Question

as another introduction to the story of his life. i had planned to write chronologically, but then realized that, of course, i dont think chronologically. writing a memoir is like fishing. you cast your line and you pull on it when a fish strikes, but you never know what will be on the other end, for the ocean is deep and is filled with marvelous creatures that do not break the surface in expected order. nor do they swim under the waves with the whales leading and the minnows at the end of long straight lines. a memoir, like a fish, will not thrive under every discipline. another way of putting this is that if you alphabetize the iliad you will have approximately the athens telephone book. when i think back, things dont line up, they stand out, so i will take them as they come, as once i took them as they came.

1. in this passage, the author explains why he

a decided to write about himself.
b waited so long to begin writing.
c included details that seem unimportant.
d changed his mind about how he would write.

1. what do the ocean creatures represent?

a events in the authors life.
b people the author has known.
c all the words in the language.
d the dangers of looking into ones past.

1. in this passage, the word discipline means

e punishment.
f a field of study.
g rules by which something is organized.
h training that perfects mental or moral qualities.

1. the athens telephone book is used as an example of something that is

i too long.
j impossible to read.
k orderly but boring.
l full of information.

1. when the author says \. . . as once i took them,\ he means that

m he was always eager to do things.
n he could stand up to any difficulty.
o he believed that he deserved what he got.
p he dealt with experiences as they happened. go on

Explanation:

1. The author initially planned to write chronologically but then changed his mind. This is evident from "I had planned to write chronologically, but then realized...".
2. The ocean creatures are used as a metaphor for events in the author's life. Just as one doesn't know what will be on the other - end of a fishing line in the ocean, the author doesn't know what memories will surface when writing his memoir.
3. In the context of the passage, "discipline" refers to rules by which something is organized. The author is saying that memories don't follow an orderly or expected organization, like creatures in the ocean don't swim in straight lines.
4. The Athens telephone book is used as an example of something that is orderly (alphabetized) but not necessarily reflective of how the author's memories or life events are organized, so it is orderly but boring in the sense of not being relevant to his non - orderly memory writing.
5. "As once I took them" means he dealt with experiences as they happened. He is going to take memories as they come, just as he experienced life events as they occurred.

Answer:

1. T. changed his mind about how he would write.
2. A. Events in the author's life.
3. G. rules by which something is organized.
4. K. orderly but boring.
5. P. he dealt with experiences as they happened.