Reading Comprehension Test 55

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[passage-header]Read the poem and answer the question that follows:

"The Errand"

[/passage-header]"On you go now! Run, son, like the devil
And tell your mother to try
To find me a bubble for the spirit level
And a new knot for this tie."

But 76245still he was glad, I know, when I stood my ground,
18228Putting it up to him
With a smile that 26092trumped his smile and his fool's errand,
Waiting for the next move in the game."
[passage-footer]
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[passage-header]Read the poem and answer the question that follows:
[/passage-header]13443Better to see your cheek grown hollow,
42254Better to see your temple worn,
Than to forget to follow, follow,
After the sound of a silver 78540horn.

Better to bind your brow with willow
And follow, follow until you die,
Than to sleep with your head on a golden pillow,
Nor lift it up when the 70065hunt goes by.

Better to see your cheek grown sallow
And your hair grown gray, so soon, so soon.
Than to forget to 69833hallo, hallo,
After the milk-white hounds of the moon.
[passage-footer]''Madman's Song'' was written by William Rose Benet in 1921.[/passage-footer]

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Many people who hate spam assume that it is protected as free speech. Not necessarily so. The United States Supreme Court has previously ruled that individuals may preserve a threshold of privacy. Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit, wrote Chief Justice Warren Burger in a 1970 decision. We therefore categorically reject the argument that a vendor has a right to send unwanted material into the home of another. With regard to a seemingly similar problem, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 made it illegal in the United States to send unsolicited faxes; why not extend the act to include unsolicited bulk e-mail?

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Daily life is overflowing with mundane mental events.
A paper clip gleams amid stacks of documents, a friend's
face shines like a beacon out of a crowd, the smell of
freshly baked bread evokes childhood memories-
thoughts and perceptions such as these flow by with
monotonous ease.
So it seems, anyway. Yet given what scientists know
about how brains work, even the ability to perceive a
paper clip on a messy desk represents an extraordinary
and mysterious achievement.

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In the summer of 1911, the explorer Hiram Bingham III
bushwhacked his way to a high ridge in the Andes of Peru
and beheld a dreamscape out of the past. There, set against
looming peaks cloaked in snow and wreathed in clouds,
was Machu Picchu, the famous lost city of the Incas.
This expression, popularized by Bingham, served as
a magical elixir for rundown imaginations. The words
evoked the romanticism of exploration and archaeology
at the time. But finding Machu Picchu was easier than
solving the mystery of its place in the rich and powerful
Inca empire. The imposing architecture attested to the skill
and audacity of the Incas. But who had lived at this isolated
site and for what purpose?

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In between school days, we gathered hazelnuts,
fished, had long deer-hunting weekends, went to
powwows, beaded on looms, and made quilts. I did not
question the necessity or value of our school eductaion,
but somehow I grew up knowing it wasn't the only
education I would need. I'm thankful for those experiences
of my Anishinaabe heritage, because now I know by heart
not only the national anthem, but the ancient song of the
loon. I recognize not only the alphabet and the parts of an
English sentence, but the intricate language of a beaver's
teeth and tail.

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Newspaper editor and political commentator Henry Louis Mencken was a force of nature, brushing aside all objects animal and mineral in his headlong rush to the publicity that surely awaited him. He seized each day, shook it to within an inch of its life, and then gaily went on to the next. No matter where his writing appeared, it was quoted widely, his pungently outspoken opinions debated hotly. Nobody else could make so many people so angry, or make so many others laugh so hard.

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Duke Ellington considered himself the worlds greatest
listener. In music, hearing is all. Judging by the two or
three thousand pieces of music Ellington wrote, he could
probably hear a flea scratching itself and put that rhythm
into one of his compositions. For him the sounds of the
world were the ingredients he mixed into appetizers,
main courses, and desserts to satisfy the appetite of his
worldwide audience. He wasnt averse to going out in
a boat to catch the fish himself. He would raise the fowl
himself. But when that musical meal appeared before you
none of the drudgery showed.

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