Summer Reading Assignment: AP Language and Composition
There are several assignments for you to complete during the summer months. You do not have to
complete the assignments in order. Please email Mrs. Turner or Mrs. Feely if you have questions
concerning the summer reading, as we will be checking our email periodically over the summer. All
assignments are due the first day of school.
Mrs. Turner’s email address is crturner@bcbe.org
Mrs. Feely’s email address is dfeely@bcbe.org
Assignment One: Rhetorical Device Scavenger Hunt
The object of this assignment is to train your minds to be looking for the use of these rhetorical
devices throughout your personal and academic reading. Additionally, the table contains 30 terms
that you may use. Examples can be taken from any type of literature: textbooks, newspapers,
magazines, free-reading books, essays, etc. Cut out the example from the page, photocopy the
example, or type the piece including an MLA citation. Label the term and highlight the specific words,
phrases, or sentences that exemplify the technique. Add a written explanation in the form of a
SIMPLE quotation sandwich for how each example improves the writer’s powers of communication.
Please organize this work in a three-prong folder and number your examples as you go.
allusion
analogy
aphorism
archetype
characterization
euphemism
figurative language
hyperbole
idiom
in medias res
imagery
irony
juxtaposition metaphor
metonymy
motif
oxymoron
paradox
parallelism
parody
personification
repetition
rhetorical question
satire
simile
symbol
synecdoche
theme
tone
understatement
1. Analogy
Definition: the extended comparison of two or more similar objects, suggesting that if they are alike in
certain respects, they will probably be alike in other ways, too
Lewis, C.S. A Grief Observed. 1961. The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics. New York: HarperOneHarperCollins, 2002. 651-688. Print.
Getting over it so soon? But the words are ambiguous. To say the patient is getting over it after an operation
for appendicitis is one thing; after he’s had his leg off it is quite another. After that operation either the
wounded stump heals or the man dies. If it heals, the fierce, continuous pain will stop. Presently he’ll get
back his strength and be able to stump about on his wooden leg. He has ‘got over it.’ But he will probably
have recurrent pains in the stump all his life, and perhaps pretty bad ones; and he will always be a one-legged
man. There will be hardly any moment when he forgets it. Bathing, dressing, sitting down and getting up
again, even lying in bed will all be different. His whole way of life will be changed. All sorts of pleasures and
activities that he once took for granted will have to be simply written off. Duties too. At present I am learning
to get about on crutches. Perhaps I shall presently be given a wooden leg, but I will never be a biped again.
Quotation Sandwich—
C.S. Lewis uses an extended comparison between an amputee and his situation as a widower to show
that the loss of a spouse changes absolutely everything. When Lewis speaks of the patient as having
“recurrent pains in the stump all his life,” he really means that from time to time a widower will relive the
initial sadness he felt after losing his wife (678-679). This analogy helps to make his grief very real and
understandable to a reader who can possibly imagine the loss of limb more easily than the death.
Assignment Two: (Assigned Summer Reading): The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
When you finish reading the book complete the study guide questions provided. Your answers must be
handwritten and maintained in a three-prong folder. The writing assignment will be graded based on
following directions, clarity of writing style, effective use of source material from the book, scientific accuracy,
and content (addressing all parts of the questions). Additionally, please follow the steps for each question.
a) Indicate the page number(s) where you find the answers for each question. You should annotate
your book where you find the answers to these questions, though.
b) Annotate your book as you find examples of sensory imagery (5 senses), similes, and metaphors.
c) Look, too, for examples of Preston’s narrative suspense style – sentences, passages, images that are
meant to inspire fear in the reader. Mark them in your book.
PART I: “THE SHADOW OF MOUNT ELGON”
“Jumper”
1. While this chapter is slightly less….vivid than the last, what does Preston do to increase the reader’s
fear, horror, or anxiety? Is it effective? Did it work with you? Explain.
2. Explain the significance of this chapter title.
Diagnosis
1.
2.
What is the science of epidemiology? Analyze the prefix/root/suffix structure of this word.
Why does the author compare Charles Monet to “an Exocet missile struck below the water line”?
Explain the metaphor.
A Woman and A Soldier
1. What examples of foreshadowing does Preston use in this chapter?
2. How does Preston build tension and suspense in this chapter?
“Project Ebola”
1. Describe the brief history of Biological Weapons in the U.S.
2. Describe the first known emergence of the Ebola virus. How did it get its name?
3. How many different proteins make up an Ebola virus particle? What is known about them?
4. Describe the effects of the Ebola virus. How does it appear to be spread?
5. Find two passages that you feel are written to evoke the most fear or anxiety in the reader. Explain why
and how.
6. Find one example of a simile and one of a metaphor in this chapter. Explain the use of these devices.
“Total Immersion”
1. Preston describes Johnson and Jaax carrying the dead monkey: “They were two human primates
carrying another primate. One was the master of the earth, or at least believed himself to be, and the
other was a nimble dweller in trees, a cousin of the master of the earth. Both species, the human and
the monkey, were in the presence of another life form, which was older and more powerful than
either of them, and was a dweller in blood” (57). Explain the significance and impact of this passage.
Why does he juxtapose the second sentence after the first?
“Ebola River”
1. Review the paragraph beginning, “There was another possible reason why the Ebola Suden virus
vanished” and ending with “The Ebola virus, in its Sudan incarnation, retreated to the heart of
the bush, where undoubtedly it lives to this day, cycling and cycling in some unknown host, able
to shift its shape, able to mutate and become a new thing, with the potential to enter the human
species in a new form.” In this passage, Preston adopts an ominous tone. Explain the threat
posed, how the author uses it to create suspense, and how this is meant to be an example of
foreshadowing.
2. Preston has another shift in narration to first person: “I can see her in my mind’s eye – Nurse
Mayinga, the source of the virus in the United States Army’s freezers.” Why do you think he
shifts in this paragraph (you will need to read the remainder of the chapter to understand)?
“Cardinal”
1. Explain why a virus may be more like a predator than a parasite.
2. Why does Preston end the chapter with a series of questions?
PART II: “THE MONKEY HOUSE”
1.
2.
What is ironic about Jahrling’s comment about how Dalgard shipped the sample?
“A freezer can be hot as hell.” What literary device is used here? What does the author mean in
this case? Why would he phrase it this way?
“Exposure”
1. Preston uses an extended metaphor to describe cells. This is a metaphor that goes on for
several sentences. Find this extended metaphor. What comparison does Preston make?
Why would he choose to use this device/ use this comparison here?
“Medusa”
1. Another mythological allusion (which you probably noticed from the title of the chapter).
Explain the mythological reference and its application to the text. Did Preston make a good
use of the allusion / is it fitting? Why/not?
2. Notice the use of personification in the final paragraph. What is it and what image does it
convey?
“Garbage Bags”
1.
What are the dangers of the media getting hold of this information? Is there a benefit to the
news media knowing what is happening at this point? Defend your position.
Shoot-Out
1.
2.
Review the passage in the hut in the Zande village. After jabbing himself with the bloody
needle, he chooses to stay and help others. Was he brave and selfless….or stupid and
reckless? Defend your position.
What image does the implied metaphor of the final sentence create to you?
PART III: “SMASHDOWN”
Insertion
1.
And yet another mythological allusion (paragraph 2 of this chapter). What is it? Explain the
reference and connection to the text.
2.
Notice the paradox in these images: “By late afternoon, all the monkeys in Room H had been put
to death. Behind the building, through the trees and down the hill, children ran in circles around
their playhouse.” What two images/ ideas are being juxtaposed here by the author?
“A Man Down
1.
2.
What is the meaning of the title of this chapter? Did you expect a different outcome from the
chapter based on this title?
Note the use of onomatopoeia at the end of the chapter. What mood does it create?
“91-Tangos”
1. Explain the paradox of this image: “They [the military] became trapped in rush-hour traffic
again, surrounded by half-asleep yuppies in suits who were sucking coffee from foam cups
and listening to traffic reports and easy rock and roll.
“The Most Dangerous Strain”
2.
3.
1. Describe the Ebola Reston virus strain.
How many humans died from Ebola Reston?
Why is the Reston virus so much like Ebola Zaire, when Reston supposedly comes from Asia?
4. The crisis was averted…but Preston is not done with his narrative suspense. Find some
examples of his cliffhanger/ominous writing style in this chapter to keep the reader worried
about a potential outbreak somewhere.
PART IV: “KITUM CAVE”
1.
2.
3.
Find yet a final mythological allusion (in “Camp”) and explain the reference.
What is the author's view on the emergence of these destructive viruses?
Might this book be a cautionary tale (like the myths of hubris or the warning in Jurassic Park)
about man and nature? Can you think of a lesson we are supposed to learn?
Assignment Three: Argument Essay
In a thoughtful, original, and carefully crafted essay, argue whether or not it is important to inform
the public about infectious diseases and provide a plan of action to address a national epidemic of a
virus.