GED Set 1

What Has Happened to Gregor? As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was lying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes. What has happened to me? he thought. It was no dream. His room, a regular human bedroom, only rather too small, lay quiet between the four familiar walls. Above the table on which a collection of cloth samples was unpacked and spread out--Samsa was a commercial traveler-- hung the picture which he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and put into a pretty gilt frame. It showed a lady, with a fur cap on and a fur stole, sitting upright and holding out to the spectator a huge fur muff into which the whole of her forearm had vanished! . . . . He slid down again into his former position. This getting up early, he thought, makes one quite stupid. A man needs his sleep. Other commercials live like harem women. For instance, when I come back to the hotel of a morning to write up the orders I've got, these others are only sitting down to breakfast. Let me just try that with my chief; I'd be sacked on the spot. Anyhow, that might be quite a good thing for me, who can tell? If I didn't have to hold my hand because of my parents I'd have given notice long ago, I'd have gone to the chief and told him exactly what I think of him. That would knock him endways from his desk! It's a queer way of doing, too, this sitting on high at a desk and talking down to employees, especially when they have to come quite near because the chief is hard of hearing.Well, there's still hope; once I've saved enough money to pay back my parents' debts to him--that should take another five or six years--I'll do it without fail. I'll cut myself completely loose then. For the moment, though, I'd better get up, since my train goes at five. --Franz Kafka, from The Metamorphosis (1912) Based on the passage, which is the most logical conclusion to draw about Gregor's personality?

What Has Happened to Gregor? As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was lying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes. What has happened to me? he thought. It was no dream. His room, a regular human bedroom, only rather too small, lay quiet between the four familiar walls. Above the table on which a collection of cloth samples was unpacked and spread out--Samsa was a commercial traveler-- hung the picture which he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and put into a pretty gilt frame. It showed a lady, with a fur cap on and a fur stole, sitting upright and holding out to the spectator a huge fur muff into which the whole of her forearm had vanished! . . . . He slid down again into his former position. This getting up early, he thought, makes one quite stupid. A man needs his sleep. Other commercials live like harem women. For instance, when I come back to the hotel of a morning to write up the orders I've got, these others are only sitting down to breakfast. Let me just try that with my chief; I'd be sacked on the spot. Anyhow, that might be quite a good thing for me, who can tell? If I didn't have to hold my hand because of my parents I'd have given notice long ago, I'd have gone to the chief and told him exactly what I think of him. That would knock him endways from his desk! It's a queer way of doing, too, this sitting on high at a desk and talking down to employees, especially when they have to come quite near because the chief is hard of hearing.Well, there's still hope; once I've saved enough money to pay back my parents' debts to him--that should take another five or six years--I'll do it without fail. I'll cut myself completely loose then. For the moment, though, I'd better get up, since my train goes at five. --Franz Kafka, from The Metamorphosis (1912) In lines 4748, Gregor tells himself, "I'd better get up, since my train goes at five." This suggests that

How Are Robots Different from Humans? [Helena is talking to Domain, the general manager of Rossum's Universal Robots factory.] DOMAIN: Well, any one who's looked into anatomy will have seen at once that man is too complicated, and that a good engineer could make him more simply. So young Rossum began to overhaul anatomy and tried to see what could be left out or simplified. In short-- but this isn't boring you,Miss Glory? HELENA: No; on the contrary, it's awfully interesting. DOMAIN: So young Rossum said to himself: A man is something that, for instance, feels happy, plays the fiddle, likes going for walks, and, in fact, wants to do a whole lot of things that are really unnecessary. HELENA: Oh! DOMAIN:Wait a bit. That are unnecessary when he's wanted, let us say, to weave or to count. Do you play the fiddle? HELENA: No. DOMAIN: That's a pity. But a working machine must not want to play the fiddle,must not feel happy,must not do a whole lot of other things. A petrol motor must not have tassels or ornaments, Miss Glory. And to manufacture artificial workers is the same thing as to manufacture motors. The process must be of the simplest, and the product of the best from a practical point of view.What sort of worker do you think is the best from a practical point of view? HELENA: The best? Perhaps the one who is most honest and hard-working. DOMAIN: No, the cheapest. The one whose needs are the smallest. Young Rossum invented a worker with the minimum amount of requirements. He had to simplify him. He rejected everything that did not contribute directly to the progress of work. In this way he rejected everything that made man more expensive. In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot. My dear Miss Glory, the Robots are not people. Mechanically they are more perfect than we are, they have an enormously developed intelligence, but they have no soul. Have you ever seen what a Robot looks like inside? HELENA: Good gracious, no! DOMAIN: Very neat, very simple. Really a beautiful piece of work. Not much in it, but everything in flawless order. The product of an engineer is technically at a higher pitch of perfection than a product of nature. HELENA: Man is supposed to be the product of nature. DOMAIN: So much the worse. --Karel C apek, from R.U.R. (1923, translated by P. Selver) Based on the passage, Rossum is most likely

What's Wrong with Commercial Television? Kids who watch much commercial television ought to develop into whizzes at the dialect; you have to keep so much in your mind at once because a series of artificially short attention spans has been created. But this in itself means that the experience of watching the commercial channels is a more informal one, curiously more `homely' than watching BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation]. This is because the commercial breaks are constant reminders that the medium itself is artificial, isn't, in fact, "real," even if the gesticulating heads, unlike the giants of the movie screen, are life-size. There is a kind of built-in alienation effect. Everything you see is false, as Tristan Tzara gnomically opined. And the young lady in the St. Bruno tobacco ads who currently concludes her spiel by stating categorically: "And if you believe that, you'll believe anything," is saying no more than the truth. The long-term effect of habitually watching commercial television is probably an erosion of trust in the television medium itself. Since joy is the message of all commercials, it is as well they breed skepticism. Every story has a happy ending, gratification is guaranteed by the conventions of the commercial form, which contributes no end to the pervasive unreality of it all. Indeed, it is the chronic bliss of everybody in the commercials that creates their final divorce from effective life as we know it. Grumpy mum, frowning dad, are soon all smiles again after the ingestion of some pill or potion; minimal concessions are made to mild frustration (as they are, occasionally, to lust), but none at all to despair or consummation. In fact, if the form is reminiscent of the limerick and the presentation of the music-hall, the overall mood--in its absolute and unruffled decorum-- is that of the uplift fables in the Sunday school picture books of my childhood. --Angela Carter, from Shaking a Leg (1997) According to the author, what is the main difference between commercial channels and public television stations like the BBC?

What Is the Work-Study Program? Overview of the Work-Study Program The Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program is a student employment program subsidized by the federal government and designed to help students finance their post-secondary education. The program provides funds to colleges, universities, and affiliated organizations which then provide employment to work-study students. Students receive their work- study financial awards in the form of paychecks from their work-study positions. Applying for Work-Study Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to apply. Work-Study grants are awarded based upon demonstrated financial need. To apply, students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This application must be submitted each year Work-Study employment is desired. What Are the Advantages ofWork-Study? A work-study job is essentially just like any other job--you go to work, do your job, and get paid. But Work- Study positions have several distinct advantages over "regular" jobs: What Types ofWork-Study Jobs Are Available? The work-study positions at Madison Community College are as diverse as the functions of the college. Work-study students are employed as clerical assistants, data entry clerks, computer technicians, laboratory monitors, research assistants, language tutors, and more. In addition, Madison Community College has long-standing relationships with a number of employers and agencies that provide services for the community and have been approved to participate in the Federal Work-Study Program, including the Madison County Children's Museum, the Madison County Library, Children First Day Care, and Right Start Tutoring Agency. Students may be employed as museum guides, library aides, child caregivers, research assistants, tutors, and more. Based on the information in the passage, you should apply for Work-Study if