1. PART A: Which statement best expresses the central idea of this article?

A. When a normal commute home is interrupted, it can cause lifelong fear and

anxiety for New York City residents.

B. Some people will selflessly take extraordinary action to save people who are in

danger because they feel responsible.

C. After performing a heroic action, rescuers such as Capuzzo and Lindsey often

become arrogant.

D. New Yorkers rarely help each other or show concern when tragedy strikes.

2. PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?

A. “It was Saturday afternoon, April 29. Everyone who came down the stairs to the

train platform saw him, myself included, and everyone did the same thing.

Watched him.” (Paragraph 3)

B. “It is a very specific New York City preoccupation and plotline, a horror and a

drama that grips the imagination and lays down a gut check.” (Paragraph 8)

C. “He texted his girlfriend, ‘Guy fell so I had to jump on the tracks now I have a cut

on my hand.’ He called his mother. Both were upset with him at first, ‘mad I

jumped on the tracks in the first place,’ he said, but more thankful he was O. K.”

(Paragraph 32)

D. “Mr. Capuzzo said that before he jumped, he remembered an old public service

announcement: ‘Twenty people are thinking someone else called about the gas

leak.’” (Paragraph 34)

3. In paragraphs 1-4, how does the author introduce the people on the platform at the beginning of the narrative?

A. by demonstrating how caring and kind the people on the platform could be

B. by contrasting Mr. Capuzzo’s courage with the other people’s fear

C. by implying that the people on the platform knew the man was in danger

D. by contrasting other people’s curiosity with the way the narrator kept to himself

4. How does paragraph 14 contribute to the text?

A. It explains how the man fell onto the subway tracks.

B. It shows how the author took heroic action to save the man on the tracks.

C. It describes how the people in the subway station did not do enough to help.

D. It creates tension and suspense by describing what happened before the man

was rescued.

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5. In the last paragraph of the article, the author repeats Chad Lindsey’s statement: “Couldn’t

do it. Did what I did, but couldn’t do that.” How does this repetition develop the author’s

ideas in the text?

A. It emphasizes his belief that people who do heroic things are not motivated by

pride.

B. It proves that heroic people are rare in a world in which most people follow the

crowd.

C. It implies that the author believes Lindsey and Capuzzo are not really heroes.

D. It emphasizes the guilt that many heroes feel after they help someone.