The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" (with an excerpt from Life on the Mississippi)

15. In the following sentences, the underlined words share the same denotation: "feeling embarrassment or shame." Which underlined word has the most strongly negative connotation? Base your answer on context as well as on your knowledge of words. a. Erin felt abashed when she momentarily forgot her flute teacher's name. b. David was chagrined when he realized his grades were worse than expected. c. His parents' tendency to brag about their successes left Hector mortified. d. Isabel was always self-conscious when her English teacher asked her to read aloud.

C

17. Which standard English word could replace the underlined dialect word in the following excerpt from "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" without changing the meaning? "...I remember the big flume warn't finished when he first come to the camp...." a. warning b. warrant c. wasn't d. won't

C

The selection from Life on the Mississippi includes a description of an appren-tice engineer. In what way are the description of him and the description of Jim Smiley in "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" most similarly humorous? a. The narrators express envy for qualities that both characters have. b. Both characters appear to be eager to talk and tell longwinded stories. c. Both characters are described as show-offs who do their best to impress others. d. The narrators contrast both characters with other, more ordinary people they know.

C

Which of the following responses is most likely to occur when something is tedious? a. chuckles and belly laughs b. red faces and angry looks c. eye rolling and yawning d. tight lips and sniffing

C

Which of the following situations best illustrates the word buttonholed? a. The farmer fed the pigs a homemade mash. b. The sailor made sure that the hatch was secure. c. The senator cornered me and talked my ear off. d. The tailor repaired the collar of my best overcoat.

C

19. Think about the idiomatic expression in the following excerpt from "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." "[Smiley's dog] would grab that other dog ... and hang on till they throwed up the sponge...." What does the expression "throwed up the sponge" most likely indicate about the people watching the dog fight? a. They will call an end to the match. b. They will grab Smiley's dog and tie it up. c. They will bet more money on Smiley's dog. d. They will try to help the other dog beat Smiley's dog.

A

9. Read this sentence from "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair, and then sat down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph. Based on this excerpt, identify the narrator's most likely feeling about his situation. a. He feels trapped. b. He feels concerned. c. He feels focused and attentive. d. He feels amused and entertained.

A

How does a stranger cheat Smiley out of a bet on his frog in "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"? a. by filling Smiley's frog with lead shot b. by finding a frog that can beat Smiley's frog c. by replacing Smiley's frog with another, fatter frog d. by hiding Smiley's frog when Smiley goes to catch another frog

A

In "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," why does Smiley act indifferently when the stranger asks him about Dan'l Webster? a. Smiley is hoping to persuade the stranger to bet on how well Dan'l can jump. b. Dan'l looks as if he has something wrong with him, and Smiley is worried. c. Smiley is busy trying to teach Dan'l to jump, and the stranger interrupts. d. Simon Wheeler has cheated on a bet, and Smiley is angry about it.

A

The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B. Part A Which of the following words has the closest denotation to scheme, meaning "a plan or design"? a. strategy b. tangent c. theme d. game Part B Which statement best expresses the difference in connotation between scheme and its synonym in Part A? a. A scheme seems more warlike than its synonym. b. A scheme seems more deceptive than its synonym. c. A scheme seems less recreational than its synonym. d. A scheme seems more harmonious than its synonym.

AB

22. In what ways are the narrative presentations in the selection from Life on the Mississippi and "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" similar? Choose two options. a. Both narratives have first-person narrators. b. Both narratives contain shifting points of view. c. Both narrators frequently use incongruity and hyperbole. d. Both narrators honor and respect the characters in their narratives. e. Both narrators frame their narratives with autobiographical reflections.

AC

14. In "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which plot point is part of the frame story? a. the trick that a stranger plays on Jim Smiley b. the narrator's introduction to Simon Wheeler c. Jim Smiley's initial training of Dan'l Webster d. Simon Wheeler's description of the "fifteen-minute nag"

B

18. Which standard English word could replace the underlined dialect word in the following excerpt from "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" without changing the meaning? "He ketched a frog one day, and took him home...." a. catch b. caught c. ketchup d. sketched

B

6. If you consider one of your friends to be garrulous, which of the following is most likely to be true? a. You hide the cookies whenever she visits. b. You expect not to get a word in when she talks. c. You keep your wallet close to you when she is near. d. You wear plain clothes in hopes that she will take a hint.

B

1. Which of the following choices best describes Jim Smiley in "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"? a. bored and annoyed b. gentle and tranquil c. clever and competitive d. suspicious and aggressive

C

10. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B. Part A In "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," what is one key feature of Simon Wheeler's storytelling? a. He acts out all of his story's characters. b. He uses very formal language. c. He includes irrelevant details. d. He is specific and precise. Part B Which of these quotations from "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" best illustrates the answer to Part A? a. [T]here couldn't be no solit'ry thing mentioned but that feller'd offer to bet on it.... b. [H]e would be there reg'lar to bet on Parson Walker, which he judged to be the best exhorter about here and so he was too, and a good man. c. Smiley always come out winner on that pup, till he harnessed a dog once that didn't have no hind legs.... d. And when it come to fair and square jumping on a dead level, he could get over more ground at one straddle than any animal of his breed you ever see.

CB

11. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B. Part A In "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," what does the narrator observe about Simon Wheeler? a. Wheeler is pompous and stuffy. b. Wheeler is critical of others. c. Wheeler is dull but earnest. d. Wheeler is utterly foolish. Part B Which of these quotations from "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" best illustrates the answer to Part A? a. [H]e would go to work and bore me to death with some exasperating reminiscence of him as long and as tedious as it should be useless to me. b. I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the barroom stove of the dilapidated tavern in the decayed mining camp of Angel's, and I noticed that he was fat and baldheaded, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. c. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he tuned his initial sentence.... d. [A]ll through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which showed me plainly that, so far from his imagining that there was anything ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter....

CD

12. Which incongruity makes the opening paragraph of "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" humorous? a. the inconsistent way in which the narrator mixes formal language and informal dialect b. the absurd change in the narrator's attitude from strong belief to disbelief in the existence of Simon Wheeler c. the contrast between the narrator's friend who lives in the East and the characters whom the narrator meets out West d. the difference between the friend's everyday request for information and the narrator's suspicion that his friend wants him to be bored to death

D

2. In "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," the reader is led to believe that Andrew Jackson, the fighting dog, lost his last fight because of which factor? a. a thrown sponge b. his own stupidity c. the other dog's superior strength d. a broken spirit after being tricked

D

20. In "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," what does Twain mean when he writes that Jim Smiley occasionally would bring Dan'l Webster down-town and "lay for a bet"? a. Jim Smiley would talk about betting for a while. b. Jim Smiley would lie down and sleep before betting. c. Jim Smiley would immediately put money on the frog. d. Jim Smiley would wait for someone to make a bet with him.

D

5. How does "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" end? a. Wheeler admits that he never met anyone named Leonidas Smiley. b. The narrator thanks Wheeler for the information about Leonidas Smiley. c. Wheeler tells the narrator about the adventures of Smiley's one-eyed cow. d. Wheeler starts another Smiley story that the narrator does not stay to hear.

D

13. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B. Part A In "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," what is the main effect of hyperbole? a. to communicate emotions b. to emphasize greatness c. to contrast qualities d. to add humor Part B Which of these sentences from "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" best illustrates the answer to Part A? a. I added that if Mr. Wheeler could tell me anything about this Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, I would feel under many obligations to him. b. [W]ell, there was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of '49—or maybe it was the spring of '50—I don't recollect exactly, somehow, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume warn't finished when he first come to the camp. c. If he even see a straddle bug start to go anywheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get to—to wherever he was going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that straddle bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road. d. Well, Smiley kep' the beast in a little lattice box, and he used to fetch him downtown sometimes and lay for a bet.

DC