Question

hang out with surfers. he was bright, but not a brain. ... the one thing most kids knew about sam temple was that he was school bus sam. hed earned the nickname when he was in seventh grade. the class had been on the way to a field trip when the bus driver had suffered a heart attack. theyd been driving down highway 1. sam had pulled the man out of his seat, steered the bus onto the shoulder of the road, brought it safely to a stop, and calmly dialed 911 on the drivers cell phone. if he had hesitated for even a second, the bus would have plunged off a cliff and into the ocean. his picture had been in the paper. how does the structure of the text help the reader understand sam? choose 1 answer. the author mostly uses long, complex sentences to help the reader understand that sam is bright and thoughtful. the author tells events out of order to help the reader understand that sam is often confused by his classmates. the author uses a chronological text structure to help the reader understand that sam was frightened when he steered the bus to safety. the author includes a flashback to help the reader understand that sam can stay calm and make good decisions when facing challenges.

Explanation:

• Option A: The text doesn't mainly use long complex sentences to show Sam's brightness/thoughtfulness. The bus incident is described with a sequence of actions, not overly complex sentences for that purpose.
• Option B: The text doesn't tell events out of order, and there's no info about Sam being confused by classmates.
• Option C: The bus incident is a flashback (not chronological in the main narrative flow here) and the text doesn't suggest Sam was frightened; he acted calmly.
• Option D: The author includes a flashback (the seventh - grade bus incident) to show Sam's calmness and good decision - making during a challenge (the bus driver's heart attack, potential accident). This matches how the text structure (flashback) helps understand Sam.

Answer:

D. The author includes a flashback to help the reader understand that Sam can stay calm and make good decisions when facing challenges.