A boy stood before the kitchen glass combing his hair. He combed slowly and painstakingly, arranging his brown hair in a smooth hillock over his forehead. He did not seem to pay any attention to the conversation. “Sammy, did you know father was goin' to build a new barn?” asked the girl. The boy combed assiduously. “Sammy!” He turned, and showed a face like his father's under his smooth crest of hair. “Yes, I s'pose I did,” he said, reluctantly. –“The Revolt of Mother,” Mary E. Wilkins Use context clues to figure out the meaning of the phrase "smooth hillock." Write one to three sentences explaining your definition and the context clue that helped you.

Read the following sentences from the text.“’A Black man’s hairline is his crown,’ Andre said solemnly. ‘It’s what makes him a King.’‘I taught you that!’ Randy retorted. ‘And as your big brother, I’m going to fix it, because I can’t let you show up at your big party with a hairline pushed so far back it's in prehistoric times.’Andre pulled a face, then smirked. ‘That was kinda funny… I guess. So what can we do?’ Andre replied, softening.”What conclusion can you draw about Andre and Randy’s relationship from this evidence?Andre is upset with Randy because he won’t stop making jokes about something that is bothering him.Andre is nervous about who will show up to his party and Randy thinks it’s only because of his haircut.Randy helps Andre feel better in a stressful situation by lightening the mood through humor.Andre and Randy have a hard time communicating but they work hard at listening to one another.

Kinsley stared at her reflection, noting the nose upturned too much, lips too thin, and wondered just how much hair one needed to cover these ears. Clearly, much more than she had, Kinsley reasoned as she glided the comb through her brown tresses. How could her little sister be jealous of this mess? Kinsley sighed too loudly, and her bangs blew out of place and the tip of her ear emerged from her hair. Maybe she should start wearing a hat.     Taking her phone, she turned her head and raised her chin, pursing her lips in a vain effort to make them look full, and snapped a selfie. Only seven selfies later, she took one that she deemed "postable" and uploaded it to her social media page. She was getting better at this; the last one took no less than thirteen tries to get all her disagreeable parts to appear inconspicuous enough to satisfy her discriminating eye. These ears were not going to humiliate her, and she was certainly not going to give Megan Pendergrass an opportunity to mortify her again.     Meryl banged on the door, and before Kinsley could grant her permission or bar her from entering, she was breaking in and flopping onto her bed.     "Are you still staring at yourself? You know, Narcissus died and turned into a flower doing that," Meryl said. "It's really not good to be so in love with yourself," she offered, flipping through Kinsley's teen magazine.     If only I did love myself, Kinsley thought, pulling on a pink-and-white checked hat, breaking in the floppy brim until she could make it cover her protruding ears.     "Love the Body You're In by Rochelle Rodriguez," Meryl mused. "You certainly don't need to read this article! I'm watching TV if you want to join me." Meryl tossed the magazine, open to the article, on Kinsley's bed and left.     Kinsley picked it up and began reading. Thirty minutes later, she removed the hat, positioned the camera and smiled. One ear still peeked through her thin, brown hair, but this was the body she was in, and she would love it.4Select the correct answer.Read the sentences from the passage.     Meryl banged on the door, and before Kinsley could grant her permission or bar her from entering, she was breaking in and flopping onto her bed.     "Are you still staring at yourself? You know, Narcissus died and turned into a flower doing that," Meryl said. "It's really not good to be so in love with yourself," she offered, flipping through Kinsley's teen magazine.     If only I did love myself, Kinsley thought, pulling on a pink-and-white checked hat, breaking in the floppy brim until she could make it cover her protruding ears.What does the phrase “breaking in” mean as it is used in the passage? A. In the first instance, it means "to enter without permission," and in the second instance, it means "to make softer through use." B. In the first instance, it means "to make softer through use," and in the second instance, it means "to enter without permission." C. In the first instance, it means "to stop doing something," and in the second instance, it means "to make something come apart." D. In the first instance, it means "to make something come apart," and in the second instance, it means "to stop doing something."

Kinsley stared at her reflection, noting the nose upturned too much, lips too thin, and wondered just how much hair one needed to cover these ears. Clearly, much more than she had, Kinsley reasoned as she glided the comb through her brown tresses. How could her little sister be jealous of this mess? Kinsley sighed too loudly, and her bangs blew out of place and the tip of her ear emerged from her hair. Maybe she should start wearing a hat.     Taking her phone, she turned her head and raised her chin, pursing her lips in a vain effort to make them look full, and snapped a selfie. Only seven selfies later, she took one that she deemed "postable" and uploaded it to her social media page. She was getting better at this; the last one took no less than thirteen tries to get all her disagreeable parts to appear inconspicuous enough to satisfy her discriminating eye. These ears were not going to humiliate her, and she was certainly not going to give Megan Pendergrass an opportunity to mortify her again.     Meryl banged on the door, and before Kinsley could grant her permission or bar her from entering, she was breaking in and flopping onto her bed.     "Are you still staring at yourself? You know, Narcissus died and turned into a flower doing that," Meryl said. "It's really not good to be so in love with yourself," she offered, flipping through Kinsley's teen magazine.     If only I did love myself, Kinsley thought, pulling on a pink-and-white checked hat, breaking in the floppy brim until she could make it cover her protruding ears.     "Love the Body You're In by Rochelle Rodriguez," Meryl mused. "You certainly don't need to read this article! I'm watching TV if you want to join me." Meryl tossed the magazine, open to the article, on Kinsley's bed and left.     Kinsley picked it up and began reading. Thirty minutes later, she removed the hat, positioned the camera and smiled. One ear still peeked through her thin, brown hair, but this was the body she was in, and she would love it.3Select the correct answer.Read the excerpt.The words humiliate and mortify are similar in meaning, but they have different connotations.Which statement best describes the difference? A. Humiliate is to feel displeased by, whereas mortify is to cause one to feel weak. B. Humiliate is to feel irritated by, whereas mortify is to cause distraction. C. Humiliate is to feel saddened by, whereas mortify is to cause worry. D. Humiliate is to feel embarrassed by, whereas mortify is to cause one shame.

The writer recalls his Grandmother as short, healthy and slightly bent. Her hairs were silver in colour and were scattered messily on her wrinkled face. She used to walk around the whole house in white clothes. She kept her one hand resting on her waist and the other hand was telling the beads of her rosary.The writer thinks of her as not very pretty but constantly beautiful all the time. He compares her calm face with the winter landscape. During their lengthy stay in the village, Grandmother woke him up from the bed in the early morning, plastered his wooden slate, organized his breakfast, and sent him to the school. The temple was connected to the school. She sat inside and studied the sacred texts while the children learned the alphabet.On their way back to the home she used to give the stale chapattis to the street dogs. A turning point in their beautiful relationship arrived when they went to live in a city. Despite the fact that they shared a room, their relationship started to grow apart. Now, the writer used to go to the city school on a school bus and studied subjects like English, Physics, mathematics and many more subjects that his grandmother could not understand at all.His grandmother could no longer go to school with him to send him. She felt upset that there was no teaching about God and scriptures at the city school. Instead, he was given music lessons, but she said nothing. She thought music was dreadful. It was just good for prostitutes and beggars, according to her. It was not intended for gentlemen.When the writer went to a university, he got a separate room in his house. The common link of the relationship between the grandson and the grandmother was broken now. Grandmother rarely talked to anyone in the house now. The writer’s grandmother quietly accepted her loneliness. She was constantly occupied with her spinning wheel and reciting prayers and she hardly ever spoke to anyone. She took a break in the afternoon. Her daily routine consisted of breaking bread into pieces and giving it to the birds. The birds would perch on her legs, head, and even her shoulders.When the writer was leaving on a trip abroad for his further studies, his grandmother did not get disturbed at all. Rather she went to the train station to say goodbye, but she didn’t say anything and merely kissed his forehead. Her lips were moving in prayer, her thoughts were consumed by prayer and her fingers were busy reciting the storey of the beads on her rosary. Seeing her grandmother at this old age, the writer was thinking that it might be his last meeting with his grandmother. But when he came back home after a duration of 5 years, his grandmother was there to welcome him back and he saw her celebrate his return.The next morning after the return of his grandson she got ill. Although the doctor told them that it was a slight fever and would go away very soon, still she could foresee that her time to leave this world was near. She did not want to waste her time talking to someone. Her fingers were busy reciting the storey of the beads on her rosary.She went to her bed praying and telling the beads till her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell down from her lifeless hand. Her body was discovered on the floor, wrapped in a red shawl after she died. To grieve her death, thousands of sparrows flew in and sat dispersed around her body. All the sparrows flew away without making any noise when the dead body of the old lady was carried away for the last rites.

In the following passage, the narrator reflects on his mother's character. Select the best evidence to support the statement "Photographs of the narrator's mother don't reflect her personality as he knew it." There may be more than one correct choice.She liked to make me laugh by calling herself an Okie even though she was as glossy and nervy and stylish as a racehorse. That exotic character unfortunately comes out a little too stark and unforgiving in photographs—her freckles covered with makeup, her hair pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of her neck like some nobleman in The Tale of Genji—and what doesn't come across at all is her warmth, her merry, unpredictable quality, which is what I loved about her most. It's clear, from the stillness she emanates in pictures, how much she mistrusted the camera; she gives off a watchful, tigerish air of steeling herself against attack.