Read the passage. story adapted from The Odyssey, BOOK IX
by Homer

The cave had looked like a promising place, awash with food and drink aplenty. It was empty, so Odysseus suggested that they wait for its owner to return, hoping for a hospitable inhabitant. The soldiers advised against this, but Odysseus insisted. Not long after, they discovered that their host was the quite inhospitable Cyclops, who proceeded to trap them in the cave by blocking the entrance with an enormous rock.

Many of Odysseus’s men had suggested ending the beast’s life, but that would leave them trapped in the cave. Even if they all worked together, they would not have the strength to remove the boulder from the cave’s opening.

For the past few days, Odysseus had observed the one-eyed monster. He had noticed that every morning, the Cyclops removed the rock from the cave’s opening to let out his flock of sheep before replacing it to keep Odysseus and his men confined inside.

"We will blind the monster. Then, we’ll use his own sheep to aid us in our escape,” Odysseus explained to his crew. “I have noticed that the males are fully grown and have thick black wool. We can tie three of them together. Then, we can hide a man under the belly of the middle animal. This way, he’ll be able to pass by the Cyclops unnoticed.”

Once the monster had fallen asleep, Odysseus blinded the Cyclops. The beast cried out in pain but then drifted back into slumber as the soldiers had shared their strong mead with him that night.

Odysseus and the men worked all night to make sure there were three sheep for each man. Once his crew was hidden, Odysseus leapt onto the remaining sheep—a ram that was finer than all the others. Then, he wiggled his way underneath the animal, concealing himself in the dark wool hanging below the ram’s belly.

As dawn approached, the men were fearful that the plan would not succeed, but they knew they must carry on if they hoped to escape the Cyclops’s lair. When the sun rose above the horizon, the Cyclops awoke and opened the cave entrance for his flock. Despite his pain, the Cyclops felt the back of each animal as it stood up and left the cave. He was not aware that the men were hidden beneath their bellies.

As the last sheep went out, the fine ram concealing Odysseus, the Cyclops grabbed hold of the animal.

“My good ram, why are you last today? You never let the others go ahead of you,” the Cyclops mused aloud. “You’re usually the one leading the rest—whether it is to go out and eat in the morning, or it is to come home at night.”

Odysseus held his breath; would they be discovered? But to his relief, the monster let the ram go out to the pasture with the other sheep. Finally, when they were far enough from the cave, Odysseus let go of the ram’s belly and helped his men to do the same. They drove the sheep to their awaiting ship, and once all men and animals were on board, the soldiers cried in relief at their narrow escape.

Odysseus signaled for them to hush. He realized that they were still in range of the Cyclops’s hearing. The men understood and quickly began to row the ship out to sea.

But Odysseus could not resist taunting the Cyclops from the deck of the ship. “Cyclops,” Odysseus shouted, “you did wrong by trapping us, and now the gods have punished you.”

The Cyclops grew furious. In his rage, he ripped off the top of a mountain and hurled it toward the sound of Odysseus’s voice. The piece of the earth plunged into the water just in front of the ship. This caused a wave that carried the ship back toward the Cyclops's land.

Odysseus picked up a long stick and quickly drove it into the sea to stop the motion of the ship. He nodded his head toward the men, indicating that they must row for their lives, which they did.

Odysseus was so angry he could not resist insulting the Cyclops further. “Monster,” he yelled, “if anyone asks you how you lost your sight, you can tell them that it was I, the valiant warrior Odysseus.”

The Cyclops grabbed a giant piece of land, even larger than the first, and threw it with all his might. This time, the wave it caused drove the ship toward the island, where the rest of the soldiers were anxiously awaiting Odysseus’s return.
A theme from the story adapted from The Odyssey, Book IX is that sometimes it is better to be clever than strong.

How is this theme developed in the story?

A: Odysseus and his soldiers all together are no match for the strength of Cyclops.

B: Odysseus comes up with a plan to outsmart Cyclops when his soldiers are unable to free them from the cave.

C: Odysseus taunts Cyclops as he and his soldiers are escaping from the cave after freeing themselves.

D: Odysseus refuses to take his soldiers' advice to leave before they are discovered.

Acommunity park it was friday, and as she walked home from school, samara thought about what she would do that weekend. everyone would be at the fund-raiser for new sports equipment at the high school on saturday. as she was trying to remember if any good movies were coming out this weekend, she noticed a group of kids playing tag. samara thought they looked comical running around in circles on a small plot of land between two houses. “well, they certainly seem happy,” thought samara as the light turned and she crossed the street. on the opposite side of cherry street, samara saw mr. peters sitting on a bench. he was reading his newspaper as the heavy traffic of the town’s main thoroughfare whizzed by him. she wondered how he could concentrate. later, as she took the last turn onto her street, samara saw her neighbor planting her annual vegetable garden. every year, mrs. yang grew eggplant, cucumbers, and bok choy, because that’s all she had room for. “the garden looks good so far, mrs. yang,” samara called. “ you, dear,” mrs. yang said. “you know, if i had room, i would plant enough vegetables to feed the entire neighborhood! my mother had a garden that was one square acre when i was a little girl in korea.” as samara nodded and waved goodbye, she started thinking about what she had seen on her walk home that day. she realized that pine grove did not have any open public spaces where everyone could go to relax and enjoy nature. the only unused space was a vacated plot on cedar avenue that was completely overgrown. suddenly, samara had a great idea. she decided to spend her summer campaigning for a new community park. the only problem was that she had no idea where to start. that evening, she went to the library and learned about what she would need to do in order to get the idea in front of the town zoning board. it was all a little intimidating, but wanda, the reference librarian, samara break it down into manageable steps. when samara mentioned the cedar avenue plot, wanda’s eyes lit up. “that is a perfect spot,” wanda said. “it’s right in the middle of town, and better yet, the town owns it.” samara spent many afternoons over the next few weeks at the library with wanda and a few other librarians drawing up a detailed plan to present to town officials. samara and the librarians even planned and priced out irrigation necessary for the area that was designated as a garden. when the day of the zoning board meeting arrived, samara felt nervous, but wanda and the other librarians were there for moral support. samara thought she at least sounded confident as she presented her idea to the board. when she finished her presentation, she was ready to wait patiently for an answer; wanda told her that this kind of decision might take weeks, so samara was surprised when the board members asked her to stay while they deliberated. the president of the board explained that samara’s presentation had been the last order of business for the day, and he wanted his board to be able to agree on one thing before they left. after about 15 minutes, samara was informed that the community park had been approved. samara had been telling her neighbors and friends about the park from the moment she thought of it, and it seemed as though everyone wanted to be a part of making her vision a reality. as soon as her idea was approved, samara called a meeting for anyone interested in collaborating. at the meeting, residents voted on what would be included on the land: a playset for young children and one for older children, a swing set, several park benches, and a dog run. it was also decided that there would be a cooperative organic vegetable garden and an herb garden at the north end of the park. residents agreed that mrs. yang would manage the gardens. at wanda’s suggestion, samara asked a representative from a nearby horticultural society to come and advise the group on the design of the park, the best native shrubs to plant, and where to put them. samara also asked local businesses to sponsor the park by the square foot so that the community would be able to afford equipment and plants. surprised by the response, samara went to the bank to open an account where the surplus would be saved for next spring. in a few weeks’ time, the space had been cleared and residents were beginning to roll out sod and plant small vegetable plants and summer flowers. by midsummer, the community was able to enjoy the new, peaceful space. samara was happy to have been part of creating not only a beautiful space, but a common area where residents could come together. which conclusions can be drawn from the last paragraph of this story? select each correct answer. a.wanda is eager to begin gardening with samara and mrs.yang. b.samara's family proudly joins the park staff. c.samara feels a sense of accomplishment. d.samara will run a workshop for less-experienced gardeners. e.business owners in pine grove support its beautification.