Mr. Fornnarino's English 2, Real Quiz 28 for ELL Students

This space contains reference material beginning next to Question 11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To answer Questions 11-16, please read the following passage from Chapter 14 of Haruki Murakami’s After Dark. Choose the best responses to the prompts next to the passage. There is one and only one correct answer to each prompt.

 

Chapter 14, pages 187-88

 

“A different clock in a different place. A round electric clock hanging on the wall. The hands point to 4:31. This is the kitchen of the Shirakawa house. Collar button open, tie loosened, Shirakawa sits alone at the breakfast table, eating plain yogurt with a spoon. He scoops it directly from the plastic container to his mouth.

 

He is watching the small TV they keep in the kitchen. The remote control sits next to the yogurt container. The screen is showing pictures of the sea bottom. Weird deep sea creatures. Ugly ones, beautiful ones. Predators, prey. Miniature research submarine outfitted with high-tech equipment. Powerful floodlights, precision arm. The programme is called Creatures of the Deep. The sound is muted. His face expressionless, Shirakawa follows the movements on the screen while conveying spoonfuls of yogurt to his mouth. His mind, however, is thinking about other things. He is considering aspects of the interrelationship of thought and action. Is action merely the incidental product of thought, or is thought the consequential product of action? His eyes follow the TV image, but he is actually looking at something deep inside the screen—something miles beyond the screen. He glances at the clock on the wall. The hands point to 4:33. The second hand glides its way round the dial. The world moves on continuously, without interruption. Thought and action continue to operate in concert. At least for now.” (Murakami, 187-88)

 

Note: The passage begins with the description of a clock. The hands of the clock show that it is 4:31. Shirakawa is sitting at the table eating yogurt for breakfast. He is watching a TV program named Creatures of the Deep. He has turned off the sound. Shirakawa is not thinking about eating. He is thinking about how thought and action are connected. He wants to know if action is an unimportant result of thought or if thought is the result of action. He looks at the TV screen, but he does not really see it. The time on the clock is now 4:33. The second hand continues to move. The world continues to move. Thoughts and actions continue to work together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To answer Questions 17-20, please read the following passage from Chapter 18 of Haruki Murakami’s After Dark. Choose the best responses to the prompts next to the passage. There is one and only one correct answer to each prompt.

 

 

Chapter 18, page 244

 

“And as for Eri, we can see no change in either her pose or her expression. She seems totally unaware that her little sister has crawled into bed and is sleeping beside her. Eventually, Eri's small mouth does move slightly, as if in response to something. A quick trembling of the lips that lasts but an instant, perhaps a tenth of a second. Finely honed pure point of view that we are, however, we cannot overlook this movement. Our eyes take positive note of this momentary physical signal. The trembling might well be a minuscule quickening of something to come. Or it might be the barest hint of a minuscule quickening. Whatever it is, something is trying to send a sign to this side through a tiny opening in the consciousness. Such an impression comes to us with certainty.

 

Unimpeded by other schemes, this hint of things to come takes time to expand in the new morning light, and we attempt to watch it unobtrusively, with deep concentration. The night has begun to open up at last. There will be time until the next darkness arrives.” (Murakami, 244)

 

 

Note: Eri has not moved. It looks like she has not changed. It does not look like she knows her sister is in bed with her and is sleeping. Then Eri's mouth moves. Her lips move for a tenth of a second. We should note this movement. We should have a positive feeling. The small movement of Eri's lips might be a very small sign of what will happen in the future. It might be the first movement of many. We believe something will happen.

 

This movement is a "hint of things to come." It is a sign that good things will happen, and positive belief gets bigger with the light of a new morning. We look and believe there will be light and good things until another dark time comes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To answer Questions 21-23, please read the following book review of Haruki Murakami’s After Dark. Choose the best responses to the prompts next to the review. There is one and only one correct answer to each prompt.

 

 

“During her night in the city, Mari first meets Tetsuya Takahashi, a young musician who claims to have met her before when they were brought together on a double date with Mari's sister and Takahashi's friend. Mari and Takahashi subtly flirt over coffee until he heads off to late-night band practice, leaving her alone in the restaurant again. But soon after his departure, a woman named Kaoru comes in looking for Mari. Kaoru runs a "love hotel," where a Chinese prostitute has just been beaten and robbed but speaks no Japanese. She calls Takahashi for help, and he tells her he just left Mari who, coincidentally, speaks Chinese. With this, Mari is drawn into the world of the hotel and the lives of the people who work and stay there.

 

While Mari moves through the night, we follow her and also return back to her house to watch Eri in her sleep. As the story unfolds, we are left to unravel the connection between the individual who beat the prostitute and Eri. Is he the man in the bare room? By the end of this short novel, Mari is safely back home and has plans to leave Japan to study in China --- but her sister is still in a deep sleep. Mari is undeniably altered, learning about herself and her city and finding a new love for the sister from whom she has felt emotionally estranged for so long.”

“Review-After Dark by Haruki Murakami,” Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman on December 22, 2010 <http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/after-dark#>

 

 

Note: The book review says that when Mari stays one night in the city, she meets Takahashi, a musician who says he met her when Mari's sister was dating Takahashi's friend.  Mari and Takahashi talk, and they show they are interested in one another. Then he goes to band practice, and Mari is alone in the restaurant. A woman named Kaoru comes in looking for Mari because Takahashi has told her on the phone that Mari speaks Chinese. Kaoru needs Mari's help with a Chinese-speaking prostitute who has been hurt. Mari helps, and she learns about the lives of the people who work and stay at Kaoru's love hotel.

 

We readers watch as Mari moves through the night. We see her return to her house to watch Eri in her sleep. We try to learn the connection between the person who hurt the Chinese prostitute and Eri. Is he the man in the bare room? At the end of the story, Mari is safely back home. She has plans to leave Japan to study in China, but her sister is still sleeping. Mari has changed.  She has learned about herself, her city, and her love for her sister.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure to choose each answer carefully. You get only one try to answer each question correctly!

For Questions 1-10, please mark the letter of the correct definition of the given vocabulary word.