English
Read the following excerpt from the article "Vision, Voice and the Power of Creation: An Author Speaks Out," by T. A. Barron and answer the question that follows:Right now, I am spending a lot of time listening to the voice of a particularly compelling character: the young Merlin. In the end, I finally heard the voice of Merlin thanks to a surprising source: the haunting, mysterious hooting of a great horned owl outside the window of my Colorado home. As I listened to that owl's resonant [echoing] call in the pre-dawn hours one morning, something about it gave me a whole new cadence [rhythm], a whole new sound. And then, a whole new voice.The author states, "I finally heard the voice of Merlin thanks to a surprising source: the haunting, mysterious hooting of a great horned owl outside the window of my Colorado home." What is the author's implicit message in this statement?(10 points)Group of answer choicesThe author realized Merlin's voice should have the same qualities as the owl's voice.The author thought Merlin's voice should seem like it is hooting.The author wished he had thought of Merlin's voice sooner.The author knew the owl would bring Merlin's voice to life.
Select the correct answer.My mom is always repeating the same old joke: if your friends all jumped off a cliff, would you jump, too? Of course not. But I get what she means. She's talking about peer pressure. Teenagers like us live with it every day. Pretty much every kid wants to be liked, to have friends, to be popular. No one wants people to think they aren't cool. While peer pressure is tough, giving in to it and getting in trouble is tougher.But teenagers are still learning to make good decisions. Like this one time my friend Harold wanted to take his dad's prized Jeep Grand Cherokee for a drive. Harold was 13, and he'd never driven a car before. But he figured he knew enough about operating a motor vehicle just by watching his parents drive. When his parents were out of town one weekend, Harold invited me and some of our friends over to his house so he could take us for a drive. I said, "Not me," because I knew it was a stupid thing to do. I told him and everybody else what I thought of the idea. (Driving isn't easy. It took my big brother weeks to get the hang of it.) Harold got mad and told me I was being a chicken. I said, "I'd rather be a chicken than get in an accident and have a broken leg."What is the thesis statement of this passage?