• Miami Beach Senior High School

• AP LANG 101  03.01 Multiple Choice .Reader and Writer

1) We have lost a great president, a great American, and a great man, and I have lost a dear friend.
(2) In his lifetime, Ronald Reagan was such a cheerful and invigorating presence that it was easy to forget what
daunting historic tasks he set himself. He sought to mend America's wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free
world, and to free the slaves of communism. These were causes hard to accomplish and heavy with risk, yet they
were pursued with almost a lightness of spirit, for Ronald Reagan also embodied another great cause, what Arnold
Bennett once called "the great cause of cheering us all up." His policies had a freshness and optimism that won
converts from every class and every nation, and ultimately, from the very heart of the "evil empire."
(3) Yet his humour often had a purpose beyond humour. In the terrible hours after the attempt on his life, his easy
jokes gave reassurance to an anxious world. They were evidence that in the aftermath of terror and in the midst of
hysteria one great heart at least remained sane and jocular. They were truly grace under pressure. And perhaps they
signified grace of a deeper kind. Ronnie himself certainly believed that he had been given back his life for a purpose.
As he told a priest after his recovery, "Whatever time I've got left now belongs to the big fella upstairs." And surely, it is
hard to deny that Ronald Reagan's life was providential when we look at what he achieved in the eight years that
followed.
(4) Others prophesied the decline of the West. He inspired America and its allies with renewed faith in their mission of
freedom.
(5) Others saw only limits to growth. He transformed a stagnant economy into an engine of opportunity.
(6) Others hoped, at best, for an uneasy cohabitation with the Soviet Union. He won the Cold War, not only without
firing a shot, but also by inviting enemies out of their fortress and turning them into friends.
(7) I cannot imagine how any diplomat or any dramatist could improve on his words to Mikhail Gorbachev at the
Geneva summit. "Let me tell you why it is we distrust you." Those words are candid and tough, and they cannot have
been easy to hear. But they are also a clear invitation to a new beginning and a new relationship that would be rooted
in trust.
(8) We live today in the world that Ronald Reagan began to reshape with those words. It is a very different world, with
different challenges and new dangers. All in all, however, it is one of greater freedom and prosperity, one more
hopeful than the world he inherited on becoming president.
(9) As Prime Minister, I worked closely with Ronald Reagan for eight of the most important years of all our lives. We
talked regularly, both before and after his presidency, and I've had time and cause to reflect on what made him a great
president.
(10) Ronald Reagan knew his own mind. He had firm principles and, I believe, right ones. He expounded them clearly.
He acted upon them decisively. When the world threw problems at the White House, he was not baffled or
disorientated or overwhelmed.
(11) He knew almost instinctively what to do.
(12) When his aides were preparing option papers for his decision, they were able to cut out entire rafts of proposals
that they knew the old man would never wear. When his allies came under Soviet or domestic pressure, they could
look confidently to Washington for firm leadership, and when his enemies tested American resolve, they soon
discovered that his resolve was firm and unyielding.
 
(13) Yet his ideas, so clear, were never simplistic. He saw the many sides of truth. Yes, he warned that the Soviet Union
had an insatiable drive for military power and territorial expansion, but he also sensed that it was being eaten away by
systemic failures impossible to reform. Yes, he did not shrink from denouncing Moscow's evil empire, but he realized
that a man of good will might nonetheless emerge from within its dark corridors.
(14) So the president resisted Soviet expansion and pressed down on Soviet weakness at every point until the day
came when communism began to collapse beneath the combined weight of those pressures and its own failures.
And when a man of good will did emerge from the ruins, President Reagan stepped forward to shake his hand and to
offer sincere cooperation.
(15) Nothing was more typical of Ronald Reagan than that large-hearted magnanimity, and nothing was more
American.
(16) Therein lies perhaps the final explanation of his achievements. Ronald Reagan carried the American people with
him in his great endeavours because there was perfect sympathy between them. He and they loved America and
what it stands for: freedom and opportunity for ordinary people.
In addition to exalting Reagan, Thatcher's additional purpose in this eulogy is to
a) applaud the United States for its support of Great Britain
b) caution against a Cold War resurgence with Russia
c) reinforce the alliance between America and Great Britain
d) criticize the public for its initial lack of faith in Reagan's abilities
Question 2
(1) Yet his humour often had a purpose beyond humour. (2) In the terrible hours after the attempt on his life, his easy
jokes gave reassurance to an anxious world. (3) They were evidence that in the aftermath of terror and in the midst of
hysteria one great heart at least remained sane and jocular. (4) They were truly grace under pressure. And perhaps
they signified grace of a deeper kind. (5) Ronnie himself certainly believed that he had been given back his life for a
purpose. (6) As he told a priest after his recovery, "Whatever time I've got left now belongs to the big fella upstairs." (7)
And surely, it is hard to deny that Ronald Reagan's life was providential when we look at what he achieved in the eight
years that followed.
The use of the name "Ronnie" in sentence 5 effectively
a) elicits sympathy from the audience for Reagan's passing
b) emphasizes Thatcher's personal relationship with Reagan
c) establishes Reagan as a common man like any other American
d) disparages Reagan's casual and informal approach to politics
Question 3
Others prophesied the decline of the West. He inspired America and its allies with renewed faith in their mission of
freedom.
In the context of the entire speech, the function of these sentences is to
a) contradict any notions that Reagan faltered in his commitments to America
b) contrast the public's initial skepticism of Reagan with his actual achievemen