Plunder we took, and we enslaved the women, to make division, equal shares to all— but on the spot I told them: 'Back, and quickly! Out to sea again!' My men were mutinous, fools, on stores of wine. Sheep after sheep they butchered by the surf, and shambling cattle, feasting,—while fugitives went inland, running to call to arms the main force of Cicones. Which is the most effective paraphrase of this excerpt? When Odysseus and his men arrived on the island of Cicones, they enslaved women and feasted on the sheep and cattle they had butchered by the sea. Although Odysseus tells his men that they need to return quickly to the ship, the men are too busy dividing their findings into equal shares for everyone. Odysseus warns his men to return to the ship, but many of the men did not listen and instead ran inland to see what else they could take for themselves. The men continued their acts of greed despite Odysseus’s commands to stop and return to the ship, and the fugitives of Cicones ran inland to fetch help.

free time is when all my homework and chores have been done for the day and i am "free" to do things that i enjoy doing.

usually i spend time watching television. as my favorite tv shows come on at specific times, i make sure that i finish my homework and chores well before the shows. otherwise i will have to miss them. mostly i manage to watch the shows but sometimes extra homework or chores may cause me to miss a show or two, but it is rare. anyhow if i know that i am definitely not able to catch a show in time, i will just set the video recorder to tape the show sothe evening when the weather is fine, i sometimes go for a stroll around the neighborhood with my friends. this is the time when most the neighbors have come home from work or school. we say hello to those whom we know. they are mostly friendly people and they acknowledge our greetings. once in a while we come upon unfriendly neighbors but we just ignore them and carry on. that i can watch it later.

i have learned a great many things from participating in varsity football. it has changed my entire outlook on and attitude toward life. before my freshman year at [high-school], i was shy, had low self-esteem and turned away from seemingly impossible challenges. football has altered all of these qualities. on the first day of freshman practice, the team warmed up with a game of touch football. the players were split up and the game began. however, during the game, i noticed that i didn't run as hard as i could, nor did i try to evade my defender and get open. the fact of the matter is that i really did not want to be thrown the ball. i didn't want to be the one at fault if i dropped the ball and the play didn't succeed. i did not want the responsibility of the team because i was too afraid of making a mistake. that aspect of my character led the first years of my high school life. i refrained from asking questions in class, afraid they might be considered too stupid or dumb by my classmates. all the while, i went to practice and everyday, i went home physically and mentally exhausted.

yet my apprehension prevailed as i continued to fear getting put in the game in case another player was injured. i was still afraid of making mistakes and getting blamed by screaming coaches and angry teammates. sometimes these fears came true. during my sophomore season, my position at backup guard led me to play in the varsity games on many occasions. on such occasions, i often made mistakes. most of the time the mistakes were not significant; they rarely changed the outcome of a play. yet i received a thorough verbal lashing at practice for the mistakes i had made. these occurrences only compounded my fears of playing. however, i did not always make mistakes. sometimes i made great plays, for which i was congratulated. now, as i dawn on my senior year of football and am faced with two starting positions, i feel like a changed person.

over the years, playing football has taught me what it takes to succeed. from months of tough practices, i have gained a hard work ethic. from my coaches and fellow teammates, i have learned to work well with others in a group, as it is necessary to cooperate with teammates on the playing field. but most important, i have also gained self-confidence. if i fail, it doesn't matter if they mock or ridicule me; i'll just try again and do it better. i realize that it is necessary to risk failure in order to gain success. the coaches have always said before games that nothing is impossible; i know that now. now, i welcome the challenge. whether i succeed or fail is irrelevant; it is only important that i have tried and tested myself.

the topic of this essay is how the applicant has matured and changed since his freshman year. he focuses on football. one of the strengths of this essay is that it is well organized. the applicant clearly put time into the structure and planning of this essay. he uses the platform of football to discuss and demonstrate his personal growth and development through the high school years. what he could have done better was spend more time describing himself after he made improvements. as it is, he only tells us about his newfound confidence and drive. this essay would have been stronger had he actually shown us, perhaps by including a story or describing an event where his confidence made a difference

explanation:

the purpose of the heading in the passage is to identify who is telling the story.

this excerpt is part of the book sugar changed the world (2010) written by marc aronson and marina budhos. as the book has been written by two people, the heading "marc" indicates that this specific excerpt is being narrated by aronson. in the fragment, marc describes his grandfather's story after hearing it from his cousin. however, there are other excerpts where budhos is the one that tells the story of her family.

aronson and budhos, who are husband and wife in real life, decided to write sugar changed the world when they found out how sugar, which had an important role in slavery and economy, changed their ancestors' lives.