Have you ever thought you understood a person based on a story that you have heard about them? have you ever guessed about a person's personal life because of the clothes they wore? or, have you judged a person because of their friends? although classifying people in this way is typically discouraged, authors deliberately use your preconceived ideas to you form an opinion about the character or to at least have a better understanding. can you think of a time that you made a character call about someone based on external aspects? were you correct, or incorrect? has anyone ever made an incorrect assessment of you based on external aspects? write two paragraphs about it in your journal.

The “big dig” the “big dig” (the central artery/tunnel project) has been complex and challenging. located in boston, massachusetts, this tunnel is eight lanes wide and three-and-a-half miles long. what is most amazing about this tunnel is that it is constructed under a major highway and skyscrapers located in boston’s financial district. construction crews used “clamshell excavators” during this dig. these machines carved narrow trenches, and then a special substance was pumped into the trench to keep the dirt from caving in. finally, steel beams were lowered into the trench and concrete was pumped in. one problem that engineers faced while constructing the tunnel is the fact that the soil beneath boston is extremely loose and soggy. engineers solved this dilemma by freezing the soil and pumping very cold water into pipes beneath the city. to strengthen the soil even further, a special type of glue was injected into the ground to with the consolidation of the soil. 23 which phrase best defines the word excavator as used in the passage? a. a device used to measure underground temperatures b. a device used to level uneven surfaces c. a device used to move heavy objects d. a device used to dig holes

In the first line of the poem, the poet likens himself to a natural object, a cloud. in contrast, the last line of the second stanza, "tossing their heads in sprightly dance," personifies daffodils, which are natural objects. what do these two devices together suggest?

Consider the text and its central idea. informational text: one privilege that many teens look forward to is the ability to earn a driver’s license. driver’s licensing requirements are not the same in every state. in some states, young people can be fully licensed before their sixteenth birthday. in other states, the privilege to drive has some restrictions until the driver is eighteen years old. in every state, driver education is a required step in earning a license. students might earn a permit, or provisional license, and spend six months to a year driving with an adult in the car. since states are very different based on population, development, and roadways, the laws are different, too. central idea: states makes different laws about licensing drivers with some similar requirements. what supporting detail is most important to include in a summary of this text? teens get excited about learning to drive. in some states, kids can get their license on their birthday. some states are heavily populated, with dangerous roads to navigate. every state includes driver education as part of licensing requirements.