Reading Comprehension · Grade 9

Name Date

Two Ways of Seeing a River

Memoir · 5 questions · 578 words

1 Now when I had mastered the language of this water and had come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition. But I had lost something, too. I had lost something which could never be restored to me while I lived. All the grace, the beauty, the poetry had gone out of the majestic river! I still keep in mind a certain wonderful sunset which I witnessed when steamboating was new to me. A broad expanse of the river was turned to blood; in the middle distance the red hue brightened into gold, through which a solitary log came floating, black and conspicuous; in one place a long, slanting mark lay sparkling upon the water; in another the surface was broken by boiling, tumbling rings, that were as many-tinted as an opal; where the ruddy flush was faintest, was a smooth spot that was covered with graceful circles and radiating lines, ever so delicately traced; the shore on our left was densely wooded, and the sombre shadow that fell from this forest was broken in one place by a long, ruffled trail that shone like silver; and high above the forest wall a clean-stemmed dead tree waved a single leafy bough that glowed like a flame in the unobstructed splendor that was flowing from the sun. …

2 I stood like one bewitched. I drank it in, in a speechless rapture. The world was new to me, and I had never seen anything like this at home. But as I have said, a day came when I began to cease from noting the glories and the charms which the moon and the sun and the twilight wrought upon the river's face; another day came when I ceased altogether to note them. Then, if that sunset scene had been repeated, I should have looked upon it without rapture, and should have commented upon it, inwardly, after this fashion: This sun means that we are going to have wind to-morrow; that floating log means that the river is rising, small thanks to it; that slanting mark on the water refers to a bluff reef which is going to kill somebody's steamboat one of these nights, if it keeps on stretching out like that; those tumbling "boils" show a dissolving bar and a changing channel there; the lines and circles in the slick water over yonder are a warning that that troublesome place is shoaling up dangerously; that silver streak in the shadow of the forest is the "break" from a new snag, and he has located himself in the very best place he could have found to fish for steamboats; that tall dead tree, with a single living branch, is not going to last long, and then how is a body ever going to get through this blind place at night without the friendly old landmark?

3 No, the romance and the beauty were all gone from the river. All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat. Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart. What does the lovely flush in a beauty's cheek mean to a doctor but a "break" that ripples above some deadly disease? … And doesn't he sometimes wonder whether he has gained most or lost most by learning his trade?

From Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain (1883) · Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) (1883)

Questions

Read the passage. Fill in the circle next to the best answer, or every box that fits when a question says "Choose all that are true". Name the paragraph that proves each answer.

  1. 1In paragraph 1, Twain says he "had made a valuable acquisition." What does "acquisition" mean here?

    • A mistake that cost him money
    • Something he had gained
    • A promise he had made
    • A trip he had taken

    Evidence: paragraph

  1. 2How does the long sentence that ends paragraph 2 relate to the sunset described in paragraph 1?

    • It describes a different sunset that Twain watched years later.
    • It revisits the same details and gives each a practical, often dangerous, meaning.
    • It adds new details of color that Twain left out of the first description.
    • It shows Twain teaching a passenger how to read the river's surface.

    Evidence: paragraph

  2. 3Which sentences support the claim that learning the river changed the way Twain saw it? Choose all that are true.

    More than one answer. Fill in every box that fits.

    • "I had lost something which could never be restored to me while I lived."
    • "I stood like one bewitched."
    • "This sun means that we are going to have wind to-morrow …"
    • "The world was new to me, and I had never seen anything like this at home."
    • "All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish …"

    Evidence: paragraph

  3. 4Why does Twain say that he has "pitied doctors" since his days on the river?

    • Doctors earn less than river pilots for work that is just as hard.
    • Doctors must work long nights, as pilots do on the river.
    • He thinks a doctor's training may spoil beauty for him, as Twain's did.
    • He believes most doctors do not know as much as they claim to know.

    Evidence: paragraph

  4. 5Which statement best expresses the central idea of the excerpt?

    • Mastering a skill can bring real value and also take away simple wonder.
    • River pilots must study sunsets closely in order to predict the weather.
    • The Mississippi River became far more dangerous to travel after steamboats began to use it.
    • Doctors and pilots should change careers if they stop enjoying their work.

    Evidence: paragraph