7.RI.2:Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

from Story of an Eyewitness by Jack London, 1906

Upon first news of the San Francisco earthquake, writer Jack London arrived on the scene of the disaster. The following is London’s dramatic description of the tragic events he witnessed in the burning city. The following is an excerpt from London’s account.

THE earthquake shook down in San Francisco hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of walls and chimneys. But the conflagration that followed burned up hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of property. There is no estimating within hundreds of millions the actual damage wrought. Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone. Nothing remains of it but memories and a fringe of houses on its outskirts. Its industrial section is wiped out. Its business section is wiped out. Its social and residential section is wiped out. The factories and warehouses, the great stores and newspaper buildings, the hotels and the palaces of the nabobs, are all gone. . . / 1
Within an hour after the earthquake shock, the smoke of San Francisco's burning was a lurid tower visible a hundred miles away. And for three days and nights this lurid tower swayed in the sky, reddening the sun, darkening the day, and filling the land with smoke. / 2
On Wednesday morning at a quarter past five came the earthquake. A minute later the flames were leaping upward. In a dozen different quarters south of Market Street, in the working-class ghetto, and in the factories, fires started. There was no opposing the flames. There was no organization, no communication. All the cunning adjustments of a twentieth century city had been smashed by the earthquake. The streets were humped into ridges and depressions, and piled with the debris of fallen walls. The steel rails were twisted into perpendicular and horizontal angles. The telephone and telegraph systems were disrupted. And the great water mains had burst. All the shrewd contrivances and safeguards of man had been thrown out of gear by thirty seconds' twitching of the earth-crust. . . / 3
. . . Remarkable as it may seem, Wednesday night while the whole city crashed and roared into ruin, was a quiet night. There were no crowds. There was no shouting and yelling. There was no hysteria, no disorder. I passed Wednesday night in the path of the advancing flames, and in all those terrible hours I saw not one woman who wept, not one man who was excited, not one person who was in the slightest degree panic stricken. / 4
Before the flames, throughout the night, fled tens of thousands of homeless ones. Some were wrapped in blankets. Sometimes a whole family was harnessed to a carriage or delivery wagon that was weighted down with their possessions. Baby buggies, toy wagons, and go-carts were used as trucks, while every other person was dragging a trunk. Yet everybody was gracious. The most perfect courtesy obtained. Never in all San Francisco's history, were her people so kind and courteous as on this night of terror. / 5

1. Select the two centralideas of paragraph 1.

  1. The earthquake was strong and powerful.
  2. A few residential buildings in the city still remain.
  3. The city experienced significant financial damage.
  4. Almost every single building in the city was destroyed.
  5. The residents of San Francisco now have nowhere to live.
  6. The hotels and factories in San Francisco were demolished.

2. Which sentence best identifies twocentral ideas of paragraph 3?

  1. The earthquake caused a fire to start and all buildings were destroyed.
  2. The streets were impassable and all the telephone lines were down.
  3. The city of San Francisco was in disorder and all services failed.
  4. The fire in San Francisco damaged every part of the city.

3. Which sentence best identifies two central ideas of paragraphs 4 and 5?

  1. The city was quiet and the people were calm.
  2. There was little noise in the city and each person was polite.
  3. The people were calm and escaped on foot with their belongings.
  4. The homeless people tried to leave the city and took their belongings.

4. Which sentence best summarizes how the central idea changes in the excerpt?

  1. The central idea switches from the financial destruction to the destruction of buildings.
  2. The central idea changes from the destruction of the city to the effects on the residents.
  3. The central idea changes from how the city looked before the earthquake to how it looked after.
  4. The central idea first focuses on how the fire started and then centers on how the people will survive.

5. Select two sentences that state the central ideas of the excerpt.

  1. “There is no estimating within hundreds of millions the actual damage wrought.” (paragraph 1)
  2. “Nothing remains of it but memories and a fringe of houses on its outskirts.” (paragraph 1)
  3. “On Wednesday morning at a quarter past five came the earthquake.” (paragraph 3)
  4. “The streets were humped into ridges and depressions, and piled with the debris of fallen walls.” (paragraph 3)
  5. “Before the flames, throughout the night, fled tens of thousands of homeless ones.” (paragraph 4)
  6. “Others carried bundles of bedding and dear household treasures.” (paragraph 4)