Read the speech and answer the questions.
from "The President's Speech to Students"
(1) You’re this country’s future. You’re young leaders. And whether we fall behind or race ahead as a nation is going to depend in large part on you. So I want to talk to you a little bit about meeting that responsibility.
(2) It starts, obviously, with being the best student that you can be. Now, that doesn’t always mean that you have to have a perfect score on every assignment. It doesn’t mean that you’ve got to get straight As all the time—although that’s not a bad goal to have. It means that you have to stay at it. You have to be determined and you have to persevere. It means you’ve got to work as hard as you know how to work. And it means that you’ve got to take some risks once in a while. You can’t avoid the class that you think might be hard because you’re worried about getting the best grade if that’s a subject that you think you need to prepare you for your future. You’ve got to wonder. You’ve got to question. You’ve got to explore. And every once in a while, you need to color outside of the lines.
(3) That's what school is for: discovering new passions, acquiring new skills, making use of this incredible time that you have to prepare yourself and give yourself the skills that you’re going to need to pursue the kind of careers that you want. And that’s why when you’re still a student you can explore a wide range of possibilities. One hour you can be an artist; the next, an author; the next, a scientist, or a historian, or a carpenter. This is the time where you can try out new interests and test new ideas. And the more you do, the sooner you’ll figure out what makes you come alive, what stirs you, what makes you excited—the career that you want to pursue. . .
(4) So that’s a big part of your responsibility, to test things out. Take risks. Try new things. Work hard. Don’t be embarrassed if you’re not good at something right away. You’re not supposed to be good at everything right away. That's why you’re in school. The idea, though, is that you keep on expanding your horizons and your sense of possibility. Now is the time for you to do that. And those are also, by the way, the things that will make school more fun.
(5) Down the road, those will be the traits that will help you succeed, as well—the traits that will lead you to invent a device that makes an iPad look like a stone tablet. Or what will help you figure out a way to use the sun and the wind to power a city and give us new energy sources that are less polluting. Or maybe you’ll write the next great American novel. . . .
(6) But I also want to emphasize this: With all the challenges that our country is facing right now, we don’t just need you for the future; we actually need you now. America needs young people’s passion and their ideas. We need your energy right now. I know you’re up to it because I’ve seen it. Nothing inspires me more than knowing that young people all across the country are already making their marks. They're not waiting. They're making a difference now. . . .
Question 1
Which of the following words or phrases provide the best context to determine the meaning of "pursue" as it is used in paragraph 3 of the passage?(1 point)
Responses
"...kind of careers that you want."
"...kind of careers that you want."
"...with being the best student you can be..."
"...with being the best student you can be..."
"...determined..."
"...determined..."
"...work as hard as you know how to work."
"...work as hard as you know how to work."
Question 2
Which of the following words could replace responsibility in the following sentence to retain the original meaning but add a more serious/formal connotation
? (1 point)
"So that’s a big part of your responsibility, to test things out."
Responses:
role
obligation
duty
Question 1: The phrase "kind of careers that you want" provides the best context to determine the meaning of "pursue" in paragraph 3 of the passage. This is because it indicates that the speaker is talking about the careers that the students desire and want to pursue.
Question 2: The word "obligation" could replace "responsibility" in the sentence to retain the original meaning but add a more serious/formal connotation.