The midnight news
by jon caswell
say good-bye to the pupfish,
he’s gone and hardly missed;
no one knows why he deserves it,
he just no longer exists.
without knowing the pupfish at all,
he is gone and surely forgotten:
no fins waving in the current,
his bubbly breath stamped forbidden.
the fish-counting scientist insisted
there were no survivors.
but of what were there no survivors?
our toilets flushed into their living rooms?
fish-counting divers?
say good-bye to the fishpup,
ignoble and scaly dish
that lived into the twentieth century
when men couldn’t talk to fish.
in the way we think about nature,
it’s just another kink,
someone—pupfish, man or eagle—
has to become extinct.

which line from the poem most clearly expresses its theme that human activity causes animals to become extinct?
a.
"no one knows why he deserves it"
b.
"when men couldn't talk to fish"
c.
"there were no survivors"
d.
"he is gone and surely forgotten"

1. drag the central argument paine presents and its two claims to complete the chart. argument claims america may have flourished more had it not been under the power of any european country. america may have flourished under britain in the past, but there is no guarantee that it will continue to flourish in the future. america will continue to flourish as long as the essential food products it sells are bought and eaten in europe. the american colonies will no longer flourish when britain makes war against them. britain's king has shown himself to be prejudiced against the colonies, rather than wanting them to flourish.

2.select the sentence in this passage that can be classified as a false statement.

although few humans per year are attacked by polar bears, any individual attack can be terrifying and even fatal. the warming of arctic regions has allowed the intrusion of humans into the polar bears’ habitat, increasing the danger of harmful contacts. remaining alert and using precautions can humans avoid a negative encounter with a polar bear. traveling together and staying close to the group can humans avoid bear attacks. certain weapons, including nonlethal ones such as pepper spray, are effective against polar bears. once a bear has decided to attack, however, nothing can be done.

3.select the sentence in this passage that demonstrates the fallacy of making an extreme either-or claim.

the civil war was the bloodiest conflict in the history of the united states. more than 600,000 soldiers lost their lives. the fighting took place in many different cities and throughout the countryside. the wounded often suffered acute pain while in the field hospitals. they all should have asked for better care. william hammond, the surgeon general of the union army, created a new system of sanitary field care. if people do not accept hammond as the most important person from the civil war, they have no understanding of the war.

many battles and wars (such as the one at gettysburg), are commemorated by statues or monuments, with some areas preserved as monuments and national parks. do you think this contradicts the message of "grass"? in at least 200 words, explain your thinking and cite evidence from the poem to support your opinion.