Question

read the passage. there are several questions about this passage.
from settled in the wild
1
it is a rainy morning, the first week of may, good weather to plant
nasturtiums. i sit on the porch steps with rubber boots on, a baseball cap,
and a slicker, holding the packages of seeds i bought at the feed store in
town yesterday. the rain is steady and cold, the light is steel gray, and the
yard is patchy and wet. but the pictures on the packages vibrate with color.
nothing looks as good as these nasturtium flowers right now: deep red,
eye - jolting orange, electric yellow.
2
absentmindedly, i begin to recite william wordsworths \i wandered
lonely as a cloud\ to myself. i have known the poem by heart ever since my
father taught it to me when i was a child:
for oft, when on my couch i lie
in vacant or in pensive mood,
they flash upon the inward eye
which is the bliss of solitude;
and then my heart with pleasure fills,
and dances with the daffodils.
3
wordsworths inner eye saw daffodils. i say the poem and see
hummingbirds. the nasturtiums are for them, and planting the flowers is
my gesture of faith that they will come back to my yard once more. as i rip
open the packages and push the seeds into the dirt, i know that these tiny
bright - colored nectar - drinking birds, each of whom weighs only a few
grams—about the weight of four or five of these seeds—have already
whirred in erratic flocks across five hundred miles of open water, running
the gulf of mexico in a twenty - six - hour heat.
4
hummers do exactly what physiologists once insisted they could not do.
a bird that weighs so little, they argued, cannot go from the yucatán to the

1. the migration is a remarkably challenging

journey.

1. the migration provides an example of the

wisdom of nature.

1. the migration provides strong evidence that

scientists can be wrong.
part b
select two excerpts that best show the author
advancing the correct point of view from part a.

1. \hummers do exactly what physiologists

once insisted they could not do.\
(paragraph 4)

1. \the only species of hummingbird that

always turns east\ (paragraph 5)

1. \they will be here as the nasturtiums put

out their first brave leaves.\ (paragraph 5)

1. \hummers are built for heat and the sweet

profusion of flowers.\ (paragraph 6)

1. \it astonishes me that a bird this small flies

so far north\ (paragraph 6)

Explanation:

To solve Part B, we first determine from Part A that the correct view is "The migration provides an example of the wisdom of nature." Now we analyze each option:

1. "Hummers do exactly what physiologists once insisted they could not do." (Paragraph 4) – This focuses on scientists being wrong, not nature's wisdom. Eliminate.
2. "the only species of hummingbird that always turns east" (Paragraph 5) – This is a fact about migration direction, not nature's wisdom. Eliminate.
3. "They will be here as the nasturtiums put out their first brave leaves." (Paragraph 5) – Shows a natural timing/connection (hummingbirds return with nasturtiums’ growth), reflecting nature’s wisdom. Keep.
4. "Hummers are built for heat and the sweet profusion of flowers." (Paragraph 6) – Explains hummingbirds’ adaptation, showing nature’s design/wisdom. Keep.
5. "It astonishes me that a bird this small flies so far north" (Paragraph 6) – Focuses on human astonishment, not nature’s wisdom. Eliminate.

Answer:

1. "They will be here as the nasturtiums put out their first brave leaves." (Paragraph 5)
2. "Hummers are built for heat and the sweet profusion of flowers." (Paragraph 6)