PARCC Reading Comprehension Practice Test story 2
8. The Curies' _________ collaboration helped to unlock the secrets of the atom.
8. A: "Amicable" means friendly. It does not mean competitive (B), i.e. oppositional, ambitious, or aggressive; courteous (C), i.e. polite; industrious (D), i.e. hard-working; or chemistry (E): their collaboration was in physics, but moreover, the passage specifically describes their collaboration as "amicable."
9. Marie had a bright mind and a ______ personality.
9. B: "Blithe" means light-hearted. It does not mean strong (A), humorous (B) or funny; strange (D), or envious (E).
10. When she learned that she could not attend the university in Warsaw, she felt _________.
10. B: "Disgruntled" means annoyed. It does not mean hopeless (A), depressed (C), or worried (D).
11. Marie _________ by leaving Poland and traveling to France to enter the Sorbonne.
11. A: Marie challenged authority by going to study at the Sorbonne, because Warsaw's university did not admit women. The passage indicates this challenge by describing her "defiantly" leaving Poland for France; i.e., she was defying authority. The passage does not indicate she showed intelligence (B), "behaved" (C), or was distressed (D) or upset by her move.
12. _________ she remembered their joy together.
12. A: A synonym for "despondently" is "dejectedly," meaning sadly, with despair or depression. The passage indicates this by describing Curie's emotional state as one of "heartbreaking anguish" over her husband's sudden accidental death. She is not described in this passage as worried (B) by her memories, or recalling them tearfully (C), happily (D), or irefully (E), i.e. angrily.
13. Her _________ began to fade when she returned to the Sorbonne to succeed her husband.
13. C: The closest synonym for the "feeling of desolation" (despair) described in the passage is wretchedness. Misfortune (A) or ill fate/luck is not as close. Anger (B) is a separate emotion from desolation. Disappointment (D) is also different from desolation, meaning feeling let-down rather than hopeless. Ambition (E) is drive to succeed or accomplish things. It was not Curie's ambition that faded upon returning to the Sorbonne but her depression.
14. Even though she became fatally ill from working with radium, Marie Curie was never _________.
14. C: "Disillusioned" means disappointed. It does not mean troubled (A), i.e. concerned or disturbed; worried (B) or anxious; sorrowful (D) or sad; or disturbed (E).