What does the author mean?
Read a Literary Passage · ELPAC Grades 6–8 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
A short story or scene, with questions about characters, events and what words mean in context.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
Words in Between
Since the fourth grade, Lan had been her family's translator. She explained letters from the gas company, argued with the automated phone menu at the bank, and once spent a whole Saturday helping her father fill out a form for a fishing license. She was good at it. Most of the time she did not even notice she was doing it.
The parent-teacher conference was different, because this time the conversation was about her. Ms. Delgado slid a progress report across the table and explained, pleasantly, that Lan's science grade had slipped because three lab reports were missing.
Her father looked at Lan, waiting. Lan looked at the progress report. "She says I am doing well in science," Lan told him in Vietnamese, "but I need to turn in a few things."
It was not a lie, exactly. It was a translation with the sharp corners sanded off. Her father nodded and smiled at Ms. Delgado, and Ms. Delgado smiled back, and for a moment everyone at the table seemed perfectly satisfied except Lan.
Walking to the car afterward, she felt the missing reports in her chest like three stones. At the curb, she stopped. "Ba," she said, "I left something out." This time she translated every word, including the ones she wished were different. Her father listened without interrupting. Then he unlocked the car and said, "Tonight we will sit at the kitchen table, and you will show me the first one."
The question
Choose the best answer.
Read this sentence from the passage: "It was a translation with the sharp corners sanded off." What does the author mean?
- Lan gave a softened version that left out the parts that would upset her father.Correct answer
- Lan used words that were too difficult for her father to understand.
- Lan invented a message that had nothing to do with what the teacher said.
- Lan translated carefully, word for word.
Why “Lan gave a softened version that left out the parts that would upset her father.” is correct
This tests figurative language. Sanding off sharp corners makes something smooth and harmless to touch, so a translation with its corners sanded off keeps the general shape but removes the parts that would hurt. The sentence before it, "It was not a lie, exactly," rules out the idea that Lan made something up.
Why the other answers are wrong
- Lan used words that were too difficult for her father to understand. — Lan's version is simpler than the teacher's, not harder.
- Lan invented a message that had nothing to do with what the teacher said. — The author says it "was not a lie, exactly"; Lan does mention science and things to turn in.
- Lan translated carefully, word for word. — A word-for-word translation would have kept the missing reports, which are exactly what she left out.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 6–8, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 6–8. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the California Department of Education or the official ELPAC program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published task formats.