The Flight of Eagles

They were golden eagles, a male and a female, in their mating flight. They were cavorting, spinning and spiraling on the cold, clear columns of air, and they were beautiful. They swooped and hovered, leaning on the air, and swung close together, feinting and screaming with delight. The female was full-grown, and the span of her broad wings was greater than any man's height. There was a fine flourish to her motion; she was deceptively, incredibly fast, and her pivots and wheels were wide and full-blown. But her great weight was streamlined and perfectly controlled. She carried a rattlesnake; it hung shining from her feet, limp and curving out in the trail of her flight. Suddenly her wings and tail fanned, catching full on the wind, and for an instant she was still, widespread and spectral in the blue, while her mate flared past and away, turning around in the distance to look for her. Then she began to beat upward at an angle from the rim until she like a bit of silver thread against the wide backdrop of the land. She held still above, buoyed up on the cold current, her crop and hackles gleaming like copper in the sun. The male swerved and sailed. He was younger than she and a little more than half as large. He was quicker, tighter in his moves. He let the carrion drift by then suddenly he gathered himself and swooped, sliding down in a blur of motion to the strike. He hit the snake in the head, with not the slightest deflection of his course or speed, cracking its long body like a whip. Then he rolled and swung upward in a great pendulum arc, riding out his momentum. At the top of his glide he let go of the snake in turn, but the female did not go for it. Instead she soared out over the plain, nearly out of sight, like a mote receding into the haze of the far mountain. The male followed.

("The Flight of Eagles" by N. Scott Momaday. Excerpts from House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday. Copyright (c) 1966, 1967, 1968 by N. Scott Momaday. Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.)

		11. What is the subject matter of this passage?    A. The fate of a rattlesnake   B. The differences between female and male golden eagles   C. The mating ritual of golden eagles   D. The degradation of eagle habitat
		12. In this selection, which of the following is the best meaning for the word flared?    A. Caught fire   B. Exploded   C. Zoomed   D. Grew angry
		13. What is the writer’s tone in this passage?    A. Sarcastic   B. Admiring   C. Factual   D. Amusing
		14. In this passage, the writer uses the phrase like copper in the sun to refer to    A. the eagle’s feathers.   B. the snake’s skin.   C. the eagle’s eyes.   D. the desert sand.
		15. Which of the following is the best meaning for the phrase a blur of motion as it is used in this passage?    A. Chaotic movements   B. Obscured by clouds   C. Out of focus   D. Rapid speed
		16. Based on this passage, how wide is the wingspread of the female eagle?    A. More than four feet   B. Narrower than the male’s   C. About five and a half feet   D. More than seven feet