Diagnostic Test 57

Essay Question 2 (Suggested time—40 minutes)

The passage below, adapted from an essay written in 1920 by A.A. Milne, is a mock-serious reflection on the passing of summer. Read it carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how the rhetorical strategies that Milne uses reveal the speaker's personality and values.

Last night the waiter put the celery on with the cheese, and I knew that summer was indeed dead. Other signs of autumn there may be—the red­dening of the leaf, the chill in the early-morning air, the misty evenings—

Line but none of these comes home to me so truly. There may be cool mornings (5) in July; in a year of drought the leaves may change before their time; it is

only with the first celery that summer is over. . . .

There is a crispness about celery that is the essence of October. It is as fresh and clean as a rainy day after a spell of heat. It crackles pleasantly in the mouth. Moreover, it is excellent, I am told, for the complexion. One is

(10) always hearing of things which are good for the complexion, but there is no doubt that celery stands high on the list. After the burns and freckles of summer one is in need of something. How good that celery should be there at one's elbow. . . .

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness," said Keats, not actually pick-(15) ing out celery in so many words, but plainly including it in the general

blessings of autumn. Yet, what an opportunity he missed by not concentrat­ing on that precious root. Apples, grapes, and nuts he mentions specially— how poor a selection! For apples and grapes are not typical of any month, so ubiquitous are they, while as for nuts, have we not a national song which

(20) asserts distinctly, "Here we go gathering nuts in May"? Season of mists and mellow celery, then let it be. A pat of butter underneath the bough, a wedge of cheese, a loaf of bread and—Thou.

How delicate are the tender shoots that unfold layer by layer. Of what a whiteness is the last baby one of all, of what a sweetness his flavor. It is well

(25) that this should be the last rite of the meal so that we may go straight on to the business of the pipe. Celery demands a pipe rather than a cigar, and it can be eaten better in an inn or a London tavern than in the home.

Yes, and it should be eaten alone, for it is the only food which one really wants to hear oneself eat. Besides, in company one may have to consider

(30) the wants of others. Celery is not a thing to share with any man. Alone in your country inn you may call for celery; but if you are wise you will see that no other traveler wanders into the room. Take warning from one who has learnt a lesson. One day I lunched alone at an inn, finishing with cheese and celery. Another traveler came in and lunched too. We did not speak—

(35) I was busy with my celery. From the other end of the table he reached across for the cheese. That was all right! It was the public cheese. But he also reached across for the celery—my private celery for which I owed. Foolishly—you know how one does—I had left the sweetest and crispest shoots till the last, tantalizing myself pleasantly with the thought of them.

(40) Horror! To see them snatched from me by a stranger. He realized later what

58 AP English Language and Composition he had done and apologized, but of what good is an apology under such cir­cumstances? Yet at least the tragedy was not without its value. Now one remembers to lock the door.

Line I can face the winter with calm. I suppose I had forgotten what it was (45) really like. I had been thinking of the winter as a horrid, wet, dreary time

fit only for professional football. Now I can see other things—crisp and sparkling days, long pleasant evenings, cheery fires. Good work shall be done this winter. Life shall be lived well, The end of the summer is not the end of the world. Here's to October—and, waiter, some more celery.

Essay Question 3 (Suggested time—40 minutes)

The two passages below comment on the state of American society during the early 1960s. Read the passages carefully. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the specific stylistic and rhetorical differences between the two passages, paying particu­lar attention to how the two authors present themselves to the reader.

PASSAGE A

When a man, a business corporation, or an entire society is approaching bankruptcy, there are two courses that those involved can follow: they can evade the reality of their situation and act on a frantic, blind, rage-of-the-

Line moment expediency—not daring to look ahead, wishing no one would (5) name the truth, yet desperately hoping that something will save them

somehow—or they can identify with the situation, check their premises, discover their hidden assets, and start rebuilding.

America, at present, is following the first course. The grayness, the stale cynicism, the noncommittal cautiousness, the guilty evasiveness of our

(10) public voices suggest the attitude of the courtiers in the story "The Emperor's New Clothes" who have professed admiration for the Emperor's nonexistent garments, having accepted the assertion that anyone who failed to perceive them was morally depraved at heart.

Let me be the child in the story and declare that the Emperor is naked— (15) or that America is culturally bankrupt.

Diagnostic Test 59 PASSAGE B

Great movements and forces, springing from deep wells, have converged at this midcentury point, and I suspect we have barely begun to comprehend what has happened and why. In the foreground is the mortal contest with

Line world communism, which is apparent, if the means of dealing with it are not (5) always apparent. But in the background are the opaque, moving forms and

shadows of a world revolution, of which communism is more the scavenger than the inspiration; a world in transition from an age with which we are familiar to an age shrouded in mist. We Americans have to deal with both the foreground and the background of this troubled, anxious age.

(10) It is easy to state our ends, our goals, but it is hard to fit them to our means. Every day, for example, politicians, of which there are plenty, swear eternal devotion to the ends of peace and security. They always remind me of the elder Holmes' apostrophe to a katydid: "Thou say'st an undisputed thing in such a solemn way." And every day statesmen, of which there are a few, must

(15) struggle with limited means to achieve these unlimited ends, both in fact and in understanding. For the nation's purposes always exceed its means, and it is finding a balance between means and the ends that is the heart of foreign pol­icy and that makes it such a speculative, uncertain business.

A N S W E R K E Y F O R S E L F - A S S E S S M E N T

Answers to Multiple-Choice Questions

1. D 12. B 23. E 34. D 45. D 2. E 13. D 24. C 35. C 46. C 3. C 14. C 25. D 36. E 47. E 4. A 15. B 26. B 37. B 48. A 5. B 16. C 27. A 38. C 49. A 6. D 17. A 28. E 39. A 50. A 7. A 18. D 29. C 40. A 51. D 8. B 19. C 30. B 41. E 52. D 9. C 20. A 31. E 42. B 53. C

10. D 21. D 32. E 43. C 54. B 11. D 22. B 33. C 44. C 55. D

Summary of Answers in Section 1 (Multiple-Choice) Number of correct answers

Use this information when you calculate your score on this exam. See page 71.

Answer Explanations Section 1 Multiple-Choice Questions Passage 1: Richard Maxwell Brown, "Historical Patterns of Violence In America."