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1 P r e s t w i c k H o s e, i n c. Central Ideas and Themes Central Ideas and Themes Reading Informational Texts: Nonfiction Passages and Exercises Based on the Sample Common Core State Standards Nonfiction Passages and Exercises Based on the Common Core State Standards Reading Informational Texts: Nonfiction Passages and Exercises Based on the Common Core State Standards Point of View Point of View Point o Logical Inferences Strctral Analysis Logical Inferences Strctral Analysis Logical Inferenc and Themes Technical, Connotative, and Figrative Meanings Technical, Connotative, and Figrative Meanings Technical, Connotat The Impact of Word Choices on Meaning and Tone The Impact of Word Choices on Meaning and Tone IV Delineating and Evalating Argments Delineating and Evalating Argments Delineating and Evalati Click here to learn more abot this By Magedah Shabo and Stacey MacPherson title! Learn more abot or Reading Informational Texts series. More from Prestwick Hose Literatre Literary Tochstone Classics Literatre Teaching Units Grammar and Writing College and Career Readiness: Writing Grammar for Writing Vocablary Vocablary Power Pls Vocablary from Latin and Greek Roots Reading Reading Informational Texts Reading Literatre

2 Reading Informational Texts: Nonfiction Passages and Exercises Based on the Common Core State Standards IV Prestwick Hose

3 Reading Selection Reading Informational Texts: Nonfiction Passages and Exercises Based on the Common Core State Standards IV TABLE OF CONTENTS READING SELECTIONS... 1 Sn Tz: The Art of War, Parts I-VII...2 Introdction... 4 Text...5 Vocablary Exercises...22 G. K. Chesterton: "The Fallacy of Sccess"...26 Introdction...28 Text...30 Vocablary...36 Exercises...38 Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chapter I ("The Rights and Involved Dties of Mankind Considered")...42 Introdction Text Vocablary...54 Exercises H. L. Mencken: The American Langage, Chapter I ("The Diverging Streams of English")...62 Introdction Text...65 Vocablary Exercises...71 Jstice John Marshall Harlan: Dissenting Opinion in the Case of Plessy v. Fergson...76 Introdction...78 Text...79 Vocablary Exercises...93 iii

4 Reading Selection: Sn Tz's The Art of War, Parts I-VII The Art of War Section I: Laying Plans 1. Sn Tz said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State. 2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to rin. Hence it is a sbject of inqiry which can on no accont be neglected. 3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into accont in one s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. 4. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline. 5. The Moral Law cases the people to be in complete accord with their rler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, ndismayed by any danger. 6. Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. 7. Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and secrity; open grond and narrow passes; the chances of life and death. 8. The Commander stands for the virtes of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, corage and strictness. 9. By method and discipline are to be nderstood the marshaling of the army in its proper sbdivisions, the gradations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which spplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditre. 10. These five heads shold be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorios; he who knows them not will fail. 11. Therefore, in yor deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise: 12. (1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbed with the Moral law? (2) Which of the two generals has most ability? Obtaining in the field is an archaic phrase. What do yo think it means? Rephrase the expression sing yor own words. Note the methodical strctre of the work. Sn Tz mentions five factors in point for, then develops each idea individally in points five throgh nine. Why is the Moral Law so crcial to scceeding in war? For example, what problems might reslt if it is not followed? Sn Tz ses several literary devices in point ten, inclding anaphora, and parallelism. Identify these literary devices and assess their effectiveness in the passage. Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a series of sccessive sentences or clases Parallelism: the repetition of similarly constrcted phrases, clases, or sentences within a short section of writing 5

5 BOOK IV Reading Informational Texts: Nonfiction Passages and Exercises Based on the Common Core State Standards 8. The following qestions are fond in the Commander s Tactical Handbook, pblished by the United States Marine Corps, in a section on evalating a plan: Does the defensive plan Allow for flexibility? Allow for proper se of terrain? Provide for mtal spport? Provide adeqate secrity measres? What similarities does this section of the manal have in common with The Art of War? Identify statements from The Art of War that agree with this plan. 9. Based on what Sn Tz writes, infer what he wold say abot the possible se of nclear weapons in a modern war. 24

6 Reading Selection: G. K. Chesterton's "The Fallacy of Sccess" mysticism; the horrible mysticism of money. The writer of that passage did not really have the remotest notion of how Vanderbilt made his money, or of how anybody else is to make his. He does, indeed, conclde his remarks by advocating some scheme; bt it has nothing in the world to do with Vanderbilt. He merely wished to prostrate himself before the mystery of a millionaire. For when we really worship anything, we love not only its clearness bt its obscrity. We exlt in its very invisibility. Ths, for instance, when a man is in love with a woman he takes special pleasre in the fact that a woman is nreasonable. Ths, again, the very pios poet, celebrating his Creator, takes pleasre in saying that God moves in a mysterios way. Now, the writer of the paragraph which I have qoted does not seem to have had anything to do with a god, and I shold not think (jdging by his extreme npracticality) that he had ever been really in love with a woman. Bt the thing he does worship Vanderbilt he treats in exactly this mystical manner. He really revels in the fact his deity Vanderbilt is keeping a secret from him. And it fills his sol with a sort of transport of cnning, an ecstasy of priestcraft, that he shold pretend to be telling to the mltitde that terrible secret which he does not know. Speaking abot the instinct that makes people rich, the same writer remarks In olden days its existence was flly nderstood. The Greeks enshrined it in the story of Midas, of the Golden Toch. Here was a man who trned everything he laid his hands pon into gold. His life was a progress amidst riches. Ot of everything that came in his way he created the precios metal. A foolish legend, said the wiseacres of the Victorian age. A trth, say we of to-day. We all know of sch men. We are ever meeting or reading abot sch persons who trn everything they toch into gold. Sccess dogs their very footsteps. Their life s pathway leads nerringly pwards. They cannot fail. Unfortnately, however, Midas cold fail; he did. His path did not lead nerringly pward. He starved becase whenever he toched a biscit or a ham sandwich it trned to gold. That was the whole point of the story, thogh the writer has to sppress it delicately, writing Note Chesterton s effective se of alliteration in the phrase, mysticism of money and, later, mystery of a millionaire and mystical manner. What is his main point? Alliteration: the repetition of sonds at the beginning of words Note Chesterton s contined se of religios imagery throghot the paragraph. What metaphor does he se to describe the writer of the article s opinion of Vanderbilt in the last sentence of the paragraph? Imagery: the descriptive se of words to evoke impressions or mental pictres Metaphor: a comparison of two things that are basically dissimilar in which one is described in terms of the other According to a 4th centry Roman accont of the myth, [M]idas, king of Lydia, swelled at first with pride when he fond he cold transform everything he toched to gold; bt when he beheld his food grow rigid and his drink harden into golden ice then he nderstood that this gift was a bane. 33

7 BOOK IV Reading Informational Texts: Nonfiction Passages and Exercises Based on the Common Core State Standards Introdction A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Pblished by British philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is considered by many to be one of the earliest and most inflential works of feminist thoght. Wollstonecraft s main argment throghot the book is that women deserve to be edcated so that they can flfill their dties as citizens and become valed members of society. She contends that the then-crrent power strctre discoraged and hindered women from exercising their fll capacity for virte and reason, attribtes that she believes are God-given and meant for all hman beings. In the first chapter of the book, which yo are abot to read, Wollstonecraft begins by establishing the fndamental capacities that distingish hman beings from all other animals. This introdction lays the grondwork for her argment that all people are eqal in the eyes of God, and are endowed by Him with certain basic rights. Since this is the case, she arges, any government or instittion in which an imbalance of power occrs is njst. According to Wollstonecraft, the first step toward a more advanced civilization with all hman beings as eqal members is to acknowledge the problematic natre of hierarchical systems and arbitrary power. As she emphatically states at one point dring the chapter, [T]he more eqality there is established among [hman beings], the more virte and happiness will reign in society. Mary Wollstonecraft Feminist writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft was born in London on April 27, Having endred an nstable early childhood de to an absive and financially irresponsible father, she left home at nineteen to live and work on her own. In 1784, she co-fonded a school in Newington Green, a Dissenting commnity in north London. In 1787, Wollstonecraft moved back to London with the goal of earning a living throgh writing. She soon fond a position with the liberal pblisher Joseph Johnson, translating French and German texts, and writing articles and reviews for Johnson s periodical the Analytical Review. Her first major work was A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790), a response to another writer s criticism of the French Revoltion. In the book, she attacks monarchical and aristocratic governments, while spporting repblicanism. As a writer, Wollstonecraft contined to advocate for hman rights and eqality, and, in 1792, pblished her most inflential work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. While in Paris after the pblication of that book, Wollstonecraft met Gilbert Imlay, an American, and the two began an affair. She became pregnant, and, in 1794, gave 44

8 BOOK IV Reading Informational Texts: Nonfiction Passages and Exercises Based on the Common Core State Standards Vocablary Note: All definitions are based on the context in which the term is sed in this reading selection. acqirement: skill; ability adventitios: random; accidental; not natral or intrinsic apostrophizing: speaking directly to something abstract, making it seem as if it were alive apotheosis: the elevation of something to divine stats; glorification aristocracy: government by an elite rling class arraign: to accse; to charge axioms: niversally accepted rles or principles banefl: harmfl; deadly benignity: kindness; goodness blasphemy: disrespect toward God or something generally held sacred; sacrilegios words or actions calmnies: slrs; inslts; malicios statements cant: insincere or meaningless talk caprice: a whim; implse celestial: relating to the sky or the heavens consecrated: made sacred or holy contagion: an illness or disease contemptible: shamefl; disgracefl contenance: otward appearance crate: a clergyman who assists a parish priest demi-gods: people with godlike attribtes despisers: haters despotism: a political system in which one rler holds absolte power deviations: variations; departres dispensations: things given ot, sally in shares or allotments eloqence: a skill in expressing oneself enamored: [enamored] in love with; captivated ensangined: covered or stained with blood eqipoise: balance; eqilibrim exalts: lifts; elevates exerts: pts (oneself) into effort or tiring action expedient: practical; sefl; beneficial fastidios: extremely concerned with accracy and detail gait: a manner of walking 54

9 BOOK IV Reading Informational Texts: Nonfiction Passages and Exercises Based on the Common Core State Standards Essay Qestion In 1789, Noah Webster predicted that certain cases wold prodce in a corse of time, a langage in North America as different from the ftre langage of England as the modern Dtch, Danish and Swedish are from the German, or from one another. According to Mencken, what two major factors did Webster fail to consider in his prediction? What recent developments can yo think of that wold make Webster s prediction even less likely to come tre today than in Mencken s time? Provide qotations from the text to spport yor answer. Answers may vary bt shold inclde some of the following points: 74

10 Reading Selection: Jstice John Marshall Harlan s Dissenting Opinion in the Case of Plessy v. Fergson pon retiring from the cortroom to conslt as to their verdict, sch partition, if it be a movable one, shall be taken to their consltation room, and set p in sch way as to prevent black jrors from coming too close to their brother jrors of the white race. If the partition sed in the cortroom happens to be stationary, provision cold be made for screens with openings throgh which jrors of the two races cold confer as to their verdict withot coming into personal contact with each other. I cannot see bt that, according to the principles this day annonced, sch state legislation, althogh conceived in hostility to, and enacted for the prpose of hmiliating, citizens of the United States of a particlar race, wold be held to be consistent with the Constittion. I do not deem it necessary to review the decisions of state corts to which reference was made in argment. Some, and the most important, of them, are wholly inapplicable, becase rendered prior to the adoption of the last amendments of the Constittion, when colored people had very few rights which the dominant race felt obliged to respect. Others were made at a time when pblic opinion, in many localities, was dominated by the instittion of slavery; when it wold not have been safe to do jstice to the black man; and when, so far as the rights of blacks were concerned, race prejdice was, practically, the spreme law of the land. Those decisions cannot be gides in the era introdced by the recent amendments of the spreme law, which established niversal civil freedom, gave citizenship to all born or natralized in the United States, and residing here, obliterated the race line from or systems of governments, national and state, and placed or free instittions pon the broad and sre fondation of the eqality of all men before the law. I am of the opinion that the statte of Loisiana is inconsistent with the personal liberty of citizens, white and black, in that state, and hostile to both the spirit and letter of the Constittion of the United States. If laws of like character shold be enacted in the several states of the Union, the effect wold be in the highest degree mischievos. Slavery, as an instittion tolerated by law, wold, it is tre, have disappeared The final sentence of the paragraph is a periodic sentence. Periodic Sentence: a sentence in which the most important material or word does not occr ntil the end Notice the verb/direct object constrction inclded in this sentence: established freedom, gave citizenship, obliterated the race line, and placed or instittions. What are some reasons for Harlan s not considering certain prior cort decisions? Using the Loisiana rling as a model, the states cold contine discriminating against citizens even thogh the Constittion prohibits it. Harlan, in wrapping p his dissent, concldes with antithetical wording: slavery and blessings of freedom; tolerated by law and disappeared from or contry; sinister legislation and fll enjoyment; legal inferiority and People of the United States. 89