Question 1

What is the author's main purpose in writing this essay?

Accepted Answer

persuade the reader to do something about the pollution

Answer

inform the reader of the problems of pollution in America

Answer

entertain the reader with anecdotes about his life

Answer

express his hatred of pollution in modern America

Question 2

The title of this essay refers to the song “America, the Beautiful.” This is an example of what type of figurative language?

Accepted Answer

allusion (it makes a reference to something famous)

Answer

simile (it compares two things using like)

Answer

oxymoron (it combines contradictory things with opposite meanings)

Answer

metaphor (it compares two things using is)

Question 3

What is the tone of the last paragraph?

Accepted Answer

humorous

Answer

eerie

Answer

angry

Answer

serious

Question 4

What is the author’s main point in this essay?

Accepted Answer

The “American Way” of throwing things out is creating major problems

Answer

Poor countries don’t have the same trash problems as more developed countries.

Answer

Insect and weed killers thrown away are likely to end up polluting lakes and rivers.

Answer

In 500 B.C., the Greeks passed the first law forbidding throwing trash in the street.

Question 5

In "America the Not-So-Beautiful" the author claims that we are running out of space. How does he support this claim?

Accepted Answer

He supports this claim by saying that we now have to build houses where dumps were.

Answer

He supports this claim by reminding the reader that the ancient Greeks prohibited people from throwing their garbage in the street.

Answer

He supports this claim by stating that the American economic system is based on throwing things away and buying new ones.

Answer

He supports this claim by reminding us that we all have poison in our houses that we don't know what to do with.

Question 6

Who might benefit from reading "America the Not-So-Beautiful?"

Accepted Answer

Anyone, but especially Americans

Answer

Everyone, but not Americans

Answer

Only people who create landfills

Answer

Only chemical companies

Question 7

What is a landfill?

Accepted Answer

a place where trash is deposited

Answer

a place where planes landed

Answer

a place where land is filled

Answer

a place that is filled with trash

Question 8

A scale as used in the text refers to:

Accepted Answer

the size of something compared to something else

Answer

the comparison of a scale to a balance

Answer

a balance or something that weighs

Question 9

Which of these words matches the author's opinion about some Americans?

Accepted Answer

wasteful

Answer

watchful

Answer

willful

Answer

wrathful

Question 10

The author uses loaded language when he says:

Accepted Answer

Some of the things we're throwing away are poisoning the Earth and will eventually poison all of us and all living things.

Answer

The people of the city of New York throw away nine times their weight in garbage and junk every year.

Answer

Not only that, but Americans spend more for the packaging of food than all our farmers together make in income growing it. That's some statistic.

Answer

The more civilized a country is, the worse the trash problem is. Poor countries don't have the same problem because they don't have much to discard.

Question 11

How does the author connect the idea of prosperity to the amount of trash people throw away?

Accepted Answer

The author says that because the United States has an abundance of things we want and need, we make more waste.

Answer

The author says that it is easier to throw things out when it is harder to replace them.

Answer

The author says that in countries that aren't prosperous, people must not hold on to things to get as little use out of them as possible.

Answer

The author says that it is harder to throw things out when it is easy to replace them.

Question 12

In paragraph 4, the author says, “The more civilized a country is, the worse the trash problem.” What does he mean by “civilized” in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

the author means “wealthy”, but it is used somewhat ironically because he argues in the same paragraph that civilized countries have a worse trash problem

Answer

the author means the very opposite of "barbarity", because he believes barbarians are the only ones who can make a trash problem worse

Answer

the author means "polite and courteous"; someone who knows how to say "please" and "thank you", because he believes polite people do not contribute to the trash problem

Question 13

Rooney acknowledges that he is just as guilty as other Americans of heedlessly following the pattern of buying and throwing away.

Accepted Answer

true

Answer

false

Question 14

Rooney's purpose is to convince wasteful Americans that their trash is not a problem yet but that they should cut back on their wastefulness before it is too late to save the planet.

Accepted Answer

false

Answer

true

Question 15

As readers, we can infer that Rooney cares about the future of our Earth and wants us to change our culture's wasteful ways and our relationship with the planet.

Accepted Answer

true

Answer

false

Question 16

As readers, we can infer that like most people, Rooney thinks the future of our Earth doesn't depend on us changing our culture's wasteful ways and our relationship with the planet.

Accepted Answer

false

Answer

true

Question 17

What is the author's opinion of insecticides?

Accepted Answer

He thinks that they are dangerous

Answer

He thinks they are too expensive

Answer

He thinks they are necessary

Answer

He thinks they are helpful

Question 18

What produces most of household waste in America?

Accepted Answer

The packaging that stuff comes in

Answer

The food packaging in the kitchen

Question 19

When the author writes about how he is sometimes irresponsible with his trash and doesn't recycle or even throw stuff in the trash he is...

Accepted Answer

relating to his audience and trying to get their trust

Answer

explaining to his audience why he is a credible source

Answer

informing his audience of one of the many shortcomings of Americans

Question 20

A fact that the author uses to support his claim that the problem of wastefulness is staggering is that...

Accepted Answer

he went to the hard ware store and saw shelves of poison

Answer

the ancient Greeks passed a low prohibiting trash disposal

Question 21

Waste in America is a problem because...

Accepted Answer

Americans don't recycle

Answer

foreign countries recycle more than Americans

Answer

Americans don't acknowledge the issue

Question 22

Match the word from the SOAPStone strategy to the question it is asking.

Question 23

The first sentence in the text, "Next to saving stuff I don’t need, the thing I like to do best is throw it away." means that:

Accepted Answer

the author enjoys both saving useless things and throwing them away

Answer

the author enjoys saving useless things but not throwing them away

Question 24

"Discard" as used in the text means:

Accepted Answer

throw away

Answer

top off

Answer

delete

Answer

dust off

Question 25

"Prosperity" in the text is used to mean...

Accepted Answer

wealthy and developed

Answer

proper and rich

Answer

lucky and happy

Answer

rich and unhappy

Related quizzes

Related quizzes