He was born in Bercy on the outskirts of Paris and trained in France, and while he knows a little poodle?English, he responds quickly only to commands in French. Otherwise he has to translate, and that slows him down. He is a very big poodle, of a color called bleu, and he is blue when he is clean. Charley is a born diplomat. He prefers negotiation to fighting, and properly so, since he is very bad at fighting. Only once in his ten years has he been in trouble – when he met a dog who refused to negotiate. Charley lost a piece of his right ear that time. But he is a good watch dog – has a roar like a lion, designed to conceal from night-wandering strangers the fact that he couldn't bite his way out of a cornet de papier. He is a good friend and traveling companion, and would rather travel about than anything he can imagine. —Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck

Use your own words to describe Charley and explain why you think Steinbeck gives such a detailed description of his dog.

Me which theme is developed by the changing relationship between the narrator and his daughter in this excerpt ? as she grew older, she spent more of her time with girls. so much time indeed did she spend with them that she came no more, as she used to do, to her father’s room. i was scarcely on speaking terms with her. when mini and her father stop communicating, it develops the theme that children should not speak unless spoken to. as mini becomes more independent, it develops the theme that parents must learn to let go as their children grow up. as mini spends more time with friends, it develops the theme that young people are more influenced by peers than by parents. when mini and her father see each other far less often, it develops the theme that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Returning from vietnam, we were indeed given a parade. crowds of screaming people waving signs — not just on one road, one day. no, they were everywhere. every day. on the streets, on the television, on the radio. a hot, angry tangle of shaking fists and ugly words that threatened us like a monster with a hundred heads. our country had chewed us up and spit us out, and now we were being treated as if it were our fault. what is one way the author's use of language contributes to the tone of this passage? a. the use of figurative language creates a feeling of resentment. b. the phrase "hot, angry tangle" is used sarcastically to create irony. c. the word "parade" is used sarcastically to create a lighthearted mood. d. the parallelism draws attention to the confusion of those returning.

Read the excerpt from "the storyteller." the smaller girl created a diversion by beginning to recite "on the road to mandalay.” she only knew the first line, but she put her limited knowledge to the fullest possible use. she repeated the line over and over again in a dreamy but resolute and very audible voice; it seemed to the bachelor as though some one had had a bet with her that she could not repeat the line aloud two thousand times without stopping. whoever it was who had made the wager was likely to lose his bet. "come over here and listen to a story,” said the aunt, when the bachelor had looked twice at her and once at the communication cord. the children moved listlessly towards the aunt’s end of the carriage. evidently her reputation as a storyteller did not rank high in their estimation. in a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story about a little girl who was good, and made friends with every one on account of her goodness, and was finally saved from a mad bull by a number of rescuers who admired her moral character. which instances of situational irony occur in the passage? select two options. a.) “whoever it was who had made the wager was likely to lose his bet.” b.) “‘come over here and listen to a story,’ said the aunt, when the bachelor had looked twice at her and once at the communication cord.” -- c.) “the children moved listlessly towards the aunt’s end of the carriage.” d.) “evidently her reputation as a story-teller did not rank high in their estimation.” -- e.) “in a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story about a little girl who was good.”