Read the passage from “the beginnings of the maasai.”
neiterkob was confused at first. it was one thing for an eruption to send cows flying up into the sky, but it was another problem entirely to get them down to earth again. the wise god knew how to solve the problem. enkai grew a giant fig tree out on the plains. the tree grew rapidly, and its branches grew so high that they reached up into the heavens. one by one, enkai sent the cattle walking down branches of the fig tree, all the way down to the roots at the ground. my father and our people accepted the cattle and began to herd them with the sticks that enkai had given us. now, the rest of the tribe calls my father the “beginner of the earth” because he mediates between enkai and our tribe, just as he did when the cattle returned from the sky.
what does the passage explain?
a natural phenomenon
a people’s culture
the origin of a people
the reason for the weath

Which of the following sentences most clearly uses topical organization? a. do you have problems with mosquitoes and gnats? fabulous exterminators can ! b. we've gathered at this conference to discuss three things: poverty, war, and disease. c. killer bees have spread up from south america into mexico and the united states. d. first, gather all the painting supplies you need. next, lay them out on a work bench.

Which word best describes the author's tone in this excerpt from "that spot" by jack london? i don’t think much of stephen mackaye any more, though i used to swear by him. i know that in those days i loved him more than my own brother. if ever i meet stephen mackaye again, i shall not be responsible for my actions. it passes beyond me that a man with whom i shared food and blanket, and with whom i mushed over the chilcoot trail, should turn out the way he did. i always sized steve up as a square man, a kindly comrade, without an iota of anything vindictive or malicious in his nature. i shall never trust my judgment in men again. why, i nursed that man through typhoid fever; we starved together on the headwaters of the stewart; and he saved my life on the little salmon. and now, after the years we were together, all i can say of stephen mackaye is that he is the meanest man i ever knew. a. excited b. ironic c. indignant d. playful

Which line in this excerpt from the great gatsby by f. scott fitzgerald contains a simile? about half way between west egg and new york the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. this is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight.