only after that should you look at the answer choices to see what matches. In this case, the correct answer is (E) You can learn more about two parties in conflict as an observer than as an involved participant. Depending on how complex the passage is, detail questions with specific line information can require some vocab knowledge. Here's an example of a question where that might be the case: â€Å"The author initially responded to Herd’s request â€Å"with condescension† (lines 13-14) because the author† Lines 13-14: "I still blush at the fact that I went to graduate school to become a historian in order to contribute to the Black Struggle for social justice and yet met her request to write a history of Black women in Indiana with condescension." Now, if you don’t know what â€Å"condescension† means, the question might be tricky. If there is a word you don't know in the question or passage, context clues can often help. In the case of the question above, going on to read the next sentence will help you answer the question without needing to know what â€Å"condescension† means: "I had never even thought about Black women as historical subjects with their own relations to a state’s history, and I thought her invitation and phone call extraordinarily intrusive." Since this sentence is an explanation of the previous sentence, you don't even need to know what "condescension" means to figure out why the author responded to Herd's request "with condescension;" instead, you can just paraphrase the explanatory sentence above to get the answer to the question: (E) viewed Herd’ s request as irrelevant and presumptuous. Of course, if you also don't know the word "presumptuous" (or other words in the answer choices), process of elimination may be your best bet (more on that in Strategies). I've gathered what I think are good examples of detail/little picture questions with location information below, so you can get an idea of how these questions are worded: â€Å"Passage 1 suggests that the Fermi Paradox depends most directly on which assumption?† â€Å"The fourth paragraph (lines 50-56) indicates that Plato’s principal objection to â€Å"poetry† (line 50) was its† â€Å"The comment about â€Å"a new medium of artistic expression† (line 62) primarily suggests that† â€Å"The â€Å"porcupine women of this world† (lines 76-77) are best described as people who† â€Å"Ultimately, Cecil views his remark in line 34 (â€Å"It . . . now†) as† â€Å"The primary reason described for the usefulness of the theory mentioned in line 57 is its ability to† â€Å"In the quotation in lines 61-64, George Will primarily draws attention to† â€Å"Lines 30-34 (â€Å"In spite . . . persevered†) suggest that the author believed that† â€Å"In lines 40-43 (â€Å"Moonless . . . Sun†), the narrator’s comment about the â€Å"arrangement† demonstrates a preference for" 2. Find the Information in a Non-Specific Place The information needed to answer these questions is somewhere in the passage, maybe even narrowed down to a few paragraphs/generalization like â€Å"end of the passage,† but you aren't given specific lines. Because exact location information is not given, the wording of the questions is often even simpler than it is for questions for which you do have specific location information. Sometimes, the words in the question are taken directly from the text. At other times, just as for Type 1, a little paraphrasing is required. Some examples: â€Å"Which statement about the Fermi Paradox is supported by both passages?† â€Å"At the end of the passage, the author suggests that it would be ideal if the† â€Å"According to the author, too much energy today is spent debating† â€Å"In the first two paragraphs of the passage (lines 1-23), the author suggests that both sides of the debate† â€Å"Both passages support which of the following conclusions about Earth’s carrying capacity for humans?† â€Å"Darwin (lines 1-13, Passage 1) and Meek (lines 45-51, Passage 2) serve as examples of† â€Å"Both the author of Passage 1 and the â€Å"experts† mentioned in line 53 of Passage 2 directly support the idea that† Rare Question Types While the majority of little picture questions that ask you to find the (paraphrased) detail are phrased as shown above, there are a couple of rarer question types that I think are worth mentioning. The first of these are the "NOT/EXCEPT" questions. They are relatively rare (I found four examples out of 480 passage-based questions) and generally look something like this: â€Å"The author makes use of all of the following EXCEPT† These questions can be tricky because there will always, ALWAYS be at least one answer choice that banks on you forgetting the "EXCEPT" and, instead, saying to yourself "Aha! The author makes use of this, so it's the right answer." Not that I have ever done this myself. No. Of course not. Even rarer than "NOT/EXCEPT" questions on SAT Reading are what I call the "I, II, III" questions. Here's an example of what I mean: Which of the following can be found in both passages? I. A theory about how people originally traveled to Boston II. An exact date Boston was initially settled III. Reference to possible sources of food for early Bostonians. (A) I only (B) II only (C) I and III only (D) II and III only (E) I, II, and III Fortunately, this is one case where the question looks more obnoxious than it is. Why? Because you can use process of elimination to your advantage. Let's say you are able to immediately cross out statement II - the passage contains no information about an exact date when Boston was initially settled. That means that you can eliminate answer choices (B), (D), and (E) right away, and can focus your efforts on statement III (if it's true, then (C) must be the correct answer; if it's false, than (A) must be the correct answer). Clock Face by David~O, used under CC BY 2.0/Cropped from original. Type 2: Given Line Information, Find What a Word/Phrase Refers to These are detail questions where you are given a word or phrase (in a specific line) and asked what it's referring to. In some ways, these questions require you to use skills similar to those you'd need for vocab in context questions, but unlike with vocab in context questions, the correct answer will be very specific to the passage. For example, if a little picture question asks about what the word â€Å"death† refers to, the answer choices won’t be â€Å"the absence of life, the cessation of movement, the end of a fad,† and so on (which would be possible answers if the question was something like "In line 42, the word "death" most nearly means"). Instead, answer choices to detail questions will be highly specific, like â€Å"the neglect of older cultural monuments.† These questions require taking another step because you don’t just have to go to the lines in question to find the detail – you have to figure out what that detail is referring to (which is not necessarily included in the cited lines). I've seen these words (where you have to find what they refer to) called "compression nouns" by Meltzer. Personally, I think of questions that ask you to find what a particular word or phrase refers to as very similar to Prounoun/Antecedent questions on the Writing section; like pronouns, these words refer back to other words/things. Here are some examples of questions that give you a phrase or word and ask you to find the detail it refers to: â€Å"Based on information presented in the passage, which best describes what Georgia was â€Å"tired of † (line 8) ?† â€Å"In lines 63-64, â€Å"psychological reality† describes which quality?† â€Å"As described in lines 17-23, the â€Å"practice† refers to the† â€Å"The phrase â€Å"horrible immensities† (line 54) primarily indicates† SAT Reading Strategies for Mastering Little Picture Questions I've list the following strategies for answering little picture questions in no particular order, since the order you choose will depend on the way you read the passage. (1) To answer little picture questions, start by figuring out what the key information the SAT is looking for in the question. Take the following question: â€Å"Which challenge is emphasized by the author in the final paragraph (lines 73-77)?† Now, here's the key information I extracted from that question: â€Å"final paragraph† (location information) â€Å"challenge† (you’re looking for something that was difficult) maybe â€Å"author† (if there are other people who could be emphasizing challenges in that context, then specifying that you're looking for a challenge emphasized by the author is important; otherwise, the author thing is pretty much something you can take for granted) (2) Figure out where in the passage the detail being asked about is (if you aren’t given the exact lines outright) and read the relevant section slowly. How do you find the detail if you aren't given the exact lines outright? While sometimes the questions use the same language as the passage, and all you have to do is scan the passage for the words used in the question to get your answer, this is not always true. In these cases, your best bet is to turn to the answer choices and see if you can find those in the text instead (and then if you don't find an answer choice in the text, you can eliminate it!). Because searching for these details can take up way too much time, I would recommend starting with questions that include location information and then moving on to those that lack location information. (3) You can try to quickly answer the question in your own words as well, even though the answer choices are sometimes taken word-for-word from the text. Putting the answers in your own words helps prevent you from falling into â€Å"I recognized the phrasing so I’ll just choose it† trap (when in fact the SAT has sneakily reversed the meaning on you). (4) As always, process of elimination is hugely helpful with these questions – if the text directly contradicts an answer choice, you can cross it out with no worries. (5) I almost always do little picture questions first on each passage. For me, hunting for the details gets me acquainted with the passage without having to read the whole thing. Plus, detail questions are easy points because they often involve nothing more than finding what is stated in the text. The order you answer questions in, however, will depend on your reading strategy and what works best for you. If you tend to read the passage thoroughly first, I would recommend answering big picture questions before moving on to little picture questions. That way, you can answer questions about the whole passage before getting lost in the details. If you read the questions first, absolutely start with level one little picture questions (get them out of the way). Answering these questions can give you a better idea of the way the essay is laid out. The only reason not to start with little picture questions would be if you are concerned it might disorient you and make it harder for you to answer other types of questions. If you skim, then answer questions, it could go either way. Skimming can help you form a mental map of where certain details are more likely to show up, which means answering detail questions first would be good...but answering detail questions first also might get you bogged down in detail too quickly and make it harder to answer big picture questions. Ultimately, you need to do some trial and error on your own to figure out which is most effective for you by using each method on multiple practice Reading questions (including SAT Reading sections as well as full length practice SATs). The strategy you get the most points with is the one to go with. Walkthrough To wrap up this article, I'm going to go through an example and apply strategies in my own order (you might find that using the strategies I mention above in a different order works best for you). The question: â€Å"According to lines 41-46 (â€Å"When I . . . crossfire†), the author’s initial goal was to† (A) consider the perspectives of both the American doctors and the Lees family to see what insights might develop (B) serve as a counselor to the county hospital’s Hmong patients in order to ease their anxieties (C) work out a compromise between the American doctors and the Lees family (D) acquire a greater knowledge of how the American medical culture serves patients (E) try to reduce the misunderstandings between the American doctors and the Lees family and promote good will The relevant lines: "When I first came to Merced, I hoped that the culture of American medicine, about which I knew a little, and the culture of the Hmong, about which I knew nothing, would somehow illuminate each other if I could position myself between the two and manage not to get caught in the cross-fire." Step 1: What key info is being looked for in the question? Hmm...what was the author's â€Å"initial goal†? Initial = first, goal =†¦goal. So what was the first thing the author wanted to do? Step 2: Find the passage and read the lines carefully Well, I already found the passage (because the lines are given), but now it's time to read carefully (maybe looking for a word like â€Å"first† or â€Å"initial†). "When I first came to Merced, I hoped that the culture of American medicine, about which I knew a little, and the culture of the Hmong, about which I knew nothing, would somehow illuminate each other if I could position myself between the two and manage not to get caught in the cross-fire." Step 3: Answer in my own words So the passage says that at first the author wanted to stand between the two cultures (American medicine and Hmong). Probably not literally. â€Å"hoped† that they â€Å"would somehow illuminate each other† = hoped that could learn from them? Probably? Bah. Let’s look at the answer choices. (A) consider the perspectives of both the American doctors and the Lees family to see what insights might develop This seems like it could be right –the author definitely wants to consider two different perspectives. Not sure about the rest of the answer choice – might need more context than just the lines cited in the question. (B) serve as a counselor to the county hospital’s Hmong patients in order to ease their anxieties Uh, no, there’s nothing about being a counselor. Can double check context though. (C) work out a compromise between the American doctors and the Lees family Seems like it could be possible, I guess. Except that the first thing the author hopes is that the cultures illuminate each other, not that the author can make a compromise. So maybe a compromise came later, but the illuminating came first. (D) acquire a greater knowledge of how the American medical culture serves patients I mean, sort of? The relevant lines do say something about American medical culture. But nothing about how it serves patients. (E) try to reduce the misunderstandings between the American doctors and the Lees family and promote good will Nothing in the lines cited about promoting goodwill. Looks like I might need a little more context to answer the question. What about the line before the cited lines? â€Å"This is especially true when the apposition is culture† What is â€Å"this†? Or â€Å"apposition?† Hmm let’s see what the line after the cross-fire line is, maybe that’ll be less work. I can always go back to the line before â€Å"This†¦culture† if I need to. â€Å"But after getting to know the Lees family and their daughter’s doctors and realizing how hard it was to blame anyone, I stopped analyzing the situation in such linear terms.† Aha! â€Å"stopped analyzing† meaning that analyzing is what the author WAS doing. Let’s take a look at the answers again. (A) consider the perspectives of both the American doctors and the Lees family to see what insights might develop Yes, author was doing analysis! I’ll double check the others to make sure I can eliminate them. (B) serve as a counselor to the county hospital’s Hmong patients in order to ease their anxieties Nope, even less supported now. ELIMINATE. (C) work out a compromise between the American doctors and the Lees family Nope, compromise ≠  analysis. ELIMINATE. (D) acquire a greater knowledge of how the American medical culture serves patients I mean, that’s part of the goal, but not the whole thing . Also why the â€Å"serves patients†? Not part of the point. The author just didn’t know about the American medical cultural in general. ELIMINATE. (E) try to reduce the misunderstandings between the American doctors and the Lees family and promote good will Nope, no reducing or promoting here! ELIMINATE! To triple check, what was that thing that â€Å"This is especially true when the apposition is cultural† was referring to? Looks like it was referring to part of the previous sentence: "...if you stand at the point of tangency, you can see both sides better than if you were in the middle of either one." Even more confirmation: you can see both sides better does not equal being a counselor, or creating a compromise, learning about how to serve patients, or promoting goodwill. Answer must be (A). Actually answering these questions on the SAT will probably not take nearly this long, because you won’t have to (nor should you) write out complete explanations for every reason to reject the answer like I just did. If you find you’re taking longer than 30-45 seconds on a question, circle it and come back to it later. SAT Reading Practice Questions Intro material and relevant paragraphs for questions 1-3: The following passage is from a 1991 essay that discusses the debate over which authors should be taught in English classes. 1. Lines 30-39 (â€Å"In school . . . cultures†) present a model of education where students learn to (A) value cultural diversity over tradition (B) respect the views of both sides of the debate (C) reflect critically on the nature of American schooling (D) differentiate between classic and contemporary works (E) explore the world through wide-ranging reading 2. In lines 54-60 (â€Å"School . . . say†), the author describes a world in which schools teach books that are (A) interesting (B) celebrated (C) uncontroversial (D) not obviously relevant (E) not likely to inspire 3. Lines 60-64 (â€Å"Being . . . teenagers†) suggest that excluding a book from a reading list might (A) enhance the reputation of the book’s author (B) encourage students to protest the decision (C) influence course curricula nationwide (D) appease conservative parents (E) disappoint the book’s fans Intro material and relevant paragraphs for questions 4-6: The following passage is adapted from a book published in 1999. 4. The â€Å"dark cloud† mentioned in line 4 refers to an (A) atypical diagnosis (B) unsupported hypothesis (C) unknown threat (D) evil influence (E) important contradiction 5. Which pairing best represents the different models of the universe presented in lines 7-14? (A) Big and little (B) Old and new (C) Complex and simple (D) Verified and undocumented (E) Theoretical and practical 6. The author uses the â€Å"automobile† (lines 45-46) to represent equations that (A) demand a professional’s attention (B) are intrinsically unreliable (C) do not work together effectively (D) can be easily adjusted if necessary (E) are based on dated mathematics Answer key (scroll down when ready): 1. E 2. D 3. A 4.E 5. A 6. C Summary of SAT Reading Strategies for Little Picture Questions Find the key information in the question and/or put the question in your own words. Read the indicated part of the passage carefully, looking for context if necessary (especially if you’re being asked what a word or phrase refers to). Answer in your own words and find the answer that matches that answer. Eliminate three wrong answers. What’s Next? â€Å"Where can I find more official practice questions?† I hear you cry. Never fear – we have a complete guide to finding official SAT practice tests, including free links! Interested in more SAT Reading skills articles like this one? We’ve got articles on big picture, words in context, inference, and paired passage questions, or you can just go toour ultimate SAT Reading study guide to find a list of all of our Reading skills articles. Not sure how you’re supposed to finish the SAT Critical Reading section without running out of time? Learn about three different ways to read the passage on the SAT. Need structured help? Try our very own PrepScholar test prep platform. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

The lady with the lapdog Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The lady with the lapdog - Essay Example This story is about two people, Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar, who were both school dropouts. They both developed a personal relationship through herding sheep together and were attracted to each other. Jack is described as a â€Å"fair enough† man, â€Å"with curly hair and a quick laugh† while Ennis is said to be â€Å"cave-chested† with â€Å"a muscular and strong body† (Brokeback, Web). Both are worried about the societal consequences they will have to face if their secret is revealed. In the words of Joseph Conrad, â€Å"All a man can betray is his conscience†. I agree strongly with this statement and I believe that betrayal is the worst experience that any human being is forced to face. In â€Å"the lady and the lapdog†, Gurov repeatedly betrayed his wife and was unfaithful to her as well as his daughters. Before meeting Anna, he went out with countless other women and always kept it a secret. Gurov and Anna knew that their secret relati onship was unethical and against their cultural norms and traditions. It is illustrated though Anna`s conversation with Gurov in which she says, â€Å"I am a bad, low woman; I despise myself and don't attempt to justify myself. It's not my husband but myself I have deceived. And not only just now; I have been deceiving myself for a long time . . . and now I have become a vulgar, contemptible woman whom any one may despise† (Chekhov, Web). On the other hand, the story of Brokeback Mountain involved two men who were aware of their attraction before their respective marriages. After their reunion, they continued their affair by betraying their families. They spent time together by going to fishing trips which further strengthened their bond. This was an act of extreme disloyalty for their wives and eventually results in Ennis`s divorce. Both their wives would have felt completely betrayed and deceived. In both these texts, the characters were being disloyal with their family mem bers. They felt guilty and instead of confessing, they continued it furtively. In the story of the lady and the lapdog, one can assume that both Gurov and Anna were trying to find reasons to escape their unhappy married lives and find inner peace. Anna had a husband who was a â€Å"flunkey† and she had no idea about his work. She escaped the company of his husband by making excuses. Gurov, on the other hand, â€Å"secretly considered her (his wife) unintelligent, narrow, inelegant, was afraid of her, and did not like to be at home† (Chekhov, Web). It is clear that they both were unhappy with their lives and needed some peace. But the question is whether their families deserved this betrayal? Similarly, both Jack and Ennis were being unfaithful to their wives, Lureen and Alma but more than that, they were betraying themselves. Once Ennis said, â€Å"I’m not no queer,† and Jack replied by saying â€Å"Me neither. A one-shot thing. Nobody’s business but ours†. (Brokeback Mountain, Web). This shows that were aware of their strong passion for each other but they refused to admit that they were â€Å"queers† which depicts their betrayal to themselves. On the contrary, in both these stories, the situations were such that they could not go against their cultural traditions and were unable to follow their heart. â€Å"The course of true love never did run smooth, William Shakespeare, A midsummer Night`s Dream†

Queers in the Classroom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Queers in the Classroom - Essay Example The teasing experienced from the other students did not stop with the separation, but instead took on greater intensity and frequency, as the girls had not been teased previously to this incident but were teased incessantly following. To gain greater understanding of the motivations of the girls and the impact such actions have had on them in their personal lives, as well as to achieve more effective classroom management techniques for the teacher, it is necessary to understand the perspectives of each girl as well as the reasoning behind the teacher’s actions. Megan Simmons is a girl of 13 years old, just beginning her physical development and confused about her sexuality. Despite this, she claims her motivations in holding Brandi’s hand was simply an act of friendly affection. The other girl had been telling her during lunch of a fight she had witnessed between her parents the evening before that had ended in her mother’s gaining a black eye and her father’s slamming the front door on his way out. As far as Brandi knew, he had not returned before she left for school the next morning, but her mother had been talking about changing the locks. Brandi had confessed she was terrified both by her father’s actions and the very real possibility of her family breaking apart. The story had frightened Megan as well, bringing back memories from when she had been a very small child and similar events had taken place in her household. The bell to return to class sounded before the girls had had a chance to talk through ever ything. Naturally solitary and doubtful of her own feelings for her friend, Megan claims she had taken the other girl’s hand just before entering the classroom as a way of sending her a silent message that she was still her friend and as a show of support, but is now even more concerned and confused regarding her feelings and preferences. She finds the absence from Brandi

What is the relationship between health and pollution Research Paper

What is the relationship between health and pollution - Research Paper Example Arguments will be based on the health outcomes of environmental pollution. The research will also focus on examining those that are more vulnerable to environmental pollution. In addition, the research will try to examine the factors that are causing the high rate of environmental pollution that has a negative impact on the health of the people. Therefore, my position on the relationship between pollution and health is that pollution has a negative effect on human health. There is numerous negative effect of pollution on human health. The essay will also include a concession paragraph, which identifies the strongest arguments held by those that disagree that pollution has negative outcomes on human health. Regulations and monitoring policies that are needed in order to protect the environment that will in turn prevent pollution will be briefly highlighted. A conclusion will be made towards the end of the essay summarizing the main point made in the essay. There are different forms of pollution that have negative impacts on human health such as air, noise, radioactive contamination, water and indiscriminate disposal of waste, which is soil pollution. The research will mainly focus on air and water pollution, as they are the major causes of human diseases. The major causes of air pollution on human health include cardiovascular and respiratory illness such as asthma and pneumonia. These air pollutants cause air pollution; smoke, sulphur dioxides, particulate matter, ozone and reactive nitrogen just to mention a few. Soil or water pollution may occur when there is the improper management of solid and liquid waste. For an instant, the solid waste may be directed to a water body that is used by human. Solid waste is a significant cause of pollution because of a lack of proper solid waste disposer regulations and disposal facilities (UNEP 9). Such waste may be toxic, infectious and radioactive. Depending on the source of environmental pollution and interactions