Reading Worksheet

Question 1:

In line 1, prolific can best be defined as:

 

A prolific portrait artist of the Revolutionary and the Restoration eras in France, Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun serves as an example not only of a talented artist, but of an early feminist as well. Born in a middle-class family in 1756, young Elizabeth displayed artistic ambition and talent from an early age, often being punished for drawing on the walls of her boarding school. Her father, showing a surprisingly progressive stance, declared that Elizabeth had the makings of an artist, and arranged for his daughter to study at the feet of some of the day’s greatest masters.

After her father’s untimely death, Elizabeth helped to support her family by painting portraits of members of the French court. Word of her abilities spread among her aristocratic clientele, and by her late teens Elizabeth was consorting with Queen Marie Antoinette both socially and professionally. She became not only the queen’s confidante, but also the official portraitist to the Royal family at Versailles. It was in part due to this association that Elizabeth was forced to flee France in the early days of the revolution; showing uncommon prescience, the artist realized that her royalist leanings could easily cost the lives of her young daughter and herself were she to stay in Paris.

Upon leaving France, Elizabeth settled briefly in Italy, in the midst of what might nowadays be seen as a French refugee community, and then moved around the continent. She even ventured to Moscow and St. Petersburg, completing a famous portrait of Catherine the Great. During the Bourbon Restoration, she returned to France, where she continued her wildly successful portrait career, earning uncommon fame and wealth in her role as a career woman.

Though her career was defined by meteoric success, Elizabeth’s family life was fraught with complication. Her marriage was unhappy, resulting in early separation from her husband (though they later reconciled), and her relationship with her daughter was always strained; indeed, upon her daughter’s decision to marry a man Elizabeth did not approve of, the artist remarks that her daughter’s choice was a result of being allowed by the governess to read too many novels. All in all, Elizabeth could be seen in the same light as many modern celebrities: wildly successful professionally, but arguably at a cost to her personal life.

Question 2:

In the first paragraph, the characterization of Elizabeth’s father suggests that he:

 

A prolific portrait artist of the Revolutionary and the Restoration eras in France, Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun serves as an example not only of a talented artist, but of an early feminist as well. Born in a middle-class family in 1756, young Elizabeth displayed artistic ambition and talent from an early age, often being punished for drawing on the walls of her boarding school. Her father, showing a surprisingly progressive stance, declared that Elizabeth had the makings of an artist, and arranged for his daughter to study at the feet of some of the day’s greatest masters.

After her father’s untimely death, Elizabeth helped to support her family by painting portraits of members of the French court. Word of her abilities spread among her aristocratic clientele, and by her late teens Elizabeth was consorting with Queen Marie Antoinette both socially and professionally. She became not only the queen’s confidante, but also the official portraitist to the Royal family at Versailles. It was in part due to this association that Elizabeth was forced to flee France in the early days of the revolution; showing uncommon prescience, the artist realized that her royalist leanings could easily cost the lives of her young daughter and herself were she to stay in Paris.

Upon leaving France, Elizabeth settled briefly in Italy, in the midst of what might nowadays be seen as a French refugee community, and then moved around the continent. She even ventured to Moscow and St. Petersburg, completing a famous portrait of Catherine the Great. During the Bourbon Restoration, she returned to France, where she continued her wildly successful portrait career, earning uncommon fame and wealth in her role as a career woman.

Though her career was defined by meteoric success, Elizabeth’s family life was fraught with complication. Her marriage was unhappy, resulting in early separation from her husband (though they later reconciled), and her relationship with her daughter was always strained; indeed, upon her daughter’s decision to marry a man Elizabeth did not approve of, the artist remarks that her daughter’s choice was a result of being allowed by the governess to read too many novels. All in all, Elizabeth could be seen in the same light as many modern celebrities: wildly successful professionally, but arguably at a cost to her personal life.

Question 3:

As used in the last sentence of paragraph 2, the word prescience most nearly means:

 

A prolific portrait artist of the Revolutionary and the Restoration eras in France, Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun serves as an example not only of a talented artist, but of an early feminist as well. Born in a middle-class family in 1756, young Elizabeth displayed artistic ambition and talent from an early age, often being punished for drawing on the walls of her boarding school. Her father, showing a surprisingly progressive stance, declared that Elizabeth had the makings of an artist, and arranged for his daughter to study at the feet of some of the day’s greatest masters.

After her father’s untimely death, Elizabeth helped to support her family by painting portraits of members of the French court. Word of her abilities spread among her aristocratic clientele, and by her late teens Elizabeth was consorting with Queen Marie Antoinette both socially and professionally. She became not only the queen’s confidante, but also the official portraitist to the Royal family at Versailles. It was in part due to this association that Elizabeth was forced to flee France in the early days of the revolution; showing uncommon prescience, the artist realized that her royalist leanings could easily cost the lives of her young daughter and herself were she to stay in Paris.

Upon leaving France, Elizabeth settled briefly in Italy, in the midst of what might nowadays be seen as a French refugee community, and then moved around the continent. She even ventured to Moscow and St. Petersburg, completing a famous portrait of Catherine the Great. During the Bourbon Restoration, she returned to France, where she continued her wildly successful portrait career, earning uncommon fame and wealth in her role as a career woman.

Though her career was defined by meteoric success, Elizabeth’s family life was fraught with complication. Her marriage was unhappy, resulting in early separation from her husband (though they later reconciled), and her relationship with her daughter was always strained; indeed, upon her daughter’s decision to marry a man Elizabeth did not approve of, the artist remarks that her daughter’s choice was a result of being allowed by the governess to read too many novels. All in all, Elizabeth could be seen in the same light as many modern celebrities: wildly successful professionally, but arguably at a cost to her personal life.

Question 4:

The remarks that her daughter’s choice was a result of being allowed by the governess to read too many novels are ironic in that:

 

A prolific portrait artist of the Revolutionary and the Restoration eras in France, Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun serves as an example not only of a talented artist, but of an early feminist as well. Born in a middle-class family in 1756, young Elizabeth displayed artistic ambition and talent from an early age, often being punished for drawing on the walls of her boarding school. Her father, showing a surprisingly progressive stance, declared that Elizabeth had the makings of an artist, and arranged for his daughter to study at the feet of some of the day’s greatest masters.

After her father’s untimely death, Elizabeth helped to support her family by painting portraits of members of the French court. Word of her abilities spread among her aristocratic clientele, and by her late teens Elizabeth was consorting with Queen Marie Antoinette both socially and professionally. She became not only the queen’s confidante, but also the official portraitist to the Royal family at Versailles. It was in part due to this association that Elizabeth was forced to flee France in the early days of the revolution; showing uncommon prescience, the artist realized that her royalist leanings could easily cost the lives of her young daughter and herself were she to stay in Paris.

Upon leaving France, Elizabeth settled briefly in Italy, in the midst of what might nowadays be seen as a French refugee community, and then moved around the continent. She even ventured to Moscow and St. Petersburg, completing a famous portrait of Catherine the Great. During the Bourbon Restoration, she returned to France, where she continued her wildly successful portrait career, earning uncommon fame and wealth in her role as a career woman.

Though her career was defined by meteoric success, Elizabeth’s family life was fraught with complication. Her marriage was unhappy, resulting in early separation from her husband (though they later reconciled), and her relationship with her daughter was always strained; indeed, upon her daughter’s decision to marry a man Elizabeth did not approve of, the artist remarks that her daughter’s choice was a result of being allowed by the governess to read too many novels. All in all, Elizabeth could be seen in the same light as many modern celebrities: wildly successful professionally, but arguably at a cost to her personal life.

Question 5:

The author of this passage attempts to:

 

A prolific portrait artist of the Revolutionary and the Restoration eras in France, Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun serves as an example not only of a talented artist, but of an early feminist as well. Born in a middle-class family in 1756, young Elizabeth displayed artistic ambition and talent from an early age, often being punished for drawing on the walls of her boarding school. Her father, showing a surprisingly progressive stance, declared that Elizabeth had the makings of an artist, and arranged for his daughter to study at the feet of some of the day’s greatest masters.

After her father’s untimely death, Elizabeth helped to support her family by painting portraits of members of the French court. Word of her abilities spread among her aristocratic clientele, and by her late teens Elizabeth was consorting with Queen Marie Antoinette both socially and professionally. She became not only the queen’s confidante, but also the official portraitist to the Royal family at Versailles. It was in part due to this association that Elizabeth was forced to flee France in the early days of the revolution; showing uncommon prescience, the artist realized that her royalist leanings could easily cost the lives of her young daughter and herself were she to stay in Paris.

Upon leaving France, Elizabeth settled briefly in Italy, in the midst of what might nowadays be seen as a French refugee community, and then moved around the continent. She even ventured to Moscow and St. Petersburg, completing a famous portrait of Catherine the Great. During the Bourbon Restoration, she returned to France, where she continued her wildly successful portrait career, earning uncommon fame and wealth in her role as a career woman.

Though her career was defined by meteoric success, Elizabeth’s family life was fraught with complication. Her marriage was unhappy, resulting in early separation from her husband (though they later reconciled), and her relationship with her daughter was always strained; indeed, upon her daughter’s decision to marry a man Elizabeth did not approve of, the artist remarks that her daughter’s choice was a result of being allowed by the governess to read too many novels. All in all, Elizabeth could be seen in the same light as many modern celebrities: wildly successful professionally, but arguably at a cost to her personal life.

Question 6:

The major effect of the figurative language used in the bolded lines is to emphasize the: 

Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. There are the implements of war and subjugation the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none: they are meant for us: they can be meant for no other purpose – they are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains, which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them> Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we any thing new to offer upon the subject? Nothing.

Question 7:

The purpose of the rhetorical questions in the bolded lines is to emphasize the consequence of:

They tell us, sir, that we are weak – unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed; and when a British guard shall be stationed in our House? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us, hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power–three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of Liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess; are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.