Problem: It was Saturday when the entire summer world was bright and fresh. Tom looked at the fence, which was long and high, feeling all enthusiasm leaving him. He dipped his brush into the whitewash before moving it along the top board of the fence. He knew other boys would arrive soon with all minds of interesting plans for this day. As walking past him, they would tease him for having to work on a beautiful Saturday--which burnt him like fire.

He, putting his hands into his pockets and taking out all he owned with the expectation of letting someone paint, found nothing that could buy half an hour of freedom. At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea occurred to him, pouring a great bright light into his mind. He took up his brush and continued to work pleasantly with calm and quietness.

Presently, Ben Rogers came in sight--munching an apple and making joyful noises like the sound of a riverboat as he walked along. Tom went on whitewashing, paying no attention to the steamboat. "Hello!" Ben said, "I'm going swimming, but you can't go, can you?"

No answer. Tom moved his brush gently along the fence and surveyed the result. Ben came nearer. Tom's mouth watered for Ben's apple while he kept painting the fence.

Ben said, "That's a lot of work, isn't it?"

Tom turned suddenly saying "Here you are! Ben! I didn't notice you."

"I'm going swimming," Ben said. "Don't you wish you could go? Or would you rather work?" Tom said, "Work? What do you mean 'work'?"

"Isn't that work?" Tom continued painting and answered carelessly, "Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. All I know is it suits Tom Sawyer."

"Do you mean that you enjoy it?"

"I don't see why I oughtn't to enjoy it."

"Does a boy have a chance to paint a fence frequently" said Tom.

Ben stopped munching his apple.

Tom moved his brush back and forth--stepped back to note the effect--added a little paint here and there. Ben watched every move, getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed. After a short time, he said, "Tom, let me whitewash a little."

Tom seemed to be thinking for a moment before he said, "No, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. If it was the back fence, maybe you could do it. But this fence beside the street is where everybody can see it. It has to be done right."

"Oh, come on, let me try. I'll be careful. Listen, Tom. I'll give you part of my apple if you let me paint." "No, Ben, I'm afraid--" "I'll give you all the apple!"

Tom handed the brush to Ben with unwillingness on his face but _ in his heart. While the riverboat worked and sweated in the hot sun, Tom, an artist sat in the shade close by, munching his apple, and planning how he could trick more of the boys.

Before long there were enough boys each of whom came along the street; stopped to laugh but soon begged to be allowed to paint. By the middle of the afternoon, Tom had got many treasures while the fence had had three layers of whitewash on it. If he hadn't run out of whitewash, he would have owned everything belonging to the boys in the village.

Tom said to himself that the world was not so depressing after all. He had discovered a great law of human action: in order to make a man cover a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.
1. what was Tom's plan?
2. what would the boys do as they walked past?
3. for what?
4. did it bother him?
5. how badly?
6. who was the first boy to approach?
7. what was he eating?
8. where was he headed?
9. did tom convince him painting was fun?
10. did Ben want to paint?
11. did Tom let him?
12. in exchange for what?
13. Did other boys want to paint?
14. did they give Tom items too?
15. how many layers of paint were there?
16. why did the boys stop painting?
17. what had Tom discovered?
18. what was that?
19. were the boys tricked?
20. what did he take from his pockets?
Answer: 1. letting someone paint
2. tease him
3. having to work on a beautiful Saturday
4. yes
5. burnt him like fire
6. Ben Rogers
7. an apple
8. swimming
9. yes
10. yes
11. yes
12. his apple
13. yes
14. yes
15. three
16. he ran out of whitewash
17. a great law of human action
18. in order to make a man cover a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain
19. yes
20. all he owned

Problem: (CNN)It was in a New York cab. That's when Grammy Award-winning signer Angelique Kidjo realized the extent that "fear-bola" had spread.

"The driver just asked, 'where are you from?' Of course I have an accent, and I'm not going to hide the fact that I'm from West Africa. Then he said, 'Ebola', and I said, 'do I LOOK like I have Ebola?'"

Later, when announcing her recently wrapped up Carnegie Hall tribute to South African singer Miriam Makeba, aka, Mama Africa, the trolls came out again.

"It should be Mama Ebola," one wrote, and "I wonder if she is bringing any Ebloa (sic) with her?" chimed in another.

"Until that point, I felt the hysteria of it, but I kept saying to myself, 'it's just the media.' Then it comes to you direct."

Overall, she's not been impressed with how the Western media has covered the epidemic. In her opinion, the current coverage represents a tragically lost opportunity.

"I thought Ebola would bring greater journalism, that they'd write about the need for great nurses and great doctors, or how every human being on this planet has the right to a good healthcare system," she confesses. Clearly, she's been disappointed.

"I hoped they'd show the beauty of the people. But it's much more dramatic and more entertaining to show us dying."

In typical Kidjo fashion, she channeled her outrage into advocacy, and penned a New York Times op-ed. That is how the Benin-born singer-songwriter operates. When something makes her angry, she speaks out.
1. Who was the singer who realized how scared people are of ebola?
2. The Singer who figured it out in a taxi?
3. What did the taxi driver ask her?
4. Why?
5. What was he concerned about?
6. What isMiriam Makeba's alias?
7. What did one mean person say it should be?
8. Does she think the media has does a good job covering the outbreak?
9. What does she think they should be reporting?
10. What did they report instead?
11. What did she do in response?
Answer:
1. Miriam Makeba
2. Angelique Kidjo
3. 'where are you from?'
4. because she had an accent
5. Ebola
6. Mama Africa
7. Mama Ebola
8. no
9. about the need for great nurses and doctors
10. people dying
11. penned a New York Times op-ed