Part 1: Text Details and Context Clues in an Informational Text — Unit test Answers

Read the excerpt from Early Victorian Tea Set.Among the upper classes, tea had been popular since before 1700. It received celebrity endorsement from Charles II’s queen, Catherine of Braganza, and from Queen Anne. It came from China, it was expensive, refreshingly bitter and drunk in tiny cups without milk or sugar. People kept their tea in locked tea caddies, as if it were a drug; for those who could afford it, it often was. In the 1750s Samuel Johnson confessed himself a happy addict:A hardened and shameless tea drinker, who has for twenty years diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant, whose kettle scarcely has time to cool, who with Tea amuses the evening, with Tea solaces the midnights, and with Tea welcomes the morning.

Read the excerpt from Early Victorian Tea Set.In the eighteenth century Josiah Wedgwood had made some of the most expensive stoneware ceramics – in jasper and basalt – in Britain, but this tea set shows that by the 1840s, when Wedgwood produced it, the company was aiming at a much wider market. This is quite clearly mid-range pottery, simple earthenware of a sort that many quite modest British households were then able to afford. But the owners of this particular set must have had serious social aspirations, because all three pieces have been decorated with a drape of lacy hallmarked silver.

Look at the picture of John Harrison painted by artist Philippe Joseph Tassaert.

Read the excerpt from A History of the World in 100 Objects.The process of redefining the British political nation was a slow one. It began in the 1820s, and by the 1880s roughly 60 per cent of the male population had the right to vote – but no women. The campaign for women's suffrage had begun shortly after the Great Reform Act of 1832, but the battle only really got going at the start of the twentieth century, when the suffragette movement was born and with it a new level of female assertiveness, indeed violence. Here are the words of Dame Ethel Smyth, who composed the song ‘March of the Women’, which was a battle hymn of the suffragettes.

Which details from the excerpt help readers visualize the chronometer? Select 3 options.

Read the excerpt from "Ship's Chronometer from HMS Beagle.”As a maritime nation, the British were concerned with one problem in particular: they could make clocks that kept very good time as long as they stayed perfectly still but not when they were shaken about, and particularly not on board a rolling ship. If you wanted to sail, it was impossible to keep a precise record of time.

What type of context clue offers information about the function, features, or appearance of an unfamiliar word?

Which line would be best to include in a summary of "Early Victorian Tea Set”?

Read the excerpt from A History of the World in 100 Objects.The drum was found by Kitchener’s army near Khartoum after the Anglo-Egyptian reconquest of the city. Once again it was re-carved – or re-branded – to make a political statement: near the tail of the bush calf Kitchener added the emblem of the British Crown. It was then presented to Queen Victoria.

What type of context clue offers a word with the same meaning as an unfamiliar word?

Read the excerpt from A History of the World in 100 Objects.Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, was one of the media stars of the First World War. The famous recruitment poster has him pointing straight at us in full uniform, finger in the foreground, handlebar moustache not far behind, with the words 'Your country needs YOU'.

What an object conveys about the important events, advancements, and people of a specific time period is called the

Read the excerpt from "Hokusai's The Great Wave.”So The Great Wave, far from being the quintessence of Japan, is a hybrid work, a fusion of European materials and conventions with a Japanese sensibility. No wonder this image has been so loved in Europe: it is an exotic relative, not a complete stranger.It also, I think, shows a peculiarly Japanese ambivalence. As a viewer, you have no place to stand, no footing. You too must be in a boat, under the Great Wave, and in danger. The dangerous sea over which European things and ideas travelled has, however, been drawn with a profound ambiguity.

Read the excerpt from A History of the World in 100 Objects.This object has on it the image of a king, but this particular example has been appropriated by women – disfigured by a slogan as an act of female protest against the laws of the state. It is a British penny with King Edward VII in elegant profile, but his image has been defaced in what was then a criminal act. Stamped all over the king’s head in crude capitals are the words VOTES FOR WOMEN. This suffragette coin stands for all those who fought for the right to vote.

Read the paragraph.Each year between April and October, millions of baseball fans head out to fields across America to watch their favorite teams compete against each other. But how and when did baseball become recognized as the national sport of the United States?

Read the excerpt from "Ship's Chronometer from HMS Beagle” and consider the accompanying photo.It was not until around 1800 that two London clockmakers managed to simplify the chronometer mechanisms so that virtually any ship – and certainly the larger ships of the Royal Navy – could carry them as routine equipment.

Read the excerpt from "Hokusai's The Great Wave” by Neil MacGregor.Here’s a snatch of the letter from the president of the United States that Perry delivered to the Japanese emperor:Many of the large ships-of-war destined to visit Japan have not yet arrived in these seas, and the undersigned, as an evidence of his friendly intentions, has brought but four of the smaller ones, designing, should it become necessary, to return to Edo in the ensuing spring with a much larger force. But it is expected that the government of your imperial majesty will render such return unnecessary, by acceding at once to the very reasonable and pacific overtures contained in the president’s letter . . .This was textbook gunboat diplomacy, and it worked. Japanese resistance melted, and very quickly the Japanese embraced the new economic model, becoming energetic players in the international markets they had been forced to join. They began to think differently about the sea that surrounded them, and their awareness of the possible opportunities in the world beyond grew fast.

What does pausing before a certain word in the middle of a sentence provide for the listener?

Read the paragraph.Preparation is the key to success when hiking. Hikers must research weather conditions and wear appropriate layers of clothing to avoid discomfort. Also, hikers must chart their course to confirm the availability of suitable trails. When packing, hike participants should select ample food and water for their adventure. Finally, phones and other communication devices should be charged and ready for emergencies.

Read the excerpt from "Early Victorian Tea Set” by Neil MacGregor.This is quite clearly mid-range pottery, simple earthenware of a sort that many quite modest British households were then able to afford. But the owners of this particular set must have had serious social aspirations, because all three pieces have been decorated with a drape of lacy hallmarked silver. The historian Celina Fox explains that tea-time had become a very smart event:In the 1840s the Duchess of Bedford introduces the ritual of afternoon tea, because by this time dinner had become so late, seven-thirty to eight o’clock, that it was a bit of a gap for the British tummy between lunchtime and evening. For a while there was a revival of tea-drinking, as a sort of meal for sandwiches and so forth, around four o’clock.