Passage 1
adapted from The Swiss Family Robinson
I calculated the angle subtended1 by the trunk of the tree from the ground to the root of the branch. This done, I was able to discover the height required, and to the astonishment of the younger children, I announced that we should henceforth live thirty feet above the ground. This I wanted to know so that I might construct a ladder of the necessary length.
Telling Fritz to collect all our cord and the others to roll all the twine into a ball, I sat down and taking the reeds, speedily manufactured half a dozen arrows. I then took a strong bamboo, bent it, and strung it so as to form a bow. When the boys saw what I had done, they were delighted and begged to have the pleasure of firing the first shot.
"Now boys," I said, "I am going to fire the first shot," and I fastened one end of the thread to one of my arrows and aimed at a large branch above me. The arrow flew upward and bore the thread over the branch and fell at our feet. Thus, the first step in our undertaking was accomplished. Now for the rope ladder!
Fritz had obtained two coils of cord, each about forty feet in length, and these we stretched on the ground side by side. Then, Fritz cut the bamboos into pieces of two feet for the steps of the ladder, and as he handed them to me, I passed them through knots, which I had prepared in the ropes, while Jack fixed each end with a nail driven through the wood. When the ladder was finished, I carried over the bough a rope by which it might be hauled up. This done, I fixed the lower end of the ladder firmly to the ground by means of stakes, and all was ready for an ascent. The boys, who had been watching me with intently, were each eager to be first.
1. extended
Passage 2
adapted from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
In this half-circle, I pitched two rows of strong stakes, driving them into the ground till they stood very firm like piles, the biggest end being out of the ground above five feet and a half and sharpened on the top. The two rows did not stand above six inches from one another.
Then I took the pieces of cable, which I had cut on the ship, and laid them in rows, one upon another, within the circle, between these two rows of stakes, up to the top, placing other stakes in the inside, leaning against them, about two feet and a half high, like a spur to a post. This fence was so strong that neither man nor beast could get into it or over it. This cost me a great deal of time and labor, especially to cut the piles in the woods, bring them to the place, and drive them into the earth.
The entrance into this place I made to be, not by a door, but by a short ladder to go over the top. This ladder, when I was in, I lifted over after me, and so I was completely fenced in and fortified, as I thought, from all the world.
When I had done this, I began to work my way into the rock, and bringing all the earth and stones that I dug down out through my tent, I laid them up within my fence, in the nature of a terrace, so that it raised the ground within about a foot and a half. Thus, I made me a cave, just behind my tent, which served me like a cellar to my house.
5
Which line from "The Swiss Family Robinson" would Crusoe in "The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" empathize with most?
A.
"This I wanted to know so that I might construct a ladder of the necessary length."
B.
"The boys, who had been watching me with intently, were each eager to be first."
C.
"I calculated the angle subtended by the trunk of the tree from the ground to the root of the branch."
D.
"The arrow flew upward and bore the thread over the branch and fell at our feet."
A. "This I wanted to know so that I might construct a ladder of the necessary length."
Crusoe would empathize with this line because he also had to construct shelters and tools to protect himself and survive in his island environment. The idea of needing to calculate and construct something, like a ladder, would resonate with his own experiences of building and creating necessary items for survival.