Примеры заданий секции Reading (фрагмент)

My grandfather has made crutches for me. These are sturdy crutches, just the right size. I am delighted with them and launch myself around the house on them. 

And I take a fall immediately. And continue falling several times a day, great splatting, knocking-into-furniture-and- breaking-things falls that cause everyone in the family to come running. My grandfather has forgotten to put rubber tips on the ends of my crutches. When we figure this out and buy the rubber tips and put them on the crutches, I stop falling. But by then the bone-set that was coming long nicely has slipped, and the doctor has ordered me back to the wheelchair.

The missing crutch-tips are the first clue I have to this peculiar family trait, one that for lack of any better term I must call "flawed competence." We Bryants are a family of able and clever people, industrious, intelligent, determined, and of good will. We are careful in our work. After all, my grandfather measured me on two occasions before he made the crutches. But we usually do something wrong. 

Four years later I become increasingly aware of "flawed competence" when I develop a plan for converting our old grown-over tennis court into a basketball court. My grandfather is always interested in plans, and in this planning session, we decide that he will make the hoops, and he will help me make the backboards. Clearing the ground and smoothing the surface will be my tasks. So I rip out honeysuckle and hatchet down a few little scrub cedars. We Bryants are known for setting our minds to things. 

1. The passage is written from the point of view of:

A.  an unidentified narrator observing the relationship over time between a boy and his grandfather. 

B. two members of the same family discovering their shared trait through joint activities.

C. a grown man agonizing over the mixed messages he received as a child from older relatives.

D. a boy and the man he becomes considering incidents that illustrate a family trait. 

2. Which of the following best describes the author's approach to presenting the story of the narrator's discovery about himself?

F. Revealing the narrator's self-awareness about a trait through a blend of personal reflection and scenes from the narrator's youth and adulthood

G. Starting immediately with a statement of the discovery in the narrator's voice and continuing with scenes that reveal how the discovery came about

H. Describing the physical details of scenes and summarizing their significance in a concluding statement in the narrator's voice

J. Using dialogue in the midst of scenes fraught with tension to indicate what the narrator is experiencing internally

3. Each of the three projects described in the passage reveals:

A. the increasing antagonism between the grandfather and grandson.

B. the errors the narrator makes and disapproval they bring from others.

C. that such incidents set the state for the Bryant family traits to emerge.

D. that the narrator is determined to avoid being ungrateful, hateful, or overly fastidious. 

4. The boy's approach to the task of converting the tennis court to  a basketball court can best be described as:

F. reluctant until his grandfather's plans inspire him.

G. enthusiastic until his grandfather's error puts them both in an awkward position.

H. apprehensive until he discovers his error is not a devastating one.

J. thrilled until he remembers that his grandfather is a poor planner.