“Relax before stepping to the free throw line. Before the referee hands you the ball to shoot, take some deep breaths. Walk around a little bit and get yourself mentally relaxed. Sometimes standing at the free throw line waiting for the other players to get set can put some undue pressure on you. Let everyone else get set before you do.”

Based on this passage, what can you expect to happen before you shoot a free throw?
a. The other team will leave the court.
b. You will have to find the ball.
c. The players will find their positions on the court while you prepare for the shots.
d. You will have to endure heckling from the crowd as you try to make your shots.

Read the selection below and answer the question. an open boat by alfred noyes o, what is that whimpering there in the darkness? 

 'let him lie in my arms. he is breathing, i know.
 look. i'll wrap all my hair round his neck' – the sea's rising,
 the boat must be lightened. he's dead. he must go.' 


 see - quick - by that flash, where the bitter foam tosses, 
 the cloud of white faces, in the black open boat, 
 and the wild pleading woman that clasps her dead lover 
 and wraps her loose hair round his breast and his throat.
 'come, lady, he's dead.' - 'no, i feel his heart beating,
 he's living, i know. but he's numbed with the cold. 
 see, i'm wrapping my hair all around him to warm him.' -
- 'no. we can't keep the dead, dear. come, loosen your hold.

 'come. loosen your fingers.' - 'o god, let me keep him! ' -
 o, hide it, black night! let the winds have their way! 
 and there are no voices or ghosts from that darkness, 
 to fret the bare seas at the breaking of day. the rhyme scheme of "an open boat" is abcb abab abba aabc

[he] let his gaze wander to the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet. a piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. how slowly it appeared to move! what a sluggish stream! what contrasting words are used to describe the stream in this passage?

2read this passage from "the raven." what is puzzling the speaker in this stanza? 60% but the raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, straight i wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door then, upon the velvet sinking, i betook myself to linking fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore- what this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore meant in croaking "nevermore." s and what the raven's message is why the raven came to visit where the raven came from how the raven got into his room