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English 24 Online
pandalove:

Assessment items Assessment started: undefined. Item 1 Read the passage. Dark Star Giselle leaned against the mahogany bay horse, stroking the white diamond-shaped star on its forehead and looking into its soulful brown eyes. “Hey, my man,” she whispered. Dark Star angled his head around, cautiously sniffed at the cast on Giselle’s forearm, and then nuzzled her neck and lightly stamped a hoof on the floor of his stall. “I’m okay. I missed you, too,” she said. Then she retrieved some green apple slices from a resealable plastic bag and fed them one by one to the horse. “Today is our day to pick up where we left off, so here’s a little something to give you energy,” she told the horse. Ever since she was a little girl, Giselle had loved horses, and she devoured books like The Black Stallion, Black Beauty, and National Velvet. When she was eight years old, Giselle moved to the country with her parents and baby twin brothers. The open field behind their home was a blank page begging to be filled. But when she asked her parents if she could have a horse, they told her they just couldn’t afford it. Instead Giselle decorated the walls of her room with posters of horses and pictures she drew. One day, she promised herself, she would learn to ride a horse and maybe even have one of her own. Not content with just books, pictures, and posters, Giselle would often climb the hill behind her home to watch Dark Star, the Fletchers’ horse, cantering in the corral. With every visit, she would inch a little closer to the bay. Slowly Dark Star warmed up to her, and one cold spring afternoon, he approached Giselle and gently nudged her, filling her with euphoria. That evening, Giselle heard thunder drumming in the distance and looked out her window to see black clouds inking over the dusky light. A storm was gathering strength. It was getting so dark, she couldn’t discern whether the horse was in the corral up on the hill. Alarmed that the Fletchers might have forgotten about Dark Star, Giselle rushed to their front door, summoning the courage to ask if she could be the bay’s guardian. Although Dark Star was safe in the stable, the neighbors were impressed with Giselle’s initiative. That had been two years before, when she was 13, and soon Giselle had reached an agreement with the Fletchers about the equine’s care—a daily ritual that for Giselle became as easy as breathing the country air. “Ready to get out of here?” Dark Star dipped his head in agreement. Giselle ope

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