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Read the selection in your Student Edition and choose the best answer to each question.

Balboa
by Sabina Murray

1 Which phrase in paragraph 7 helps the reader understand the meaning of the word thunder in
the same paragraph?
make a people fear god
growling of the cat
two great incisors
the weapon explodes

2 Which phrase from paragraph 9 helps the reader understand the meaning of the
word hindsight?
He should have brought
at the foot of the mountain
They have no more interest
no amount of swearing

3 How does Balboa justify his brutal behavior toward the Indians in paragraph 22?
By relating it to his struggles with religion and spirituality
By suggesting that his superiority to the Indians justifies his behavior
By comparing the tragedies occurring in Spain to the Indians’ plight
By blaming his behavior on his own personal shortcomings

Grade 11 1 Selection Test

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4 Read this excerpt from paragraph 25.

Did the curse worry Balboa? Perhaps a little. He occasionally revisits a particularly
spectacular feat of bloodshed—the time Leoncico tore a chieftain’s head from his
shoulders—with a pang of concern.
The author uses the language in this excerpt most likely to —
foreshadow Balboa’s fate
flash back to a significant event in Balboa’s past
imply a supernatural influence on Balboa’s life
emphasize Balboa’s conscience

5 Authors sometimes use symbolism to develop theme. Which two examples of symbolism does
the author use in the selection?
The drum represents Balboa’s mortality.
The jaguar represents the fall of the Indians.
The lion represents what Balboa would like to be.
The monk represents the idea of a conscience.
The ship represents being punished for one’s crimes.

6 Which excerpt from the selection best develops the theme that hindsight is important?
What stupidity made him send the governor, Martín Fernández de Enciso, back to Spain?
(paragraph 10)
Balboa imagines his body being dragged into a tree, his boots swinging from the limbs as
the great cat tears his heart from his ribs. (paragraph 12)
Why take him to task when the world is a violent place? (paragraph 23)
His name had reached Spain, and the king felt his authority threatened. (paragraph 25)

Grade 11 2 Selection Test

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7 Which statement best states what Balboa represents in paragraph 3?

He represents the challenge of holding the line between good and evil.
He represents the difficulties in choosing a life of leisure or one of action.
He represents humanity’s balance in building the future while respecting the past.
He represents the division between the world of the past and the world of the future.

8 What purpose does the structure of the selection serve?

To first paint Balboa in a sympathetic light before revealing his actions in the New World
To emphasize that Balboa’s most important accomplishment was the discovery of the sea
To ensure that the reader learns the many significant details of Balboa’s past all at once
To portray Balboa’s character as being more mysterious than the jungle he walks through

9 Mark the box that matches each action of Balboa to the theme it best supports.
Those in power live in Those in power must be
fear of rebellion. ruthless to gain obedience.

Balboa trains the war dogs to dismember children. □ □

Balboa regrets not killing Enciso. □ □
Balboa allows a chieftain to be beheaded by his dog. □ □
Balboa climbs the mountain alone. □ □

Grade 11 3 Selection Test

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10 Read paragraph 5 of the passage.

Balboa the gambling pig farmer, who, in an effort to escape his debt, has found himself at
the very edge of the world.
Which sentence below is an example of how this fragment could be rewritten as a complete
sentence using the past tense?
Balboa was a gambling pig farmer who, in an effort to escape his debt, finds himself at the
very edge of the world.
Balboa was a gambling pig farmer who, in an effort to escape his debt, found himself at the
very edge of the world.
Balboa was a gambling pig farmer who, in an effort to escape his debt, has found himself at
the very edge of the world.
Balboa was a gambling pig farmer who, in an effort to escape his debt, would have found
himself at the very edge of the world.

11 This question has two parts. First, answer Part A. Then, answer Part B.
Part A
Which statement best states the theme of the story?
Humanity is constantly in conflict with the natural world, as the hard-fought gains made
one day are taken back the next.
Humans are part untamed animal and part civilized being and must live in constant
harmony with their dual natures.
Humanity sees the world as something that must always be forced into submission, and it is
to that end where meaning is found.
For all their strength, intelligence, and ability, humans are prideful, and their pride is what
brings about their demise.

Grade 11 4 Selection Test

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Part B
Which excerpt best supports the answer to Part A?
Balboa is loved by no one and feared by all. He has invented an unequaled terror. The
Indians think of him as a god. (paragraph 19)
He said that he was in the New World to bring the Indians to God. So the monk converts the
Indians, and Balboa sends them on to God. (paragraph 21)
But here, on the slope of the mountain, his name does not seem worth that much. He . . . is
terrified that some creature . . . will take advantage of his great heaving bareness.
(paragraph 27)
Balboa, having accomplished his goal, luxuriates in this moment of peaceful ignorance. He
does not know that his days are numbered. . . . (paragraph 30)

12 How does Balboa’s motivation affect the plot? Support your response with evidence from
the selection.

Grade 11 5 Selection Test

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