a sound of thunder by ray bradbury · pdf filea sound of thunder by ray bradbury ... check for...

220 Collection 8: Evaluating StylePart 1

Imagine being able to travel back in time. Many writers have explored thisidea in science fiction stories and movies. You are about to read one of themost popular_and thought-provoking_stories about time travel ever written.

LITERARY FOCUS: STYLE AND MOODA writer’s diction, or word choice, greatly defines a work’s style. Style is alsodetermined by sentence length and complexity. A story that is written inbrief simple sentences, for example, is different in style from a story writtenin long complex sentences. See below:

The use (or non-use) of imagery and figurative language also has an effecton style. In the story you’re about to read, Ray Bradbury uses vivid imageryand figurative language to create a style that is as lush as its prehistoric set-ting. Mood, like style, is also created by diction, sentence length, imagery,and figurative language. A story’s mood, or atmosphere, can be describedusing adjectives like scary, calm, and mysterious. • As you read “A Sound of Thunder,” notice how Bradbury's choice of

words, imagery, and figurative language creates a unique style.• As Bradbury describes the ancient jungle, think about the words you’d

use to describe the story’s mood.

READING SKILLS: CAUSE AND EFFECTThe events in a story are connected by a chain of causes and effects. Oneevent causes another, which causes another, and so on. A cause is thereason something happens. An effect is the result. Certain words_likebecause, consequently, for, so, since, and therefore_can alert you to cause-and-effect relationships.

As you read “A Sound of Thunder,” look for causes and effects. Thereare plenty to find. In fact, the whole story is about how one event causesanother_and another, and another, and . . .

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.

A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

Literary SkillsUnderstandelements of

style, includingfigurative

language andmood.

ReadingSkills

Understandcause-and-effect

relationships.

VocabularySkills

UnderstandGreek and Latin

prefixes andword roots.

Style: More Complex

“It was Miss Murdstone who wasarrived, and a gloomy-looking ladyshe was: dark, like her brother,whom she greatly resembled inface and voice . . .” (from DavidCopperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Style: Simple

The sun rose. The air was warm,my coffee was hot. Nothingstirred. Nothing breathed exceptfor the lizard. That lizard couldoutstare a rock.

A Sound of Thunder 221

annihilate (¥·n¢!¥·l†t") v.: destroy; wipe out.

If we continue to destroy the region's forests, wemay also annihilate the wildlife that lives there.

expendable (ek·spen!d¥·b¥l) adj.: worth sacri-ficing to gain an objective.

The officers regretted the loss but considered theground troops expendable.

depression (d#·presh!¥n) n.: major economicdownturn. (Depression also means “sadness.”)

A depression hit the country, resulting in wide-spread unemployment and homelessness.

paradox (par!¥·däks") n.: something that has orseems to have contradictory qualities.

The paradox is that sometimes we are loneliestwhen we are in a crowd of people.

delirium (di·lir!#·¥m) n.: extreme mental distur-bance, often accompanied by hallucinations(seeing things that are not there).

In his delirium, he imagined he was seeinggiant insects.

resilient (ri·zil!y¥nt) adj.: able to return to itsoriginal shape quickly after being stretched orcompressed; elastic.

This resilient fabric springs back to its originalshape no matter how you stretch it.

remit (ri·mit!) v.: return payment.

The company will remit, or return, full paymentif the consumers are not satisfied.

revoke (ri·v£k!) v.: cancel; withdraw.

They can revoke your club membership if youfail to attend meetings.

primeval (pr¢·m#!v¥l) adj.: primitive; of the earliest times.

In the prehistoric world, giant lizards crashedthrough the primeval forest.

subliminal (sub·lim!¥·n¥l) adj.: below the level ofawareness.

Unaware of the movie’s subliminal message tobuy food, the audience flocked to buy snacks.

PREVIEW SELECTION VOCABULARYThe following words appear in the story you are about to read. You may wantto become familiar with them before you begin reading.

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.

PREFIXES AND WORD ROOTSA prefix is a word part that comes before a word root and affects its meaning.A knowledge of prefixes can help you figure out the meanings of unfamiliarwords. It can also help you use and understand a wider variety of words. Theword remit, for example, contains the prefix re-, which means “back.” It alsocontains the word root mit, which means “send.” When you remit something,you send it back.

When you come across an unfamiliar word, look for a prefix or word root yourecognize to help you figure out the word’s meaning.

The sign on the wall seemed to quaver under a film of sliding

warm water. Eckels felt his eyelids blink over his stare, and the

sign burned in this momentary darkness:

TIME SAFARI, INC. SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST.

YOU NAME THE ANIMAL. WE TAKE YOU THERE. YOU SHOOT IT.

A warm phlegm gathered in Eckels’s throat; he swallowed and

pushed it down. The muscles around his mouth formed a smile as

he put his hand slowly out upon the air, and in that hand waved a

check for ten thousand dollars to the man behind the desk.

“Does this safari guarantee I come back alive?”

“We guarantee nothing,” said the official, “except the

dinosaurs.” He turned. “This is Mr. Travis, your Safari Guide in

the Past. He’ll tell you what and where to shoot. If he says no

shooting, no shooting. If you disobey instructions, there’s a stiff

penalty of another ten thousand dollars, plus possible govern-

ment action, on your return.”

10

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


Pause at line 16. Why do youthink there is such a stiffpenalty for disobeyinginstructions?

Pause after you read the sign(lines 4-5). Underline theinformation that seemsunusual. Based on this infor-mation, when do you thinkthe story takes place?

“A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury. Copyright © 1952 by the Crowell-Collier Publishing Co.; copyrightrenewed © 1980 by Ray Bradbury. Reprinted by permission of Don Congdon Associates, Inc.

Pete

r B

olli

ng

er.

A Sound of Thunder

Ray Bradbury

Eckels glanced across the vast office at a mass and tangle,

a snaking and humming of wires and steel boxes, at an aurora1

that flickered now orange, now silver, now blue. There was

a sound like a gigantic bonfire burning all of Time, all the years

and all the parchment calendars, all the hours piled high and set

aflame.

A touch of the hand and this burning would, on the

instant, beautifully reverse itself. Eckels remembered the word-

ing in the advertisements to the letter. Out of chars and ashes,

out of dust and coals, like golden salamanders, the old years, the

green years, might leap; roses sweeten the air, white hair turn

Irish-black, wrinkles vanish; all, everything fly back to seed, flee

death, rush down to their beginnings, suns rise in western skies

and set in glorious easts, moons eat themselves opposite to the

custom, all and everything cupping one in another like Chinese

boxes2, rabbits into hats, all and everything returning to the

fresh death, the seed death, the green death, to the time before

the beginning. A touch of a hand might do it, the merest touch

of a hand.

“Unbelievable.” Eckels breathed, the light of the Machine

on his thin face. “A real Time Machine.” He shook his head.

“Makes you think. If the election had gone badly yesterday, I

might be here now running away from the results. Thank God

Keith won. He’ll make a fine President of the United States.”

“Yes,” said the man behind the desk. “We’re lucky. If

Deutscher had gotten in, we’d have the worst kind of dictator-

ship. There’s an anti-everything man for you, a militarist, anti-

Christ, anti-human, anti-intellectual. People called us up, you

know, joking but not joking. Said if Deutscher became President

they wanted to go live in 1492. Of course it’s not our business to

conduct Escapes, but to form Safaris. Anyway, Keith’s President

now. All you got to worry about is—”

20

30

40

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


Pause at line 43. Who werethe two candidates for presi-dent of the United States?Circle their names. Whichone won the election?

Re-read lines 17-35, and underline examples of figurative language (simile,metaphor, personification).

Anti- is a prefix meaning“against.” According to thedescription of Deutscher inlines 43-44, what is he“against”?

1. aurora (ô·rôr!¥) n.: Bradbury is comparing the glow coming from thetime machine to an aurora, a colorful display of light that appears atnight in the skies near the North and South Poles.

2. Chinese boxes: set of boxes, each of which fits into the next-largestone.

“Shooting my dinosaur,” Eckels finished it for him.

“A Tyrannosaurus rex. The Tyrant Lizard, the most incredi-

ble monster in history. Sign this release. Anything happens to

you, we’re not responsible. Those dinosaurs are hungry.”

Eckels flushed angrily. “Trying to scare me!”

“Frankly, yes. We don’t want anyone going who’ll panic at the

first shot. Six Safari leaders were killed last year, and a dozen

hunters. We’re here to give you the severest thrill a real hunter ever

asked for. Traveling you back sixty million years to bag the biggest

game in all of Time. Your personal check’s still there. Tear it up.”

Mr. Eckels looked at the check. His fingers twitched.

“Good luck,” said the man behind the desk. “Mr. Travis, he’s

all yours.”

They moved silently across the room, taking their guns

with them, toward the Machine, toward the silver metal and the

roaring light.

First a day and then a night and then a day and then a night,

then it was day-night-day-night-day. A week, a month, a year, a

decade! A.D. 2055. A.D. 2019. 1999! 1957! Gone! The Machine

roared.

They put on their oxygen helmets and tested the intercoms.

Eckels swayed on the padded seat, his face pale, his jaw stiff.

He felt the trembling in his arms, and he looked down and

found his hands tight on the new rifle. There were four other

men in the Machine. Travis, the Safari Leader; his assistant,

Lesperance; and two other hunters, Billings and Kramer. They

sat looking at each other, and the years blazed around them.

“Can these guns get a dinosaur cold?” Eckels felt his mouth

saying.

“If you hit them right,” said Travis on the helmet radio.

“Some dinosaurs have two brains, one in the head, another far

down the spinal column. We stay away from those. That’s

stretching luck. Put your first two shots into the eyes, if you can,

blind them, and go back into the brain.”

50

60

70

80

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


Re-read lines 54-58. What dothese details suggest aboutTime Safari, Inc.?

Circle the words in lines 76-77 that mean “Eckelssaid.” What does this phrasereveal about Eckels?

Pause at line 52. What ani-mal is Eckels hunting? Circlethe answer.

The Machine howled. Time was a film run backward. Suns

fled and ten million moons fled after them. “Think,” said Eckels.

“Every hunter that ever lived would envy us today. This makes

Africa seem like Illinois.”

The Machine slowed; its scream fell to a murmur. The

Machine stopped.

The sun stopped in the sky.

The fog that had enveloped the Machine blew away and

they were in an old time, a very old time indeed, three hunters

and two Safari Heads with their blue metal guns across their

knees.

“Christ isn’t born yet,” said Travis. “Moses has not gone to

the mountain to talk with God. The Pyramids are still in the

earth, waiting to be cut out and put up. Remember that.

Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler—none of them exists.”

The men nodded.

“That”—Mr. Travis pointed—“is the jungle of sixty mil-

lion two thousand and fifty-five years before President Keith.”

He indicated a metal path that struck off into green wilder-

ness, over streaming swamp, among giant ferns and palms.

“And that,” he said, “is the Path, laid by Time Safari for

your use. It floats six inches above the earth. Doesn’t touch so

much as one grass blade, flower, or tree. It’s an anti-gravity

metal. Its purpose is to keep you from touching this world of the

Past in any way. Stay on the Path. Don’t go off it. I repeat. Don’t

go off. For any reason! If you fall off, there’s a penalty. And don’t

shoot any animal we don’t okay.”

“Why?” asked Eckels.

They sat in the ancient wilderness. Far birds’ cries blew on

a wind, and the smell of tar and an old salt sea, moist grasses,

and flowers the color of blood.

“We don’t want to change the Future. We don’t belong here

in the Past. The government doesn’t like us here. We have to pay

big graft3 to keep our franchise. A Time Machine is finicky

90

100

110

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


3. graft n.: bribes.

Underline the sentence inlines 103-107 that tells youthe purpose of “the Path.”Why do you think the term iscapitalized?

Re-read lines 111-113, whichare full of imagery. To whatsenses do these imagesappeal?

business. Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, a

small bird, a roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important

link in a growing species.”

“That’s not clear,” said Eckels.

“All right,” Travis continued, “say we accidentally kill one

mouse here. That means all the future families of this one par-

ticular mouse are destroyed, right?”

“Right.”

“And all the families of the families of the families of that

one mouse! With a stamp of your foot, you annihilate first one,

then a dozen, then a thousand, a million, a billion possible

mice!”

“So they’re dead,” said Eckels. “So what?”

“So what?” Travis snorted quietly. “Well, what about the

foxes that’ll need those mice to survive? For want of ten mice, a

fox dies. For want of ten foxes, a lion starves. For want of a lion,

all manner of insects, vultures, infinite billions of life forms are

thrown into chaos and destruction. Eventually it all boils down to

this: Fifty-nine million years later, a cave man, one of a dozen in

the entire world, goes hunting wild boar or saber-toothed tiger

for food. But you, friend, have stepped on all the tigers in that

region. By stepping on one single mouse. So the cave man starves.

And the cave man, please note, is not just any expendable man,

no! He is an entire future nation. From his loins would have

sprung ten sons. From their loins one hundred sons, and thus

onward to a civilization. Destroy this one man, and you destroy a

race, a people, an entire history of life. It is comparable to slaying

some of Adam’s grandchildren. The stomp of your foot, on one

mouse, could start an earthquake, the effects of which could

shake our earth and destinies down through Time, to their very

foundations. With the death of that one cave man, a billion oth-

ers yet unborn are throttled in the womb. Perhaps Rome never

rises on its seven hills. Perhaps Europe is forever a dark forest,

and only Asia waxes healthy and teeming.4 Step on a mouse and

120

130

140

150

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


NotesNotes

annihilate (¥·n¢!¥·l†t") v.:destroy; wipe out.

expendable (ek·spen!d¥·b¥l)adj.: worth sacrificing to gainan objective.

In this long paragraph (lines130-155), Travis explains thepossible effects of steppingoff the path and killing amouse. Each effect, in turn,becomes the cause of anoth-er event. What is the finaleffect Travis mentions?

4. teeming (t#m!i«) adj.: swarming; overflowing.

you crush the Pyramids. Step on a mouse and you leave your

print, like a Grand Canyon, across Eternity. Queen Elizabeth

might never be born, Washington might not cross the Delaware,

there might never be a United States at all. So be careful. Stay on

the Path. Never step off!”

“I see,” said Eckels. “Then it wouldn’t pay for us even to

touch the grass?”

“Correct. Crushing certain plants could add up infinitesi-

mally.5 A little error here would multiply in sixty million years,

all out of proportion. Of course maybe our theory is wrong.

Maybe Time can’t be changed by us. Or maybe it can be changed

only in little subtle ways. A dead mouse here makes an insect

imbalance there, a population disproportion later, a bad harvest

further on, a depression, mass starvation, and, finally, a change

in social temperament in far-flung countries. Something much

more subtle, like that. Perhaps only a soft breath, a whisper, a

hair, pollen on the air, such a slight, slight change that unless

you looked close you wouldn’t see it. Who knows? Who really

can say he knows? We don’t know. We’re guessing. But until we

do know for certain whether our messing around in Time can

make a big roar or a little rustle in history, we’re being careful.

160

170

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


NotesNotes

depression (d#·pre$!¥n) n.:major economic downturn.

What does Travis mean whenhe says he’s not sure whether“messing around in Time canmake a big roar or a littlerustle in history” (lines 169-171)?

5. infinitesimally (in"fin·i·tes!i·m¥l·#) adv.: in amounts too small to bemeasured.

Pete

r B

olli

ng

er.

This Machine, this Path, your clothing and bodies, were steril-

ized, as you know, before the journey. We wear these oxygen

helmets so we can’t introduce our bacteria into an ancient

atmosphere.”

“How do we know which animals to shoot?”

“They’re marked with red paint,” said Travis. “Today, before

our journey, we sent Lesperance here back with the Machine. He

came to this particular era and followed certain animals.”

“Studying them?”

“Right,” said Lesperance. “I track them through their entire

existence, noting which of them lives longest. Very few. How

many times they mate. Not often. Life’s short. When I find one

that’s going to die when a tree falls on him, or one that drowns

in a tar pit, I note the exact hour, minute, and second. I shoot a

paint bomb. It leaves a red patch on his side. We can’t miss it.

Then I correlate our arrival in the Past so that we meet the

Monster not more than two minutes before he would have died

anyway. This way, we kill only animals with no future, that are

never going to mate again. You see how careful we are?”

“But if you came back this morning in Time,” said Eckels

eagerly, “you must’ve bumped into us, our Safari! How did it

turn out? Was it successful? Did all of us get through—alive?”

Travis and Lesperance gave each other a look.

“That’d be a paradox,” said the latter. “Time doesn’t permit

that sort of mess—a man meeting himself. When such occa-

sions threaten, Time steps aside. Like an airplane hitting an air

pocket. You felt the Machine jump just before we stopped? That

was us passing ourselves on the way back to the Future. We saw

nothing. There’s no way of telling if this expedition was a suc-

cess, if we got our monster, or whether all of us—meaning you,

Mr. Eckels—got out alive.”

Eckels smiled palely.

“Cut that,” said Travis sharply. “Everyone on his feet!”

They were ready to leave the Machine.

180

190

200

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


Re-read lines 195-202. Whatdo you think? Will the expe-dition be a success, or will itend in tragedy?

Pause at line 175. Why dothe travelers wear sterilizedclothing and oxygen helmets?

Pause at line 190. Why areonly animals that are aboutto die anyway chosen forhunting?

paradox (par!¥·däks") n.:something that has or seemsto have contradictory qualities.

The jungle was high and the jungle was broad and the jun-

gle was the entire world forever and forever. Sounds like music

and sounds like flying tents filled the sky, and those were ptero-

dactyls soaring with cavernous gray wings, gigantic bats of

delirium and night fever. Eckels, balanced on the narrow Path,

aimed his rifle playfully.

“Stop that!” said Travis. “Don’t even aim for fun, blast you!

If your guns should go off—”

Eckels flushed. “Where’s our Tyrannosaurus?”

Lesperance checked his wristwatch. “Up ahead. We’ll bisect

his trail in sixty seconds. Look for the red paint! Don’t shoot till

we give the word. Stay on the Path. Stay on the Path!”

They moved forward in the wind of morning.

“Strange,” murmured Eckels. “Up ahead, sixty million years,

Election Day over. Keith made President. Everyone celebrating.

And here we are, a million years lost, and they don’t exist. The

things we worried about for months, a lifetime, not even born

or thought of yet.”

“Safety catches off, everyone!” ordered Travis. “You, first

shot, Eckels. Second, Billings. Third, Kramer.”

“I’ve hunted tiger, wild boar, buffalo, elephant, but now,

this is it,” said Eckels. “I’m shaking like a kid.”

“Ah,” said Travis.

Everyone stopped.

Travis raised his hand. “Ahead,” he whispered. “In the mist.

There he is. There’s His Royal Majesty now.”

The jungle was wide and full of twitterings, rustlings, mur-

murs, and sighs.

Suddenly it all ceased, as if someone had shut a door.

Silence.

A sound of thunder.

Out of the mist, one hundred yards away, came

Tyrannosaurus rex.

“It,” whispered Eckels. “It . . .”

“Sh!”

210

220

230

240

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


Pause at line 217. The guideskeep telling Eckels, “Stay onthe Path!” What do theirwarnings lead you to predict?

delirium (di·lir!#·¥m) n.:extreme mental disturbance,often accompanied by hallu-cinations (seeing things thatare not there).

Pause at line 231. Whommight Travis be referring toas “His Royal Majesty”?

Re-read lines 206-211, andcircle repeated words. Then,underline the imaginativedescription of pterodactyls.How would you describe thestyle of the writing here?

It came on great oiled, resilient, striding legs. It towered

thirty feet above half of the trees, a great evil god, folding its deli-

cate watchmaker’s claws close to its oily reptilian chest. Each

lower leg was a piston, a thousand pounds of white bone, sunk

in thick ropes of muscle, sheathed over in a gleam of pebbled

skin like the mail6 of a terrible warrior. Each thigh was a ton of

meat, ivory, and steel mesh. And from the great breathing cage

of the upper body those two delicate arms dangled out front,

arms with hands which might pick up and examine men like

toys, while the snake neck coiled. And the head itself, a ton of

sculptured stone, lifted easily upon the sky. Its mouth gaped,

exposing a fence of teeth like daggers. Its eyes rolled, ostrich

eggs, empty of all expression save hunger. It closed its mouth in

a death grin. It ran, its pelvic bones crushing aside trees and

bushes, its taloned feet clawing damp earth, leaving prints six

inches deep wherever it settled its weight. It ran with a gliding

ballet step, far too poised and balanced for its ten tons. It moved

into a sunlit arena warily, its beautifully reptilian hands feeling

the air.

“Why, why,” Eckels twitched his mouth. “It could reach up

and grab the moon.”

“Sh!” Travis jerked angrily. “He hasn’t seen us yet.”

“It can’t be killed.” Eckels pronounced this verdict quietly,

as if there could be no argument. He had weighed the evidence

and this was his considered opinion. The rifle in his hands

seemed a cap gun. “We were fools to come. This is impossible.”

“Shut up!” hissed Travis.

“Nightmare.”

“Turn around,” commanded Travis. “Walk quietly to the

Machine. We’ll remit one half your fee.”

“I didn’t realize it would be this big,” said Eckels. “I miscal-

culated, that’s all. And now I want out.”

“It sees us!”

“There’s the red paint on its chest!”

250

260

270

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


resilient (ri·zil!y¥nt) adj.: ableto return to its original shapequickly after being stretchedor compressed; elastic.

The author uses rich figurative language in lines 241-259. Underline at leastfour metaphors or similesthat help you visualize thefearsome dinosaur.

Read the boxed passagealoud twice. Focus on read-ing the figures of speechclearly and dramatically.

remit (ri·mit!) v.: return payment.

NotesNotes

6. mail n.: here, flexible metal armor.

The Tyrant Lizard raised itself. Its armored flesh glittered

like a thousand green coins. The coins, crusted with slime,

steamed. In the slime, tiny insects wriggled, so that the entire

body seemed to twitch and undulate,7 even while the monster

itself did not move. It exhaled. The stink of raw flesh blew down

the wilderness.

“Get me out of here,” said Eckels. “It was never like this

before. I was always sure I’d come through alive. I had good

guides, good safaris, and safety. This time, I figured wrong. I’ve

met my match and admit it. This is too much for me to get hold

of.”

“Don’t run,” said Lesperance. “Turn around. Hide in the

Machine.”

“Yes.” Eckels seemed to be numb. He looked at his feet as if

trying to make them move. He gave a grunt of helplessness.

“Eckels!”

He took a few steps, blinking, shuffling.

“Not that way!”

The Monster, at the first motion, lunged forward with a

terrible scream. It covered one hundred yards in six seconds.

The rifles jerked up and blazed fire. A windstorm from the

beast’s mouth engulfed them in the stench of slime and old

blood. The Monster roared, teeth glittering with sun.

Eckels, not looking back, walked blindly to the edge of the

Path, his gun limp in his arms, stepped off the Path, and walked,

not knowing it, in the jungle. His feet sank into green moss. His

legs moved him, and he felt alone and remote from the events

behind.

The rifles cracked again. Their sound was lost in shriek and

lizard thunder. The great level of the reptile’s tail swung up,

lashed sideways. Trees exploded in clouds of leaf and branch.

The Monster twitched its jeweler’s hands down to fondle at the

men, to twist them in half, to crush them like berries, to cram

them into its teeth and its screaming throat. Its boulder-stone

280

290

300

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


How does Eckels react whenhe sees the dinosaur (lines260-287)? What do theguides tell him to do?

Pause at line 302. What causes Eckels to step off thepath? What effect might thisaction have?

7. undulate (un!j¥·l†t") v.: move in waves.

eyes leveled with the men. They saw themselves mirrored. They

fired at the metallic eyelids and the blazing black iris.

Like a stone idol, like a mountain avalanche, Tyrannosaurus

fell. Thundering, it clutched trees, pulled them with it. It

wrenched and tore the metal Path. The men flung themselves

back and away. The body hit, ten tons of cold flesh and stone.

The guns fired. The Monster lashed its armored tail, twitched its

snake jaws, and lay still. A fount of blood spurted from its

throat. Somewhere inside, a sac of fluids burst. Sickening gushes

drenched the hunters. They stood, red and glistening.

The thunder faded.

The jungle was silent. After the avalanche, a green peace.

After the nightmare, morning.

Billings and Kramer sat on the pathway and threw up.

Travis and Lesperance stood with smoking rifles, cursing

steadily.

In the Time Machine, on his face, Eckels lay shivering. He

had found his way back to the Path, climbed into the Machine.

Travis came walking, glanced at Eckels, took cotton gauze

from a metal box, and returned to the others, who were sitting

on the Path.

“Clean up.”

They wiped the blood from their helmets. They began to

curse too. The Monster lay, a hill of solid flesh. Within, you

could hear the sighs and murmurs as the furthest chambers of it

died, the organs malfunctioning, liquids running a final instant

from pocket to sac to spleen, everything shutting off, closing up

forever. It was like standing by a wrecked locomotive or a steam

shovel at quitting time, all valves being released or levered tight.

Bones cracked; the tonnage of its own flesh, off balance, dead

weight, snapped the delicate forearms, caught underneath. The

meat settled, quivering.

Another cracking sound. Overhead, a gigantic tree branch

broke from its heavy mooring, fell. It crashed upon the dead

beast with finality.

310

320

330

340

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


What two things is the dino-saur compared to in line 311?What type of figurative lan-guage is each comparison?

Circle the words in lines 311-318 that help you visual-ize the violent death of thegiant dinosaur.

The prefix mal- means “not”or “bad.” What do you thinkmalfunctioning (line 334)means?

Peter Bollinger.

“There.” Lesperance checked his watch. “Right on time.

That’s the giant tree that was scheduled to fall and kill this ani-

mal originally.” He glanced at the two hunters. “You want the

trophy picture?”

“What?”

“We can’t take a trophy back to the Future. The body has to

stay right here where it would have died originally, so the

insects, birds, and bacteria can get at it, as they were intended to.

Everything in balance. The body stays. But we can take a picture

of you standing near it.”

The two men tried to think, but gave up, shaking their

heads.

They let themselves be led along the metal Path. They sank

wearily into the Machine cushions. They gazed back at the

ruined Monster, the stagnating mound, where already strange

reptilian birds and golden insects were busy at the steaming

armor.

A sound on the floor of the Time Machine stiffened them.

Eckels sat there, shivering.

“I’m sorry,” he said at last.

“Get up!” cried Travis.

Eckels got up.

“Go out on that Path alone,” said Travis. He had his rifle

pointed. “You’re not coming back in the Machine. We’re leaving

you here!”

Lesperance seized Travis’s arm. “Wait—”

“Stay out of this!” Travis shook his hand away. “This fool

nearly killed us. But it isn’t that so much, no. It’s his shoes! Look

at them! He ran off the Path. That ruins us! We’ll forfeit!

Thousands of dollars of insurance! We guarantee no one leaves

the Path. He left it. Oh, the fool! I’ll have to report to the gov-

ernment. They might revoke our license to travel. Who knows

what he’s done to Time, to History!”

350

360

370

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


Pause at line 355. Why doyou think the two hunters,Billings and Kramer, do notwant to take “trophy pictures”?

Re-read lines 369-376.Underline what Travis fearsmight happen because Eckelsstepped off the path.

revoke (ri·v£k!) v.: cancel;withdraw.

“Take it easy, all he did was kick up some dirt.”

“How do we know?” cried Travis. “We don’t know anything!

It’s all a mystery! Get out of here, Eckels!”

Eckels fumbled his shirt. “I’ll pay anything. A hundred

thousand dollars!”

Travis glared at Eckels’s checkbook and spat. “Go out there.

The Monster’s next to the Path. Stick your arms up to your

elbows in his mouth. Then you can come back with us.”

“That’s unreasonable!”

“The Monster’s dead, you idiot. The bullets! The bullets

can’t be left behind. They don’t belong in the Past; they might

change anything. Here’s my knife. Dig them out!”

The jungle was alive again, full of the old tremorings and

bird cries. Eckels turned slowly to regard the primeval garbage

dump, that hill of nightmares and terror. After a long time, like a

sleepwalker he shuffled out along the Path.

He returned, shuddering, five minutes later, his arms

soaked and red to the elbows. He held out his hands. Each held a

number of steel bullets. Then he fell. He lay where he fell, not

moving.

“You didn’t have to make him do that,” said Lesperance.

“Didn’t I? It’s too early to tell.” Travis nudged the still body.

“He’ll live. Next time he won’t go hunting game like this. Okay.”

He jerked his thumb wearily at Lesperance. “Switch on. Let’s go

home.”

1492. 1776. 1812.

They cleaned their hands and faces. They changed their

caking shirts and pants. Eckels was up and around again, not

speaking. Travis glared at him for a full ten minutes.

“Don’t look at me,” cried Eckels. “I haven’t done anything.”

“Who can tell?”

“Just ran off the Path, that’s all, a little mud on my shoes—

what do you want me to do—get down and pray?”

“We might need it. I’m warning you, Eckels, I might kill

you yet. I’ve got my gun ready.”

380

390

400

410

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


Pause at line 388. What doesTravis want Eckels to do aspunishment?

primeval (pr¢·m#!v¥l) adj.:primitive; of the earliesttimes.

NotesNotes

“I’m innocent. I’ve done nothing!”

1999. 2000. 2055.

The Machine stopped.

“Get out,” said Travis.

The room was there as they had left it. But not the same as

they had left it. The same man sat behind the same desk. But the

same man did not quite sit behind the same desk.

Travis looked around swiftly. “Everything okay here?” he

snapped.

“Fine. Welcome home!”

Travis did not relax. He seemed to be looking at the very

atoms of the air itself, at the way the sun poured through the

one high window.

“Okay, Eckels, get out. Don’t ever come back.”

Eckels could not move.

“You heard me,” said Travis. “What’re you staring at?”

Eckels stood smelling of the air, and there was a thing to

the air, a chemical taint so subtle, so slight, that only a faint cry

of his subliminal senses warned him it was there. The colors,

white, gray, blue, orange, in the wall, in the furniture, in the sky

beyond the window, were . . . were . . . And there was a feel. His

flesh twitched. His hands twitched. He stood drinking the odd-

ness with the pores of his body. Somewhere, someone must have

been screaming one of those whistles that only a dog can hear.

His body screamed silence in return. Beyond this room, beyond

this wall, beyond this man who was not quite the same man

seated at this desk that was not quite the same desk . . . lay an

entire world of streets and people. What sort of world it was

now, there was no telling. He could feel them moving there,

beyond the walls, almost, like so many chess pieces blown in a

dry wind. . . .

But the immediate thing was the sign painted on the office

wall, the same sign he had read earlier today on first entering.

Somehow, the sign had changed:

420

430

440

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


Pause at line 415. Do youthink that Eckels will findthat he has “done nothing”when he gets back to thefuture?

Underline clues in lines 416-418 that indicate thatEckels’s actions have had aneffect on life in his present.

subliminal (sub·lim!¥·n¥l)adj.: below the level of awareness.

Circle the sensory images inlines 428-442 that describeEckels’s feeling that some-thing is not right. Why doeshe compare people to chesspieces?

Eckels felt himself fall into a chair. He fumbled crazily at

the thick slime on his boots. He held up a clod of dirt, trem-

bling, “No, it can’t be. Not a little thing like that. No!”

Embedded in the mud, glistening green and gold and black,

was a butterfly, very beautiful and very dead.

“Not a little thing like that! Not a butterfly!” cried Eckels.

It fell to the floor, an exquisite thing, a small thing that

could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes

and then big dominoes and then gigantic dominoes, all down

the years across Time. Eckels’s mind whirled. It couldn’t change

things. Killing one butterfly couldn’t be that important! Could it?

His face was cold. His mouth trembled, asking: “Who—

who won the presidential election yesterday?”

The man behind the desk laughed. “You joking? You know

very well. Deutscher, of course! Who else? Not that fool weakling

Keith. We got an iron man now, a man with guts!” The official

stopped. “What’s wrong?”

Eckels moaned. He dropped to his knees. He scrabbled at

the golden butterfly with shaking fingers. “Can’t we,” he pleaded

to the world, to himself, to the officials, to the Machine, “can’t

we take it back, can’t we make it alive again? Can’t we start over?

Can’t we—”

He did not move. Eyes shut, he waited, shivering. He heard

Travis breathe loud in the room; he heard Travis shift his rifle,

click the safety catch, and raise the weapon.

There was a sound of thunder.

450

460

470

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


Compare this sign with theone at the beginning of thestory. How are they the sameor different?

Pause at line 462. What wasthe main effect of Eckels’skilling of the butterfly?

What is the “sound of thun-der” in line 471?

Tyme Sefari, Inc.Sefaris tu any yeer en the past.

Yu naim the animall.Wee taekyuthair.

Yu shoot itt.

Peter Bollinger.


A Sound of ThunderStyle Chart Ray Bradbury uses language to re-create a lush prehistoric setting.We see and feel the vast jungle and its huge inhabitant, the Tyrannosaurus rex.The boxed passages below contain some of Bradbury’s stylistic devices:

• figures of speech—metaphors, similes, personification• imagery—words that appeal to sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell

Underline figures of speech, circle the images, and draw boxes around examplesof repetition. Then, in the space provided, describe the writer’s style and themood of the story.

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.

“The jungle was high and the jungle was

broad and the jungle was the entire

world forever and forever. Sounds like

music and sounds like flying tents filled

the sky, and those were pterodactyls,

soaring with cavernous gray wings,

gigantic bats of delirium and night fever.”

Describe the Story’s Mood

Describe Bradbury’s Style

Passage One Passage Two

“The Tyrant Lizard raised itself. Its

armored flesh glittered like a thousand

green coins. The coins, crusted with

slime, steamed. In the slime, tiny insects

wriggled, so that the entire body

seemed to twitch and undulate, even

while the monster itself did not move.

It exhaled. The stink of raw flesh blew

down the wilderness.”

Complete the sample test item below. Then, check your answer, and read the explanation that appears in the right-hand box.

A Sound of Thunder

Skills ReviewSkills Review


Explanation of the Correct Answer

The correct answer is A.

The word except tells you that the cor-rect answer is the one that does not fit.The story does not include any charac-ters who speak in a regional dialect. B and C are not correct because wordchoice and sentence length are ele-ments of style. D is wrong because thisstory is full of figurative language,another component of style.

Sample Test Item

In “A Sound of Thunder,” Bradbury’sstyle is created by all the following elements except—

A regional dialect

B diction, or word choice

C sentence length and pattern

D figurative language

3. Overall, Bradbury's style can best bedescribed as —

A humorous

B matter-of-fact

C sparse

D richly descriptive

4. Which of the following words bestdescribes the mood of “A Sound ofThunder”?

F relaxed

G quiet

H terrifying

J evil

1. Which passage from the story con-tains a figure of speech?

A “Stay on the Path.”

B “They were ready to leave theMachine.”

C “That'd be a paradox.”

D “Each lower leg was a piston . . .”

2. In this story, Bradbury's diction, orword choice, can best be described as —

F flat

G vivid

H everyday

J technical

DIRECTIONS: Circle the letter of each correct answer.

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.

Literary SkillsAnalyze

elements ofstyle, including

figurativelanguage and

mood.


Skills ReviewSkills Review

A Sound of Thunder

annihilate

expendable

depression

paradox

delirium

resilient

remit

revoke

primeval

subliminal

Word BoxWord Box I have been wanting to go to the (1) forest,

the oldest place open to time travelers. I have money to pay the hefty fee,

though the world is in an economic (2) . Besides,

Historic Travels, Inc., will (3) my fee if the authori-

ties (4) the company's license and cancel the trip.

The Time Traveler packed light, bringing nothing that was not

(5) and could be left behind if something went

wrong. But nothing could go wrong, could it?

Cop

yrig

ht ©

by

Hol

t,R

ineh

art

and

Win

ston

.A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.

VocabularySkillsUse prefixes todefine words.Use words incontext.

DIRECTIONS: Read each sentence carefully. Then, write the definition ofeach boldface word on the line below. Refer to the chart above for help.

Prefixes

3. The dinosaur seemed immortal, like aterrifying pagan god.

4. After their adventure, the travelershad no desire to revisit the past.

1. Eckels took an extraordinary journeyinto the past.

2. To keep the world unchanged, theywere ordered to stay on the Path.

in-, im-, or un-, meaning “not”ex-, meaning “out”extra-, meaning “outside; beyond”

re-, meaning “back; again”sub-, meaning “below”pre-, meaning “came before”

Prefixes and Meanings

Vocabulary in ContextDIRECTIONS: Complete the paragraph below by writing a word from the word box to fiteach numbered blank. Not all words from the box will be used.

112 The Holt Reader: Teacher’s Manual

A S

ound

of

Thun

der

2

21

ann

ihila

te(¥

·n¢!¥

·l†t"

)v.

:des

tro

y; w

ipe

ou

t.

Ifw

e co

ntin

ue to

des

troy

the

regi

on's

fore

sts,

we

may

als

o an

nihi

late

the

wild

life

that

live

s th

ere.

exp

end

able

(ek·

spen!d

¥·b

¥l)

adj.:

wo

rth

sac

ri-

fici

ng

to

gai

n a

n o

bje

ctiv

e.

The

offi

cers

reg

rett

ed th

e lo

ss b

ut c

onsi

dere

d th

egr

ound

tro

ops

expe

ndab

le.

dep

ress

ion

(d#·

pre

sh!¥

n)

n.:

maj

or

eco

no

mic

do

wn

turn

. (D

epre

ssio

nal

so m

ean

s “s

adn

ess.

”)

A d

epre

ssio

nhi

t the

cou

ntry

,res

ulti

ng in

wid

e-sp

read

une

mpl

oym

ent a

nd h

omel

essn

ess.

par

ado

x(p

ar!¥

·däk

s")

n.:

som

eth

ing

th

at h

as o

rse

ems

to h

ave

con

trad

icto

ry q

ual

itie

s.

The

par

adox

is th

at s

omet

imes

we

are

lone

liest

whe

n w

e ar

e in

a c

row

d of

peop

le.

del

iriu

m(d

i·lir!#

·¥m

)n

.:ex

trem

e m

enta

l dis

tur-

ban

ce, o

ften

acc

om

pan

ied

by

hal

luci

nat

ion

s(s

eein

g t

hin

gs

that

are

no

t th

ere)

.

In h

is d

elir

ium

,he

imag

ined

he

was

see

ing

gian

t ins

ects

.

resi

lien

t(r

i·zil!

y¥n

t)ad

j.:ab

le t

o r

etu

rn t

o it

so

rig

inal

sh

ape

qu

ickl

y af

ter

bei

ng

str

etch

ed o

rco

mp

ress

ed; e

last

ic.

Thi

s re

sili

ent

fabr

ic s

prin

gs b

ack

to it

s or

igin

alsh

ape

no m

atte

r ho

w y

ou s

tret

ch it

.

rem

it(r

i·mit!)

v.:r

etu

rn p

aym

ent.

The

com

pany

will

rem

it,o

r re

turn

,ful

l pay

men

tif

the

cons

umer

s ar

e no

t sat

isfie

d.

revo

ke(r

i·v£

k!)

v.:c

ance

l; w

ith

dra

w.

The

y ca

n re

voke

your

clu

b m

embe

rshi

p if

you

fail

to a

tten

d m

eeti

ngs.

pri

mev

al(p

r¢·m#!

v¥l)

adj.:

pri

mit

ive;

of

the

earl

iest

tim

es.

In th

e pr

ehis

tori

c w

orld

,gia

nt li

zard

s cr

ashe

dth

roug

h th

e pr

imev

alfo

rest

.

sub

limin

al(s

ub

·lim!¥

·n¥l

)ad

j.:b

elo

w t

he

leve

l of

awar

enes

s.

Una

war

e of

the

mov

ie’s

subl

imin

alm

essa

ge to

buy

food

,the

aud

ienc

e flo

cked

to b

uy s

nack

s.

PREV

IEW

SEL

ECTI

ON V

OCAB

ULAR

YTh

e fo

llow

ing

wo

rds

app

ear

in t

he

sto

ry y

ou

are

ab

ou

t to

rea

d. Y

ou

may

wan

tto

bec

om

e fa

mili

ar w

ith

th

em b

efo

re y

ou

beg

in r

ead

ing

.

Copyright © by Holt,Rinehart and Winston.All rights reserved.

PREF

IXES

AND

WOR

D RO

OTS

A p

refi

xis

a w

ord

par

t th

at c

om

es b

efo

re a

wo

rd r

oo

t an

d a

ffec

ts it

s m

ean

ing

.A

kn

ow

led

ge

of

pre

fixe

s ca

n h

elp

yo

u f

igu

re o

ut

the

mea

nin

gs

of

un

fam

iliar

wo

rds.

It c

an a

lso

hel

p y

ou

use

an

d u

nd

erst

and

a w

ider

var

iety

of

wo

rds.

Th

ew

ord

rem

it,f

or

exam

ple

, co

nta

ins

the

pre

fix

re-

,wh

ich

mea

ns

“bac

k.”

It a

lso

con

tain

s th

e w

ord

ro

ot

mit

,wh

ich

mea

ns

“sen

d.”

Wh

en y

ou

rem

itso

met

hin

g,

you

sen

d it

bac

k.

Wh

en y

ou

co

me

acro

ss a

n u

nfa

mili

ar w

ord

, lo

ok

for

a p

refi

x o

r w

ord

ro

ot

you

reco

gn

ize

to h

elp

yo

u f

igu

re o

ut

the

wo

rd’s

mea

nin

g.

220

Colle

ctio

n 8:

Eval

uati

ng S

tyle

Part

1

Imag

ine

bei

ng

ab

le t

o t

rave

l bac

k in

tim

e. M

any

wri

ters

hav

e ex

plo

red

th

isid

ea in

sci

ence

fic

tion

sto

ries

and

mov

ies.

You

are

abo

ut t

o re

ad o

ne o

f th

em

ost

popu

lar_

and

thou

ght-

prov

okin

g_st

orie

s ab

out

tim

e tr

avel

eve

r w

ritt

en.

LITE

RARY

FOC

US:

STYL

E AN

D M

OOD

A w

rite

r’s

dic

tio

n, o

r w

ord

ch

oic

e, g

reat

ly d

efin

es a

wo

rk’s

sty

le.S

tyle

is a

lso

det

erm

ined

by

sen

ten

ce le

ng

th a

nd

co

mp

lexi

ty. A

sto

ry t

hat

is w

ritt

en in

bri

ef s

imp

le s

ente

nce

s, f

or

exam

ple

, is

dif

fere

nt

in s

tyle

fro

m a

sto

ry w

ritt

enin

lon

g c

om

ple

x se

nte

nce

s. S

ee b

elo

w:

The

use

(o

r n

on

-use

) o

f im

ager

y an

d f

igu

rati

ve la

ng

uag

e al

so h

as a

n e

ffec

to

n s

tyle

. In

th

e st

ory

yo

u’r

e ab

ou

t to

rea

d, R

ay B

rad

bu

ry u

ses

vivi

d im

ager

yan

d f

igu

rati

ve la

ng

uag

e to

cre

ate

a st

yle

that

is a

s lu

sh a

s it

s p

reh

isto

ric

set-

tin

g. M

oo

d,l

ike

styl

e, is

als

o c

reat

ed b

y d

icti

on

, sen

ten

ce le

ng

th, i

mag

ery,

and

fig

ura

tive

lan

gu

age.

A s

tory

’s m

oo

d, o

r at

mo

sph

ere,

can

be

des

crib

edu

sin

g a

dje

ctiv

es li

ke s

cary

, cal

m, a

nd

mys

teri

ou

s.

•A

s yo

u r

ead

“A

So

un

d o

f Th

un

der

,” n

oti

ce h

ow

Bra

db

ury

's c

ho

ice

of

wo

rds,

imag

ery,

an

d f

igu

rati

ve la

ng

uag

e cr

eate

s a

un

iqu

e st

yle.

•A

s B

rad

bu

ry d

escr

ibes

th

e an

cien

t ju

ng

le, t

hin

k ab

ou

t th

e w

ord

s yo

u’d

use

to

des

crib

e th

e st

ory

’s m

oo

d.

READ

ING

SKIL

LS:

CAUS

E AN

D EF

FECT

The

even

ts in

a s

tory

are

co

nn

ecte

d b

y a

chai

n o

f ca

use

s an

d e

ffec

ts.O

ne

even

t ca

use

s an

oth

er, w

hic

h c

ause

s an

oth

er, a

nd

so

on

. A c

ause

is t

he

reas

on

so

met

hin

g h

app

ens.

An

eff

ect

is t

he

resu

lt. C

erta

in w

ord

s_lik

eb

ecau

se, c

on

seq

uen

tly,

fo

r, so

, sin

ce,a

nd

th

eref

ore_

can

ale

rt y

ou

to

cau

se-

and

-eff

ect

rela

tio

nsh

ips.

As

you

rea

d “

A S

ou

nd

of

Thu

nd

er,”

loo

k fo

r ca

use

s an

d e

ffec

ts. T

her

ear

e p

len

ty t

o f

ind

. In

fac

t, t

he

wh

ole

sto

ry is

ab

ou

t h

ow

on

e ev

ent

cau

ses

ano

ther_

and

an

oth

er, a

nd

an

oth

er, a

nd

. . .


A So

und

of T

hund

er by

Ray

Bra

dbur

y

Lit

erar

y Skills

Und

erst

and

elem

ents

of

styl

e, in

clud

ing

figu

rati

vela

ngua

ge a

ndm

ood.

Rea

din

gSkills

Und

erst

and

caus

e-an

d-ef

fect

rela

tion

ship

s.

Voca

bula

rySkills

Und

erst

and

Gre

ek a

nd L

atin

pref

ixes

and

wor

d ro

ots.

Sty

le:

Mo

re C

om

ple

x

“It

was

Mis

s M

urd

sto

ne

wh

o w

asar

rive

d, a

nd

a g

loo

my-

loo

kin

g la

dy

she

was

: dar

k, li

ke h

er b

roth

er,

wh

om

sh

e g

reat

ly r

esem

ble

d in

face

and

vo

ice

. . .”

(fr

om

Dav

idC

op

per

fiel

d, b

y C

har

les

Dic

ken

s)

Sty

le:

Sim

ple

The

sun

ro

se. T

he

air

was

war

m,

my

coff

ee w

as h

ot.

No

thin

gst

irre

d. N

oth

ing

bre

ath

ed e

xcep

tfo

r th

e liz

ard

. Th

at li

zard

co

uld

ou

tsta

re a

ro

ck.

Collection 8Student pages 220–221

Student Pages with Answers 113

Ecke

ls g

lanc

ed a

cros

s th

e va

st o

ffic

e at

a m

ass

and

tang

le,

a sn

akin

g an

d hu

mm

ing

ofw

ires

and

ste

el b

oxes

,at a

n au

rora

1

that

flic

kere

d no

w o

rang

e,no

w s

ilver

,now

blu

e.T

here

was

a so

und

like

a gi

gant

ic b

onfir

e bu

rnin

g al

l of

Tim

e,al

l the

yea

rs

and

all t

he p

arch

men

t cal

enda

rs,a

ll th

e ho

urs

pile

d hi

gh a

nd s

et

afla

me. A to

uch

ofth

e ha

nd a

nd th

is b

urni

ng w

ould

,on

the

inst

ant,

beau

tifu

lly r

ever

se it

self.

Ecke

ls r

emem

bere

d th

e w

ord-

ing

in th

e ad

vert

isem

ents

to th

e le

tter

.Out

of

char

s an

d as

hes,

out o

fdu

st a

nd c

oals

,lik

e go

lden

sal

aman

ders

,the

old

yea

rs,t

he

gree

n ye

ars,

mig

ht le

ap;r

oses

sw

eete

n th

e ai

r,w

hite

hai

r tu

rn

Iris

h-bl

ack,

wri

nkle

s va

nish

;all,

ever

ythi

ng fl

y ba

ck to

see

d,fle

e

deat

h,ru

sh d

own

to th

eir

begi

nnin

gs,s

uns

rise

in w

este

rn s

kies

and

set i

n gl

orio

us e

asts

,moo

ns e

at th

emse

lves

opp

osit

e to

the

cust

om,a

ll an

d ev

eryt

hing

cup

ping

one

in a

noth

er li

ke C

hine

se

boxe

s2 ,ra

bbit

s in

to h

ats,

all a

nd e

very

thin

g re

turn

ing

to th

e

fres

h de

ath,

the

seed

dea

th,t

he g

reen

dea

th,t

o th

e ti

me

befo

re

the

begi

nnin

g.A

touc

h of

a ha

nd m

ight

do

it,t

he m

eres

t tou

ch

ofa

hand

.

“Unb

elie

vabl

e.”Ec

kels

bre

athe

d,th

e lig

ht o

fth

e M

achi

ne

on h

is th

in fa

ce.“

A r

eal T

ime

Mac

hine

.”H

e sh

ook

his

head

.

“Mak

es y

ou th

ink.

Ifth

e el

ecti

on h

ad g

one

badl

y ye

ster

day,

I

mig

ht b

e he

re n

ow r

unni

ng a

way

from

the

resu

lts.T

hank

God

Kei

th w

on.H

e’ll

mak

e a

fine

Pres

iden

t of

the

Uni

ted

Stat

es.”

“Yes

,”sa

id th

e m

an b

ehin

d th

e de

sk.“

We’

re lu

cky.

If

Deu

tsch

er h

ad g

otte

n in

,we’

d ha

ve th

e w

orst

kin

d of

dict

ator

-

ship

.The

re’s

an a

nti-

ever

ythi

ng m

an fo

r yo

u,a

mili

tari

st,a

nti-

Chr

ist,

anti

-hum

an,a

nti-

inte

llect

ual.

Peop

le c

alle

d us

up,

you

know

,jok

ing

but n

ot jo

king

.Sai

d if

Deu

tsch

er b

ecam

e Pr

esid

ent

they

wan

ted

to g

o liv

e in

149

2.O

fco

urse

it’s

not o

ur b

usin

ess

to

cond

uct E

scap

es,b

ut to

form

Saf

aris

.Any

way

,Kei

th’s

Pres

iden

t

now

.All

you

got t

o w

orry

abo

ut is—

”

20 30 40


A S

ound

of

Thun

der

223

Pau

se a

t lin

e 43

. Wh

o w

ere

the

two

can

did

ates

fo

r p

resi

-d

ent

of

the

Un

ited

Sta

tes?

Cir

cle

thei

r n

ames

. Wh

ich

on

e w

on

th

e el

ecti

on

?

Re-

read

lin

es 1

7-35

, an

d

un

der

line

exam

ple

s o

f fi

gu

rati

ve la

ng

uag

e(s

imile

,m

etap

ho

r, p

erso

nif

icat

ion

).

An

ti-

is a

pre

fix

mea

nin

g“a

gai

nst

.” A

cco

rdin

g t

o t

he

des

crip

tio

n o

f D

euts

cher

inlin

es 4

3-44

, wh

at is

he

“ag

ain

st”?

1.au

rora

(ô·r

ôr!

¥) n

.:B

rad

bu

ry is

co

mp

arin

g t

he

glo

w c

om

ing

fro

m t

he

tim

e m

ach

ine

to a

n a

uro

ra, a

co

lorf

ul d

isp

lay

of

ligh

t th

at a

pp

ears

at

nig

ht

in t

he

skie

s n

ear

the

No

rth

an

d S

ou

th P

ole

s.2.

Ch

ines

e b

oxe

s:se

t o

f b

oxe

s, e

ach

of

wh

ich

fit

s in

to t

he

nex

t-la

rges

to

ne.

Kei

th

He

seem

s to

be

agai

nst

ever

yth

ing

bu

t th

e m

il-

itar

y.

The

sig

n on

the

wal

l see

med

to q

uave

r un

der

a fil

m o

fsl

idin

g

war

m w

ater

.Eck

els

felt

his

eyel

ids

blin

k ov

er h

is s

tare

,and

the

sign

bur

ned

in th

is m

omen

tary

dar

knes

s:

TIM

ESA

FAR

I,IN

C.S

AFA

RIS

TO

AN

YY

EAR

INT

HE

PAST

.

YO

UN

AM

ET

HE

AN

IMA

L.W

ETA

KE

YOU

TH

ERE.

YO

USH

OO

TIT

.

A w

arm

phl

egm

gat

here

d in

Eck

els’s

thro

at;h

e sw

allo

wed

and

push

ed it

dow

n.T

he m

uscl

es a

roun

d hi

s m

outh

form

ed a

sm

ile a

s

he p

ut h

is h

and

slow

ly o

ut u

pon

the

air,

and

in th

at h

and

wav

ed a

chec

k fo

r te

n th

ousa

nd d

olla

rs to

the

man

beh

ind

the

desk

.

“Doe

s th

is s

afar

i gua

rant

ee I

com

e ba

ck a

live?

”

“We

guar

ante

e no

thin

g,”

said

the

offic

ial,

“exc

ept t

he

dino

saur

s.”H

e tu

rned

.“T

his

is M

r.Tr

avis

,you

r Sa

fari

Gui

de in

the

Past

.He’

ll te

ll yo

u w

hat

and

whe

re to

sho

ot.I

fhe

say

s no

shoo

ting

,no

shoo

ting

.If

you

diso

bey

inst

ruct

ions

,the

re’s

a st

iff

pena

lty

ofan

othe

r te

n th

ousa

nd d

olla

rs,p

lus

poss

ible

gov

ern-

men

t act

ion,

on y

our

retu

rn.”

10


222

Colle

ctio

n 8:

Eval

uati

ng S

tyle

Part

1

Pau

se a

t lin

e 16

. Wh

y d

o y

ou

thin

k th

ere

is s

uch

a s

tiff

pen

alty

fo

r d

iso

bey

ing

inst

ruct

ion

s?

Pau

se a

fter

yo

u r

ead

th

e si

gn

(lin

es 4-

5). U

nd

erlin

e th

ein

form

atio

n t

hat

see

ms

un

usu

al. B

ased

on

th

is in

for-

mat

ion

, wh

en d

o y

ou

th

ink

the

sto

ry t

akes

pla

ce?

“A S

ou

nd

of

Thu

nd

er”

by

Ray

Bra

db

ury

. Co

pyr

igh

t ©

195

2 b

y th

e C

row

ell-

Co

llier

Pu

blis

hin

g C

o.;

cop

yrig

ht

ren

ewed

© 1

980

by

Ray

Bra

db

ury

. Rep

rin

ted

by

per

mis

sio

n o

f D

on

Co

ng

do

n A

sso

ciat

es, I

nc.

Peter Bollinger.

A S

ound

of

Thun

der

Ray

Bra

db

ury

It t

akes

pla

ce s

om

e-

tim

e in

th

e fu

ture

.

Poss

ible

res

po

nse

:

Tim

e tr

avel

is d

ang

er-

ou

s, a

nd

har

m c

ou

ld

resu

lt f

rom

no

t fo

llow

-

ing

th

e ru

les.



The

Mac

hine

how

led.

Tim

e w

as a

film

run

bac

kwar

d.Su

ns

fled

and

ten

mill

ion

moo

ns fl

ed a

fter

them

.“T

hink

,”sa

id E

ckel

s.

“Eve

ry h

unte

r th

at e

ver

lived

wou

ld e

nvy

us to

day.

Thi

s m

akes

Afr

ica

seem

like

Illi

nois

.”

The

Mac

hine

slo

wed

;its

scr

eam

fell

to a

mur

mur

.The

Mac

hine

sto

pped

.

The

sun

sto

pped

in th

e sk

y.

The

fog

that

had

env

elop

ed th

e M

achi

ne b

lew

aw

ay a

nd

they

wer

e in

an

old

tim

e,a

very

old

tim

e in

deed

,thr

ee h

unte

rs

and

two

Safa

ri H

eads

wit

h th

eir

blue

met

al g

uns

acro

ss th

eir

knee

s. “Chr

ist i

sn’t

born

yet

,”sa

id T

ravi

s.“M

oses

has

not

gon

e to

the

mou

ntai

n to

talk

wit

h G

od.T

he P

yram

ids

are

still

in th

e

eart

h,w

aiti

ng to

be

cut o

ut a

nd p

ut u

p.R

emem

ber

that

.

Ale

xand

er,C

aesa

r,N

apol

eon,

Hit

ler—

none

of

them

exi

sts.”

The

men

nod

ded.

“Tha

t”—

Mr.

Trav

is p

oint

ed—

“is

the

jung

le o

fsi

xty

mil-

lion

two

thou

sand

and

fift

y-fiv

e ye

ars

befo

re P

resi

dent

Kei

th.”

He

indi

cate

d a

met

al p

ath

that

str

uck

off

into

gre

en w

ilder

-

ness

,ove

r st

ream

ing

swam

p,am

ong

gian

t fer

ns a

nd p

alm

s.

“And

that

,”he

sai

d,“i

s th

e Pa

th,l

aid

by T

ime

Safa

ri fo

r

your

use

.It

float

s si

x in

ches

abo

ve t

he e

arth

.Doe

sn’t

touc

h so

muc

h as

one

gra

ss b

lade

,flo

wer

,or

tree

.It’s

an

anti

-gra

vity

met

al.I

ts p

urpo

se is

to k

eep

you

from

touc

hing

this

wor

ld o

fth

e

Past

in a

ny w

ay.S

tay

on th

e Pa

th.D

on’t

go o

ffit

.I r

epea

t.D

on’t

go o

ff.Fo

r an

yre

ason

! If

you

fall

off,

ther

e’s

a pe

nalt

y.A

nd d

on’t

shoo

t any

ani

mal

we

don’

t oka

y.”

“Why

?”as

ked

Ecke

ls.

The

y sa

t in

the

anci

ent w

ilder

ness

.Far

bir

ds’c

ries

ble

w o

n

a w

ind,

and

the

smel

l of

tar

and

an o

ld s

alt s

ea,m

oist

gra

sses

,

and

flow

ers

the

colo

r of

bloo

d.

“We

don’

t wan

t to

chan

ge th

e Fu

ture

.We

don’

t bel

ong

here

in t

he P

ast.

The

gov

ernm

ent

does

n’t l

ike

us h

ere.

We

have

to p

ay

big

graf

t3to

kee

p ou

r fr

anch

ise.

A T

ime

Mac

hine

is fi

nick

y

90 100

110


A S

ound

of

Thun

der

225

3.g

raft

n.:

bri

bes

.

Un

der

line

the

sen

ten

ce in

lines

103-

107

that

tel

ls y

ou

the

pu

rpo

se o

f “t

he

Path

.”W

hy

do

yo

u t

hin

k th

e te

rm is

cap

ital

ized

?

Re-

read

lin

es 1

11-

113,

wh

ich

are

full

of

imag

ery.

To w

hat

sen

ses

do

th

ese

imag

esap

pea

l?

It is

cap

ital

ized

to

emp

has

ize

its

imp

ort

ance

.

the

sen

ses

of

sig

ht,

smel

l, to

uch

, an

d

hea

rin

g

“Sho

otin

g m

y di

nosa

ur,”

Ecke

ls fi

nish

ed it

for

him

.

“A T

yran

nosa

urus

rex

.The

Tyr

ant L

izar

d,th

e m

ost i

ncre

di-

ble

mon

ster

in h

isto

ry.S

ign

this

rel

ease

.Any

thin

g ha

ppen

s to

you,

we’

re n

ot r

espo

nsib

le.T

hose

din

osau

rs a

re h

ungr

y.”

Ecke

ls fl

ushe

d an

grily

.“Tr

ying

to s

care

me!

”

“Fra

nkly

,yes

.We

don’

t wan

t any

one

goin

g w

ho’ll

pan

ic a

t the

first

sho

t.Si

x Sa

fari

lead

ers

wer

e ki

lled

last

yea

r,an

d a

doze

n

hunt

ers.

We’

re h

ere

to g

ive

you

the

seve

rest

thri

ll a

real

hunt

er e

ver

aske

d fo

r.Tr

avel

ing

you

back

six

ty m

illio

n ye

ars

to b

ag th

e bi

gges

t

gam

e in

all

ofT

ime.

Your

per

sona

l che

ck’s

still

ther

e.Te

ar it

up.

”

Mr.

Ecke

ls lo

oked

at t

he c

heck

.His

fing

ers

twit

ched

.

“Goo

d lu

ck,”

said

the

man

beh

ind

the

desk

.“M

r.Tr

avis

,he’

s

all y

ours

.”

The

y m

oved

sile

ntly

acr

oss

the

room

,tak

ing

thei

r gu

ns

wit

h th

em,t

owar

d th

e M

achi

ne,t

owar

d th

e si

lver

met

al a

nd th

e

roar

ing

light

.

Firs

t a d

ay a

nd th

en a

nig

ht a

nd th

en a

day

and

then

a n

ight

,

then

it w

as d

ay-n

ight

-day

-nig

ht-d

ay.A

wee

k,a

mon

th,a

yea

r,a

deca

de! A

.D.2

055.

A.D

.201

9.19

99! 1

957!

Gon

e! T

he M

achi

ne

roar

ed.

The

y pu

t on

thei

r ox

ygen

hel

met

s an

d te

sted

the

inte

rcom

s.

Ecke

ls s

way

ed o

n th

e pa

dded

sea

t,hi

s fa

ce p

ale,

his

jaw

sti

ff.

He

felt

the

trem

blin

g in

his

arm

s,an

d he

look

ed d

own

and

foun

d hi

s ha

nds

tigh

t on

the

new

rifl

e.T

here

wer

e fo

ur o

ther

men

in th

e M

achi

ne.T

ravi

s,th

e Sa

fari

Lea

der;

his

assi

stan

t,

Lesp

eran

ce;a

nd tw

o ot

her

hunt

ers,

Bill

ings

and

Kra

mer

.The

y

sat l

ooki

ng a

t eac

h ot

her,

and

the

year

s bl

azed

aro

und

them

.

“Can

thes

e gu

ns g

et a

din

osau

r co

ld?”

Ecke

ls fe

lt hi

s m

outh

sayi

ng. “If

you

hit t

hem

rig

ht,”

said

Tra

vis

on th

e he

lmet

rad

io.

“Som

e di

nosa

urs

have

two

brai

ns,o

ne in

the

head

,ano

ther

far

dow

n th

e sp

inal

col

umn.

We

stay

aw

ay fr

om th

ose.

Tha

t’s

stre

tchi

ng lu

ck.P

ut y

our

first

two

shot

s in

to th

e ey

es,i

fyo

u ca

n,

blin

d th

em,a

nd g

o ba

ck in

to th

e br

ain.

”

50 60 70 80


224

Colle

ctio

n 8:

Eval

uati

ng S

tyle

Part

1

Re-

read

lin

es 5

4-58

. Wh

at d

oth

ese

det

ails

su

gg

est

abo

ut

Tim

e Sa

fari

, In

c.?

Cir

cle

the

wo

rds

in li

nes

76-

77 t

hat

mea

n “

Ecke

lssa

id.”

Wh

at d

oes

th

is p

hra

sere

veal

ab

ou

t Ec

kels

?

Pau

se a

t lin

e 52

. Wh

at a

ni-

mal

is E

ckel

s h

un

tin

g?

Cir

cle

the

answ

er.

Ecke

ls is

ner

vou

s an

d

feel

s d

isco

nn

ecte

d

fro

m w

hat

he

is

sayi

ng

.

It c

on

du

cts

very

dan

-

ger

ou

s tr

ips.



you

crus

h th

e Py

ram

ids.

Step

on

a m

ouse

and

you

leav

e yo

ur

prin

t,lik

e a

Gra

nd C

anyo

n,ac

ross

Ete

rnit

y.Q

ueen

Eliz

abet

h

mig

ht n

ever

be

born

,Was

hing

ton

mig

ht n

ot c

ross

the

Del

awar

e,

ther

e m

ight

nev

er b

e a

Uni

ted

Stat

es a

t all.

So b

e ca

refu

l.St

ay o

n

the

Path

.Nev

erst

ep o

ff!”

“I s

ee,”

said

Eck

els.

“The

n it

wou

ldn’

t pay

for

us e

ven

to

touc

h th

e gr

ass?

”

“Cor

rect

.Cru

shin

g ce

rtai

n pl

ants

cou

ld a

dd u

p in

finit

esi-

mal

ly.5

A li

ttle

err

or h

ere

wou

ld m

ulti

ply

in s

ixty

mill

ion

year

s,

all o

ut o

fpr

opor

tion

.Of

cour

se m

aybe

our

theo

ry is

wro

ng.

May

be T

ime

can’

t be

chan

ged

by u

s.O

r m

aybe

it c

an b

e ch

ange

d

only

in li

ttle

sub

tle w

ays.

A d

ead

mou

se h

ere

mak

es a

n in

sect

imba

lanc

e th

ere,

a po

pula

tion

dis

prop

orti

on la

ter,

a ba

d ha

rves

t

furt

her

on,a

dep

ress

ion,

mas

s st

arva

tion

,and

,fin

ally

,a c

hang

e

in s

ocia

ltem

pera

men

t in

far-

flung

cou

ntri

es.S

omet

hing

muc

h

mor

e su

btle

,lik

e th

at.P

erha

ps o

nly

a so

ft b

reat

h,a

whi

sper

,a

hair

,pol

len

on th

e ai

r,su

ch a

slig

ht,s

light

cha

nge

that

unl

ess

you

look

ed c

lose

you

wou

ldn’

t see

it.W

ho k

now

s? W

ho r

eally

can

say

he k

now

s? W

e do

n’t k

now

.We’

re g

uess

ing.

But

unt

il w

e

do k

now

for

cert

ain

whe

ther

our

mes

sing

aro

und

in T

ime

can

mak

e a

big

roar

or

a lit

tle r

ustle

in h

isto

ry,w

e’re

bei

ng c

aref

ul.

160

170


A S

ound

of

Thun

der

227

Notes

Notes

dep

ress

ion

(d#·

pre$!¥

n)

n.:

maj

or

eco

no

mic

do

wn

turn

.

Wh

at d

oes

Tra

vis

mea

n w

hen

he

says

he’

s n

ot

sure

wh

eth

er“m

essi

ng

aro

un

d in

Tim

e ca

nm

ake

a b

ig r

oar

or

a lit

tle

rust

le in

his

tory

” (l

ines

16

9-17

1)?

5.in

fin

ites

imal

ly(i

n"f

in·i·

tes!

i·m¥l

·#)

adv.

:in

am

ou

nts

to

o s

mal

l to

be

mea

sure

d.

Peter Bollinger.

He

wo

nd

ers

wh

eth

er

chan

gin

g s

om

eth

ing

in

the

pas

t w

ill c

reat

e a

big

ch

ang

e, a

litt

le

chan

ge,

or

any

chan

ge

in t

he

futu

re.

busi

ness

.Not

kno

win

g it

,we

mig

ht k

ill a

n im

port

ant a

nim

al,a

smal

l bir

d,a

roac

h,a

flow

er e

ven,

thus

des

troy

ing

an im

port

ant

link

in a

gro

win

g sp

ecie

s.”

“Tha

t’s n

ot c

lear

,”sa

id E

ckel

s.

“All

righ

t,”Tr

avis

con

tinu

ed,“

say

we

acci

dent

ally

kill

one

mou

se h

ere.

Tha

t mea

ns a

ll th

e fu

ture

fam

ilies

of

this

one

par

-

ticu

lar

mou

se a

re d

estr

oyed

,rig

ht?”

“Rig

ht.”

“And

all

the

fam

ilies

of

the

fam

ilies

of

the

fam

ilies

of

that

one

mou

se! W

ith

a st

amp

ofyo

ur fo

ot,y

ou a

nnih

ilate

first

one

,

then

a d

ozen

,the

n a

thou

sand

,a m

illio

n,a

billi

onpo

ssib

le

mic

e!” “S

o th

ey’r

e de

ad,”

said

Eck

els.

“So

wha

t?”

“So

wha

t?”

Trav

is s

nort

ed q

uiet

ly.“

Wel

l,w

hat a

bout

the

foxe

s th

at’ll

nee

d th

ose

mic

e to

sur

vive

? Fo

r w

ant o

fte

n m

ice,

a

fox

dies

.For

wan

t of

ten

foxe

s,a

lion

star

ves.

For

wan

t of

a lio

n,

all m

anne

r of

inse

cts,

vultu

res,

infin

ite b

illio

ns o

flif

e fo

rms

are

thro

wn

into

cha

os a

nd d

estr

ucti

on.E

vent

ually

it a

ll bo

ils d

own

to

this

:Fift

y-ni

ne m

illio

n ye

ars

late

r,a

cave

man

,one

of

a do

zen

in

the

enti

re w

orld

,goe

s hu

ntin

g w

ild b

oar

or s

aber

-too

thed

tige

r

for

food

.But

you

,fri

end,

have

step

ped

on a

ll th

e ti

gers

in th

at

regi

on.B

y st

eppi

ng o

n on

esi

ngle

mou

se.S

o th

e ca

ve m

an s

tarv

es.

And

the

cave

man

,ple

ase

note

,is

not j

ust a

nyex

pend

able

man

,

no! H

e is

an

enti

re fu

ture

nat

ion.

From

his

loin

s w

ould

hav

e

spru

ng te

n so

ns.F

rom

thei

rlo

ins

one

hund

red

sons

,and

thus

onw

ard

to a

civ

iliza

tion

.Des

troy

this

one

man

,and

you

des

troy

a

race

,a p

eopl

e,an

ent

ire

hist

ory

oflif

e.It

is c

ompa

rabl

e to

sla

ying

som

e of

Ada

m’s

gran

dchi

ldre

n.T

he s

tom

p of

your

foot

,on

one

mou

se,c

ould

sta

rt a

n ea

rthq

uake

,the

eff

ects

of

whi

ch c

ould

shak

e ou

r ea

rth

and

dest

inie

s do

wn

thro

ugh

Tim

e,to

thei

r ve

ry

foun

dati

ons.

Wit

h th

e de

ath

ofth

at o

ne c

ave

man

,a b

illio

n ot

h-

ers

yet u

nbor

n ar

e th

rott

led

in th

e w

omb.

Perh

aps

Rom

e ne

ver

rise

s on

its

seve

n hi

lls.P

erha

ps E

urop

e is

fore

ver

a da

rk fo

rest

,

and

only

Asi

a w

axes

hea

lthy

and

teem

ing.

4St

ep o

n a

mou

se a

nd

120

130

140

150


226

Colle

ctio

n 8:

Eval

uati

ng S

tyle

Part

1

Notes

Notes

ann

ihila

te(¥

·n¢!¥

·l†t"

) v.

:d

estr

oy;

wip

e o

ut.

exp

end

able

(ek·

spen!d

¥·b

¥l)

adj.:

wo

rth

sac

rifi

cin

g t

o g

ain

an o

bje

ctiv

e.

In t

his

lon

g p

arag

rap

h (

lines

130-

155)

, Tra

vis

exp

lain

s th

ep

oss

ible

eff

ects

of

step

pin

go

ff t

he

pat

h a

nd

kill

ing

am

ou

se. E

ach

eff

ect,

in t

urn

,b

eco

mes

th

e ca

use

of

ano

th-

er e

ven

t. W

hat

is t

he

fin

alef

fect

Tra

vis

men

tio

ns?

4.te

emin

g(t#m!i«

) ad

j.:sw

arm

ing

; ove

rflo

win

g.

Ther

e m

igh

t n

ever

be

a U

nit

ed S

tate

s.



The

jung

le w

as h

igh

and

the

jung

le w

as b

road

and

the

jun-

gle

was

the

enti

re w

orld

fore

ver

and

fore

ver.

Soun

ds li

ke m

usic

and

soun

ds li

ke fl

ying

tent

s fil

led

the

sky,

and

thos

e w

ere

pter

o-

dact

yls

soar

ing

wit

h ca

vern

ous

gray

win

gs,g

igan

tic

bats

of

delir

ium

and

nigh

t fev

er.E

ckel

s,ba

lanc

ed o

n th

e na

rrow

Pat

h,

aim

ed h

is r

ifle

play

fully

.

“Sto

p th

at!”

said

Tra

vis.

“Don

’t ev

en a

im fo

r fu

n,bl

ast y

ou!

Ifyo

ur g

uns

shou

ld g

o of

f—”

Ecke

ls fl

ushe

d.“W

here

’s ou

r Ty

rann

osau

rus?

”

Lesp

eran

ce c

heck

ed h

is w

rist

wat

ch.“

Up

ahea

d.W

e’ll

bise

ct

his

trai

l in

sixt

y se

cond

s.Lo

ok fo

r th

e re

d pa

int!

Don

’t sh

oot t

ill

we

give

the

wor

d.St

ay o

n th

e Pa

th.S

tay

on th

e Pa

th!”

The

y m

oved

forw

ard

in th

e w

ind

ofm

orni

ng.

“Str

ange

,”m

urm

ured

Eck

els.

“Up

ahea

d,si

xty

mill

ion

year

s,

Elec

tion

Day

ove

r.K

eith

mad

e Pr

esid

ent.

Ever

yone

cel

ebra

ting

.

And

her

e w

e ar

e,a

mill

ion

year

s lo

st,a

nd th

ey d

on’t

exis

t.T

he

thin

gs w

e w

orri

ed a

bout

for

mon

ths,

a lif

etim

e,no

t eve

n bo

rn

or th

ough

t of

yet.”

“Saf

ety

catc

hes

off,

ever

yone

!”or

dere

d Tr

avis

.“Yo

u,fir

st

shot

,Eck

els.

Seco

nd,B

illin

gs.T

hird

,Kra

mer

.”

“I’v

e hu

nted

tige

r,w

ild b

oar,

buff

alo,

elep

hant

,but

now

,

this

is it

,”sa

id E

ckel

s.“I

’m s

haki

ng li

ke a

kid

.”

“Ah,

”sa

id T

ravi

s.

Ever

yone

sto

pped

.

Trav

is r

aise

d hi

s ha

nd.“

Ahe

ad,”

he w

hisp

ered

.“In

the

mis

t.

The

re h

e is

.The

re’s

His

Roy

al M

ajes

ty n

ow.”

The

jung

le w

as w

ide

and

full

oftw

itte

ring

s,ru

stlin

gs,m

ur-

mur

s,an

d si

ghs.

Sudd

enly

it a

ll ce

ased

,as

ifso

meo

ne h

ad s

hut a

doo

r.

Sile

nce.

A s

ound

of

thun

der.

Out

of

the

mis

t,on

e hu

ndre

d ya

rds

away

,cam

e

Tyra

nnos

auru

s re

x.

“It,”

whi

sper

ed E

ckel

s.“I

t...

”

“Sh!

”

210

220

230

240


A S

ound

of

Thun

der

229

Paus

e at

line

217

. The

gui

des

keep

tel

ling

Ecke

ls, “

Stay

on

the

Path

!” W

hat

do t

heir

war

ning

s le

ad y

ou t

o pr

edic

t?

del

iriu

m(d

i·lir!#

·¥m

)n

.:ex

trem

e m

enta

l dis

turb

ance

,o

ften

acc

om

pan

ied

by

hal

lu-

cin

atio

ns

(see

ing

th

ing

s th

atar

e n

ot

ther

e).

Pau

se a

t lin

e 23

1. W

ho

mm

igh

t Tr

avis

be

refe

rrin

g t

oas

“H

is R

oya

l Maj

esty

”?

Re-

read

lin

es 2

06-

211,

an

dci

rcle

rep

eate

d w

ord

s. T

hen

,u

nd

erlin

e th

e im

agin

ativ

ed

escr

ipti

on

of

pte

rod

acty

ls.

Ho

w w

ou

ld y

ou

des

crib

e th

est

yle

of

the

wri

tin

g h

ere?

The

styl

e is

ric

h a

nd

laye

red

, lik

e an

ove

r-

gro

wn

jun

gle

.

Som

eon

e, p

rob

ably

Ecke

ls, w

ill le

ave

the

pat

h.

a Ty

ran

no

sau

rus

rex

Thi

s M

achi

ne,t

his

Path

,you

r cl

othi

ng a

nd b

odie

s,w

ere

ster

il-

ized

,as

you

know

,bef

ore

the

jour

ney.

We

wea

r th

ese

oxyg

en

helm

ets

so w

e ca

n’t i

ntro

duce

our

bac

teri

a in

to a

n an

cien

t

atm

osph

ere.”

“How

do

we

know

whi

ch a

nim

als

to s

hoot

?”

“The

y’re

mar

ked

wit

h re

d pa

int,”

said

Tra

vis.

“Tod

ay,b

efor

e

our

jour

ney,

we

sent

Les

pera

nce

here

bac

k w

ith

the

Mac

hine

.He

cam

e to

this

par

ticu

lar

era

and

follo

wed

cer

tain

ani

mal

s.”

“Stu

dyin

g th

em?”

“Rig

ht,”

said

Les

pera

nce.

“I t

rack

them

thro

ugh

thei

r en

tire

exis

tenc

e,no

ting

whi

ch o

fth

em li

ves

long

est.

Very

few

.How

man

y ti

mes

they

mat

e.N

ot o

ften

.Life

’s sh

ort.

Whe

n I

find

one

that

’s go

ing

to d

ie w

hen

a tr

ee fa

lls o

n hi

m,o

r on

e th

at d

row

ns

in a

tar

pit,

I no

te th

e ex

act h

our,

min

ute,

and

seco

nd.I

sho

ot a

pain

t bom

b.It

leav

es a

red

pat

ch o

n hi

s si

de.W

e ca

n’t m

iss

it.

The

n I

corr

elat

e ou

r ar

riva

l in

the

Past

so

that

we

mee

t the

Mon

ster

not

mor

e th

an tw

o m

inut

es b

efor

e he

wou

ld h

ave

died

anyw

ay.T

his

way

,we

kill

only

ani

mal

s w

ith

no fu

ture

,tha

t are

neve

r go

ing

to m

ate

agai

n.Yo

u se

e ho

w c

aref

ulw

e ar

e?”

“But

ifyo

u ca

me

back

this

mor

ning

in T

ime,”

said

Eck

els

eage

rly,

“you

mus

t’ve

bum

ped

into

us,

our

Safa

ri! H

ow d

id it

turn

out

? W

as it

suc

cess

ful?

Did

all

ofus

get

thro

ugh—

aliv

e?”

Trav

is a

nd L

espe

ranc

e ga

ve e

ach

othe

r a

look

.

“Tha

t’d b

e a

para

dox,

”sa

id th

e la

tter

.“T

ime

does

n’t p

erm

it

that

sor

t of

mes

s—a

man

mee

ting

him

self.

Whe

n su

ch o

cca-

sion

s th

reat

en,T

ime

step

s as

ide.

Like

an

airp

lane

hit

ting

an

air

pock

et.Y

ou fe

lt th

e M

achi

ne ju

mp

just

bef

ore

we

stop

ped?

Tha

t

was

us

pass

ing

ours

elve

s on

the

way

bac

k to

the

Futu

re.W

e sa

w

noth

ing.

The

re’s

no w

ay o

fte

lling

ifth

is e

xped

itio

n w

as a

suc

-

cess

,ifw

ego

t our

mon

ster

,or

whe

ther

all

ofus—

mea

ning

you

,

Mr.

Ecke

ls—

got o

ut a

live.”

Ecke

ls s

mile

d pa

lely

.

“Cut

that

,”sa

id T

ravi

s sh

arpl

y.“E

very

one

on h

is fe

et!”

The

y w

ere

read

y to

leav

e th

e M

achi

ne.

180

190

200


228

Colle

ctio

n 8:

Eval

uati

ng S

tyle

Part

1

Re-

read

lin

es 1

95-

202.

Wh

atd

o y

ou

thin

k? W

ill t

he

exp

e-d

itio

n b

e a

succ

ess,

or

will

iten

d in

tra

ged

y?

Pau

se a

t lin

e 17

5. W

hy

do

the

trav

eler

s w

ear

ster

ilize

dcl

oth

ing

an

d o

xyg

en

hel

met

s?

Pau

se a

t lin

e 19

0. W

hy

are

on

ly a

nim

als

that

are

ab

ou

tto

die

an

yway

ch

ose

n f

or

hu

nti

ng

?

par

ado

x(p

ar!¥

·däk

s")

n.:

som

eth

ing

th

at h

as o

r se

ems

to h

ave

con

trad

icto

ry

qu

alit

ies.

They

do

n't

wan

t to

intr

od

uce

bac

teri

a in

to

the

pas

t b

ecau

se t

hat

mig

ht

chan

ge

the

futu

re.

Kill

ing

an

imal

s w

ith

no

futu

re w

ill n

ot

affe

ct

futu

re e

ven

ts.

Mo

st s

tud

ents

will

pre

-

dic

t th

at s

om

eth

ing

will

go

wro

ng

.



The

Tyr

ant L

izar

d ra

ised

itse

lf.It

s ar

mor

ed fl

esh

glit

tere

d

like

a th

ousa

nd g

reen

coi

ns.T

he c

oins

,cru

sted

wit

h sl

ime,

stea

med

.In

the

slim

e,ti

ny in

sect

s w

rigg

led,

so t

hat

the

enti

re

body

see

med

to t

wit

ch a

nd u

ndul

ate,

7ev

en w

hile

the

mon

ster

itse

lfdi

d no

t mov

e.It

exh

aled

.The

sti

nk o

fra

w fl

esh

blew

dow

n

the

wild

erne

ss.

“Get

me

out o

fhe

re,”

said

Eck

els.

“It w

as n

ever

like

this

befo

re.I

was

alw

ays

sure

I’d

com

e th

roug

h al

ive.

I ha

d go

od

guid

es,g

ood

safa

ris,

and

safe

ty.T

his

tim

e,I

figur

ed w

rong

.I’v

e

met

my

mat

ch a

nd a

dmit

it.T

his

is to

o m

uch

for

me

to g

et h

old

of.”

“Don

’t ru

n,”

said

Les

pera

nce.

“Tur

n ar

ound

.Hid

e in

the

Mac

hine

.”

“Yes

.”Ec

kels

see

med

to b

e nu

mb.

He

look

ed a

t his

feet

as

if

tryi

ng to

mak

e th

em m

ove.

He

gave

a g

runt

of

help

less

ness

.

“Eck

els!

”

He

took

a fe

w s

teps

,blin

king

,shu

fflin

g.

“Not

that

way

!”

The

Mon

ster

,at t

he fi

rst m

otio

n,lu

nged

forw

ard

wit

h a

terr

ible

scr

eam

.It c

over

ed o

ne h

undr

ed y

ards

in s

ix s

econ

ds.

The

rifl

es je

rked

up

and

blaz

ed fi

re.A

win

dsto

rm fr

om th

e

beas

t’s m

outh

eng

ulfe

d th

em in

the

sten

ch o

fsl

ime

and

old

bloo

d.T

he M

onst

er r

oare

d,te

eth

glit

teri

ng w

ith

sun.

Ecke

ls,n

ot lo

okin

g ba

ck,w

alke

d bl

indl

y to

the

edge

of

the

Path

,his

gun

lim

p in

his

arm

s,st

eppe

d of

fth

e Pa

th,a

nd w

alke

d,

not k

now

ing

it,i

n th

e ju

ngle

.His

feet

san

k in

to g

reen

mos

s.H

is

legs

mov

ed h

im,a

nd h

e fe

lt al

one

and

rem

ote

from

the

even

ts

behi

nd.

The

rifl

es c

rack

ed a

gain

.The

ir s

ound

was

lost

in s

hrie

k an

d

lizar

d th

unde

r.T

he g

reat

leve

l of

the

rept

ile’s

tail

swun

g up

,

lash

ed s

idew

ays.

Tree

s ex

plod

ed in

clo

uds

ofle

afan

d br

anch

.

The

Mon

ster

twit

ched

its

jew

eler

’s ha

nds

dow

n to

fond

le a

t the

men

,to

twis

t the

m in

hal

f,to

cru

sh th

em li

ke b

erri

es,t

o cr

am

them

into

its

teet

h an

d it

s sc

ream

ing

thro

at.I

ts b

ould

er-s

tone

280

290

300


A S

ound

of

Thun

der

231

Ho

w d

oes

Eck

els

reac

t w

hen

he

sees

th

e d

ino

sau

r (l

ines

260-

287)

? W

hat

do

th

eg

uid

es t

ell h

im t

o d

o?

Pau

se a

t lin

e 30

2. W

hat

ca

use

s Ec

kels

to

ste

p o

ff t

he

pat

h?

Wh

at e

ffec

t m

igh

t th

isac

tio

n h

ave?

7.u

nd

ula

te(un!j¥·l†t"

) v.

:mo

ve in

wav

es.

Ecke

ls is

afr

aid

an

d

wan

ts t

o r

un

; th

e

gu

ides

tel

l him

to

go

bac

k to

th

e Ti

me

Mac

hin

e.

He

step

s o

ff b

ecau

se

he

is in

a d

aze;

his

acti

on

co

uld

ch

ang

e

the

futu

re in

so

me

way

.

It c

ame

on g

reat

oile

d,re

silie

nt,s

trid

ing

legs

.It t

ower

ed

thir

ty fe

et a

bove

hal

fof

the

tree

s,a

grea

t evi

l god

,fol

ding

its

deli-

cate

wat

chm

aker

’s cl

aws

clos

e to

its

oily

rep

tilia

n ch

est.

Each

low

er le

g w

as a

pis

ton,

a th

ousa

nd p

ound

s of

whi

te b

one,

sunk

in th

ick

rope

s of

mus

cle,

shea

thed

ove

r in

a g

leam

of

pebb

led

skin

like

the

mai

l6of

a te

rrib

le w

arri

or.E

ach

thig

h w

as a

ton

of

mea

t,iv

ory,

and

stee

l mes

h.A

nd fr

om th

e gr

eat b

reat

hing

cag

e

ofth

e up

per

body

thos

e tw

o de

licat

e ar

ms

dang

led

out f

ront

,

arm

s w

ith

hand

s w

hich

mig

ht p

ick

up a

nd e

xam

ine

men

like

toys

,whi

le th

e sn

ake

neck

coi

led.

And

the

head

itse

lf,a

ton

of

scul

ptur

ed s

tone

,lift

ed e

asily

upo

n th

e sk

y.It

s m

outh

gap

ed,

expo

sing

a fe

nce

ofte

eth

like

dagg

ers.

Its

eyes

rol

led,

ostr

ich

eggs

,em

pty

ofal

l exp

ress

ion

save

hun

ger.

It c

lose

d it

s m

outh

in

a de

ath

grin

.It r

an,i

ts p

elvi

c bo

nes

crus

hing

asi

de t

rees

and

bush

es,i

ts ta

lone

d fe

et c

law

ing

dam

p ea

rth,

leav

ing

prin

ts s

ix

inch

es d

eep

whe

reve

r it

set

tled

its

wei

ght.

It r

an w

ith

a gl

idin

g

balle

t ste

p,fa

r to

o po

ised

and

bal

ance

d fo

r it

s te

n to

ns.I

t mov

ed

into

a s

unlit

are

na w

arily

,its

bea

utifu

lly r

epti

lian

hand

s fe

elin

g

the

air. “W

hy,w

hy,”

Ecke

ls tw

itch

ed h

is m

outh

.“It

cou

ld r

each

up

and

grab

the

moo

n.”

“Sh!

”Tr

avis

jerk

ed a

ngri

ly.“

He

hasn

’t se

en u

s ye

t.”

“It c

an’t

be k

illed

.”Ec

kels

pro

noun

ced

this

ver

dict

qui

etly

,

as if

ther

e co

uld

be n

o ar

gum

ent.

He

had

wei

ghed

the

evid

ence

and

this

was

his

con

side

red

opin

ion.

The

rifl

e in

his

han

ds

seem

ed a

cap

gun

.“W

e w

ere

fool

s to

com

e.T

his

is im

poss

ible

.”

“Shu

t up!

”hi

ssed

Tra

vis.

“Nig

htm

are.”

“Tur

n ar

ound

,”co

mm

ande

d Tr

avis

.“W

alk

quie

tly to

the

Mac

hine

.We’

ll re

mit

one

half

your

fee.”

“I d

idn’

t rea

lize

it w

ould

be

this

big

,”sa

id E

ckel

s.“I

mis

cal-

cula

ted,

that

’s al

l.A

nd n

ow I

wan

t out

.”

“It s

ees

us!”

“The

re’s

the

red

pain

t on

its

ches

t!”

250

260

270


230

Colle

ctio

n 8:

Eval

uati

ng S

tyle

Part

1

resi

lien

t(ri·zil!y¥nt)

adj.:

able

to r

etu

rn t

o it

s o

rig

inal

sh

ape

qu

ickl

y af

ter

bei

ng

str

etch

edo

r co

mp

ress

ed; e

last

ic.

The

auth

or

use

s ri

ch

fig

ura

tive

lan

gu

age

in li

nes

24

1-25

9. U

nd

erlin

e at

leas

tfo

ur

met

aph

ors

or

sim

iles

that

hel

p y

ou

vis

ual

ize

the

fear

som

e d

ino

sau

r.

Rea

d t

he

bo

xed

pas

sag

eal

ou

d t

wic

e. F

ocu

s o

n r

ead

-in

g t

he

fig

ure

s o

f sp

eech

clea

rly

and

dra

mat

ical

ly.

rem

it(ri·mit!)

v.: r

etu

rn

pay

men

t.

Notes

Notes

6.m

ailn

.:h

ere,

fle

xib

le m

etal

arm

or.


HRT9_pp_101_149 10/3/03 3:26 PM Page 117 impos03 108:hrhrt9r1:hrt9ch:layouts:


“The

re.”

Lesp

eran

ce c

heck

ed h

is w

atch

.“R

ight

on

tim

e.

Tha

t’s t

he g

iant

tre

e th

at w

as s

ched

uled

to fa

ll an

d ki

ll th

is a

ni-

mal

ori

gina

lly.”

He

glan

ced

at th

e tw

o hu

nter

s.“Y

ou w

ant t

he

trop

hy p

ictu

re?”

“Wha

t?”

“We

can’

t tak

e a

trop

hy b

ack

to th

e Fu

ture

.The

bod

y ha

s to

stay

rig

ht h

ere

whe

re it

wou

ld h

ave

died

ori

gina

lly,s

o th

e

inse

cts,

bird

s,an

d ba

cter

ia c

an g

et a

t it,

as th

ey w

ere

inte

nded

to.

Ever

ythi

ng in

bal

ance

.The

bod

y st

ays.

But

we

can

take

a p

ictu

re

ofyo

u st

andi

ng n

ear

it.”

The

two

men

tri

ed to

thin

k,bu

t gav

e up

,sha

king

thei

r

head

s. The

y le

t th

emse

lves

be

led

alon

g th

e m

etal

Pat

h.T

hey

sank

wea

rily

into

the

Mac

hine

cus

hion

s.T

hey

gaze

d ba

ck a

t the

ruin

ed M

onst

er,t

he s

tagn

atin

g m

ound

,whe

re a

lrea

dy s

tran

ge

rept

ilian

bir

ds a

nd g

olde

n in

sect

s w

ere

busy

at t

he s

team

ing

arm

or. A s

ound

on

the

floor

of

the

Tim

e M

achi

ne s

tiff

ened

them

.

Ecke

ls s

at th

ere,

shiv

erin

g.

“I’m

sor

ry,”

he s

aid

at la

st.

“Get

up!

”cr

ied

Trav

is.

Ecke

ls g

ot u

p.

“Go

out o

n th

at P

ath

alon

e,”sa

id T

ravi

s.H

e ha

d hi

s ri

fle

poin

ted.

“You

’re

not c

omin

g ba

ck in

the

Mac

hine

.We’

re le

avin

g

you

here

!”

Lesp

eran

ce s

eize

d Tr

avis

’s ar

m.“

Wai

t—”

“Sta

y ou

t of

this

!”Tr

avis

sho

ok h

is h

and

away

.“T

his

fool

near

ly k

illed

us.

But

it is

n’t

that

so m

uch,

no.I

t’s h

is s

hoes

! Loo

k

at th

em! H

e ra

n of

fth

e Pa

th.T

hat

ruin

sus

! We’

ll fo

rfei

t!

Tho

usan

ds o

fdo

llars

of

insu

ranc

e! W

e gu

aran

tee

no o

ne le

aves

the

Path

.He

left

it.O

h,th

e fo

ol! I

’ll h

ave

to r

epor

t to

the

gov-

ernm

ent.

The

y m

ight

rev

oke

our

licen

se to

tra

vel.

Who

kno

ws

wha

the’

s do

ne to

Tim

e,to

His

tory

!”

350

360

370


A S

ound

of

Thun

der

233

Pau

se a

t lin

e 35

5. W

hy

do

you

th

ink

the

two

hu

nte

rs,

Bill

ing

s an

d K

ram

er, d

o n

ot

wan

t to

tak

e “t

rop

hy

pic

ture

s”?

Re-

read

lin

es 3

69-

376.

Un

der

line

wh

at T

ravi

s fe

ars

mig

ht

hap

pen

bec

ause

Eck

els

step

ped

off

th

e p

ath

.

revo

ke(ri·v£k!)

v.:c

ance

l;w

ith

dra

w.

They

are

to

o h

orr

ifie

d

at w

hat

th

ey’v

e d

on

e

to w

ant

to r

eco

rd it

.

eyes

leve

led

wit

h th

e m

en.T

hey

saw

them

selv

es m

irro

red.

The

y

fired

at t

he m

etal

lic e

yelid

s an

d th

e bl

azin

g bl

ack

iris

.

Like

a s

tone

idol

,lik

e a

mou

ntai

n av

alan

che,

Tyra

nnos

auru

s

fell.

Thu

nder

ing,

it c

lutc

hed

tree

s,pu

lled

them

wit

h it

.It

wre

nche

d an

d to

re th

e m

etal

Pat

h.T

he m

en fl

ung

them

selv

es

back

and

aw

ay.T

he b

ody

hit,

ten

tons

of

cold

fles

h an

d st

one.

The

gun

s fir

ed.T

he M

onst

er la

shed

its

arm

ored

tail,

twit

ched

its

snak

e ja

ws,

and

lay

still

.A fo

unt

ofbl

ood

spur

ted

from

its

thro

at.S

omew

here

insi

de,a

sac

of

fluid

s bu

rst.

Sick

enin

g gu

shes

dren

ched

the

hunt

ers.

The

y st

ood,

red

and

glis

teni

ng.

The

thun

der

fade

d.

The

jung

le w

as s

ilent

.Aft

er th

e av

alan

che,

a gr

een

peac

e.

Aft

er th

e ni

ghtm

are,

mor

ning

.

Bill

ings

and

Kra

mer

sat

on

the

path

way

and

thre

w u

p.

Trav

is a

nd L

espe

ranc

e st

ood

wit

h sm

okin

g ri

fles,

curs

ing

stea

dily

.

In th

e T

ime

Mac

hine

,on

his

face

,Eck

els

lay

shiv

erin

g.H

e

had

foun

d hi

s w

ay b

ack

to th

e Pa

th,c

limbe

d in

to th

e M

achi

ne.

Trav

is c

ame

wal

king

,gla

nced

at E

ckel

s,to

ok c

otto

n ga

uze

from

a m

etal

box

,and

ret

urne

d to

the

oth

ers,

who

wer

e si

ttin

g

on th

e Pa

th.

“Cle

an u

p.”

The

y w

iped

the

bloo

d fr

om th

eir

helm

ets.

The

y be

gan

to

curs

e to

o.T

he M

onst

er la

y,a

hill

ofso

lid fl

esh.

Wit

hin,

you

coul

d he

ar th

e si

ghs

and

mur

mur

s as

the

furt

hest

cha

mbe

rs o

fit

died

,the

org

ans

mal

func

tion

ing,

liqui

ds r

unni

ng a

fina

l ins

tant

from

poc

ket t

o sa

c to

spl

een,

ever

ythi

ng s

hutt

ing

off,

clos

ing

up

fore

ver.

It w

as li

ke s

tand

ing

by a

wre

cked

loco

mot

ive

or a

ste

am

shov

el a

t qu

itti

ng t

ime,

all v

alve

s be

ing

rele

ased

or

leve

red

tigh

t.

Bon

es c

rack

ed;t

he to

nnag

e of

its

own

flesh

,off

bala

nce,

dead

wei

ght,

snap

ped

the

delic

ate

fore

arm

s,ca

ught

und

erne

ath.

The

mea

t set

tled,

quiv

erin

g.

Ano

ther

cra

ckin

g so

und.

Ove

rhea

d,a

giga

ntic

tre

e br

anch

brok

e fr

om it

s he

avy

moo

ring

,fel

l.It

cra

shed

upo

n th

e de

ad

beas

t w

ith

final

ity.

310

320

330

340


232

Colle

ctio

n 8:

Eval

uati

ng S

tyle

Part

1

Wha

t tw

o th

ings

is t

he d

ino-

saur

com

pare

d to

in li

ne 3

11?

Wha

t ty

pe o

f fi

gura

tive

lan-

guag

e is

eac

h co

mpa

riso

n?

Cir

cle

the

wo

rds

in li

nes

31

1-31

8 th

at h

elp

yo

u v

isu

al-

ize

the

vio

len

t d

eath

of

the

gia

nt

din

osa

ur.

The

pre

fix

mal-

mea

ns

“no

t”o

r “b

ad.”

Wh

at d

o y

ou

th

ink

mal

fun

ctio

nin

g(l

ine

334)

mea

ns?

Pete

r B

olli

ng

er.

It m

ean

s “n

ot

fun

c-

tio

nin

g”

or

“fu

nct

ion

-

ing

bad

ly.”

a st

on

e id

ol a

nd

a

mo

un

tain

ava

lan

che;

the

com

par

iso

ns

are

sim

iles


HRT9_pp_101_149 10/3/03 3:26 PM Page 118 impos03 108:hrhrt9r1:hrt9ch:layouts:


“I’m

inno

cent

.I’v

e do

ne n

othi

ng!”

1999

.200

0.20

55.

The

Mac

hine

sto

pped

.

“Get

out

,”sa

id T

ravi

s.

The

roo

m w

as th

ere

as th

ey h

ad le

ft it

.But

not

the

sam

e as

they

had

left

it.T

he s

ame

man

sat

beh

ind

the

sam

e de

sk.B

ut th

e

sam

e m

an d

id n

ot q

uite

sit

beh

ind

the

sam

e de

sk.

Trav

is lo

oked

aro

und

swift

ly.“

Ever

ythi

ng o

kay

here

?”he

snap

ped.

“Fin

e.W

elco

me

hom

e!”

Trav

is d

id n

ot r

elax

.He

seem

ed to

be

look

ing

at t

he v

ery

atom

s of

the

air

itse

lf,at

the

way

the

sun

pour

ed th

roug

h th

e

one

high

win

dow

.

“Oka

y,Ec

kels

,get

out

.Don

’t ev

er c

ome

back

.”

Ecke

ls c

ould

not

mov

e.

“You

hea

rd m

e,”sa

id T

ravi

s.“W

hat’r

e yo

u st

arin

gat

?”

Ecke

ls s

tood

sm

ellin

g of

the

air,

and

ther

e w

as a

thin

g to

the

air,

a ch

emic

al ta

int s

o su

btle

,so

slig

ht,t

hat o

nly

a fa

int c

ry

ofhi

s su

blim

inal

sens

es w

arne

d hi

m it

was

ther

e.T

he c

olor

s,

whi

te,g

ray,

blue

,ora

nge,

in th

e w

all,

in th

e fu

rnit

ure,

in th

e sk

y

beyo

nd th

e w

indo

w,w

ere

...w

ere

...A

nd t

here

was

a fe

el.H

is

flesh

tw

itch

ed.H

is h

ands

tw

itch

ed.H

e st

ood

drin

king

the

odd

-

ness

wit

h th

e po

res

ofhi

s bo

dy.S

omew

here

,som

eone

mus

t hav

e

been

scr

eam

ing

one

ofth

ose

whi

stle

s th

at o

nly

a do

g ca

n he

ar.

His

bod

y sc

ream

ed s

ilenc

e in

ret

urn.

Bey

ond

this

roo

m,b

eyon

d

this

wal

l,be

yond

thi

s m

an w

ho w

as n

ot q

uite

the

sam

e m

an

seat

ed a

t thi

s de

sk th

at w

as n

ot q

uite

the

sam

e de

sk .

..la

y an

enti

re w

orld

of

stre

ets

and

peop

le.W

hat s

ort o

fw

orld

it w

as

now

,the

re w

as n

o te

lling

.He

coul

d fe

el th

em m

ovin

g th

ere,

beyo

nd t

he w

alls

,alm

ost,

like

so m

any

ches

s pi

eces

blo

wn

in a

dry

win

d...

.

But

the

imm

edia

te th

ing

was

the

sign

pai

nted

on

the

offic

e

wal

l,th

e sa

me

sign

he

had

read

ear

lier

toda

y on

firs

t ent

erin

g.

Som

ehow

,the

sig

n ha

d ch

ange

d:

420

430

440


A S

ound

of

Thun

der

235

Pau

se a

t lin

e 41

5. D

o y

ou

thin

k th

at E

ckel

s w

ill f

ind

that

he

has

“d

on

e n

oth

ing

”w

hen

he

get

s b

ack

to t

he

futu

re?

Un

der

line

clu

es in

lin

es

416-

418

that

ind

icat

e th

atEc

kels

’s a

ctio

ns

hav

e h

ad a

nef

fect

on

life

in h

is p

rese

nt.

sub

limin

al(s

ub

·lim!¥

·n¥l

)ad

j.:b

elo

w t

he

leve

l of

awar

enes

s.

Cir

cle

the

sen

sory

imag

esin

lines

428-

442

that

des

crib

eEc

kels

’s f

eelin

g t

hat

so

me-

thin

g is

no

t ri

gh

t. W

hy

do

esh

e co

mp

are

peo

ple

to

ch

ess

pie

ces?

Mo

st s

tud

ents

will

pre

-

dic

t th

at t

her

e w

ill b

e

an e

ffec

t fr

om

his

mis

-

take

.

Peo

ple

, lik

e ch

ess

pie

ces,

are

hel

ple

ss t

o

det

erm

ine

thei

r o

wn

fate

s.

“Tak

e it

eas

y,al

l he

did

was

kic

k up

som

e di

rt.”

“How

do

we

know

?”cr

ied

Trav

is.“

We

don’

t kno

w a

nyth

ing!

It’s

all a

mys

tery

! Get

out

of

here

,Eck

els!

”

Ecke

ls fu

mbl

ed h

is s

hirt

.“I’

ll pa

y an

ythi

ng.A

hun

dred

thou

sand

dol

lars

!”

Trav

is g

lare

d at

Eck

els’s

che

ckbo

ok a

nd s

pat.

“Go

out t

here

.

The

Mon

ster

’s ne

xt to

the

Path

.Sti

ck y

our

arm

s up

to y

our

elbo

ws

in h

is m

outh

.The

n yo

u ca

n co

me

back

wit

h us

.”

“Tha

t’s u

nrea

sona

ble!

”

“The

Mon

ster

’s de

ad,y

ou id

iot.

The

bul

lets

! The

bul

lets

can’

t be

left

beh

ind.

The

y do

n’t b

elon

g in

the

Past

;the

y m

ight

chan

ge a

nyth

ing.

Her

e’s

my

knife

.Dig

them

out

!”

The

jung

le w

as a

live

agai

n,fu

ll of

the

old

trem

orin

gs a

nd

bird

cri

es.E

ckel

s tu

rned

slo

wly

to r

egar

d th

e pr

imev

alga

rbag

e

dum

p,th

at h

ill o

fni

ghtm

ares

and

terr

or.A

fter

a lo

ng ti

me,

like

a

slee

pwal

ker

he s

huff

led

out a

long

the

Path

.

He

retu

rned

,shu

dder

ing,

five

min

utes

late

r,hi

s ar

ms

soak

ed a

nd r

ed to

the

elb

ows.

He

held

out

his

han

ds.E

ach

held

a

num

ber

ofst

eel b

ulle

ts.T

hen

he fe

ll.H

e la

y w

here

he

fell,

not

mov

ing.

“You

did

n’t h

ave

to m

ake

him

do

that

,”sa

id L

espe

ranc

e.

“Did

n’t I

? It

’s to

o ea

rly

to te

ll.”

Trav

is n

udge

d th

e st

ill b

ody.

“He’

ll liv

e.N

ext

tim

e he

won

’t go

hun

ting

gam

e lik

e th

is.O

kay.”

He

jerk

ed h

is th

umb

wea

rily

at L

espe

ranc

e.“S

wit

ch o

n.Le

t’s g

o

hom

e.” 1492

.177

6.18

12.

The

y cl

eane

d th

eir

hand

s an

d fa

ces.

The

y ch

ange

d th

eir

caki

ng s

hirt

s an

d pa

nts.

Ecke

ls w

as u

p an

d ar

ound

aga

in,n

ot

spea

king

.Tra

vis

glar

ed a

t him

for

a fu

ll te

n m

inut

es.

“Don

’t lo

ok a

t me,”

crie

d Ec

kels

.“I

have

n’t d

one

anyt

hing

.”

“Who

can

tell?

”

“Jus

t ran

off

the

Path

,tha

t’s a

ll,a

little

mud

on

my

shoe

s—

wha

t do

you

wan

t me

to d

o—ge

t dow

n an

d pr

ay?”

“We

mig

ht n

eed

it.I

’m w

arni

ng y

ou,E

ckel

s,I

mig

ht k

ill

you

yet.

I’ve

got

my

gun

read

y.”

380

390

400

410


234

Colle

ctio

n 8:

Eval

uati

ng S

tyle

Part

1

Pau

se a

t lin

e 38

8. W

hat

do

esTr

avis

wan

t Ec

kels

to

do

as

pu

nis

hm

ent?

pri

mev

al(p

r¢·m#!

v¥l)

adj.:

pri

mit

ive;

of

the

earl

iest

tim

es.

Notes

Notes

Trav

is w

ants

Eck

els

to

dig

th

e b

ulle

ts o

ut

of

the

dea

d d

ino

sau

r.



A S

ound

of

Thun

der

2

37

A S

ound

of

Thun

der

Styl

e Ch

art

Ray

Bra

dbur

y us

es la

ngua

ge to

re-

crea

te a

lush

pre

hist

oric

set

ting

.W

e se

e an

d fe

el th

e va

st ju

ngle

and

its

huge

inha

bita

nt,t

he T

yran

nosa

urus

rex

.T

he b

oxed

pas

sage

s be

low

con

tain

som

e of

Bra

dbur

y’s

styl

isti

c de

vice

s:•

figu

res

ofsp

eech—

met

apho

rs,s

imile

s,pe

rson

ifica

tion

•im

ager

y—w

ords

tha

t ap

peal

to s

ight

,hea

ring

,tas

te,t

ouch

,sm

ell

Und

erlin

e fig

ures

of

spee

ch,c

ircl

e th

e im

ages

,and

dra

w b

oxes

aro

und

exam

ples

ofre

peti

tion

.The

n,in

the

spac

e pr

ovid

ed,d

escr

ibe

the

wri

ter’s

sty

lean

d th

em

ood

ofth

e st

ory.


“Th

e ju

ng

le w

as h

igh

an

d t

he

jun

gle

was

bro

ad a

nd

th

e ju

ng

le w

as t

he

enti

re

wo

rld

fo

reve

r an

d f

ore

ver.

Sou

nd

s lik

e

mu

sic

and

so

un

ds

like

flyi

ng

ten

ts f

illed

the

sky,

an

d t

ho

se w

ere

pte

rod

acty

ls,

soar

ing

wit

h c

aver

no

us

gra

y w

ing

s,

giga

ntic

bat

s of

del

iriu

m a

nd n

ight

fev

er.”

De

scri

be

th

e S

tory

’s M

oo

d

De

scri

be

Bra

db

ury

’s S

tyle

Pa

ssa

ge

On

eP

ass

ag

e T

wo

“Th

e Ty

ran

t Li

zard

rai

sed

itse

lf. I

ts

arm

ore

d f

lesh

glit

tere

d li

ke a

th

ou

san

d

gre

en c

oin

s. T

he

coin

s, c

rust

ed w

ith

slim

e, s

team

ed. I

n t

he

slim

e, t

iny

inse

cts

wri

gg

led

, so

th

at t

he

enti

re b

od

y

seem

ed t

o t

wit

ch a

nd

un

du

late

, eve

n

wh

ile t

he

mo

nst

er it

self

did

no

t m

ove

.

It e

xhal

ed. T

he

stin

k o

f ra

w f

lesh

ble

w

do

wn

th

e w

ilder

nes

s.”

Sam

ple

res

po

nse

: Bra

db

ury

’s s

tyle

is v

ivid

ly d

escr

ipti

ve

and

alm

ost

po

etic

bec

ause

of

his

use

of

imag

ery

and

fig

ure

s o

f sp

eech

.

Sam

ple

res

po

nse

: Th

e m

oo

d is

aw

eso

me;

ter

rify

ing

;

mys

teri

ou

s; h

ypn

oti

c.

Ecke

ls fe

lt hi

mse

lffa

ll in

to a

cha

ir.H

e fu

mbl

ed c

razi

ly a

t

the

thic

k sl

ime

on h

is b

oots

.He

held

up

a cl

od o

fdi

rt,t

rem

-

blin

g,“N

o,it

can

’tbe

.Not

a li

ttle

thin

g lik

e th

at.N

o!”

Embe

dded

in th

e m

ud,g

liste

ning

gre

en a

nd g

old

and

blac

k,

was

a b

utte

rfly

,ver

y be

auti

ful a

nd v

ery

dead

.

“Not

a li

ttle

thin

g lik

e th

at! N

ot a

but

terf

ly!”

crie

d Ec

kels

.

It fe

ll to

the

floor

,an

exqu

isit

e th

ing,

a sm

all t

hing

that

coul

d up

set b

alan

ces

and

knoc

k do

wn

a lin

e of

smal

l dom

inoe

s

and

then

big

dom

inoe

s an

d th

en g

igan

tic

dom

inoe

s,al

l dow

n

the

year

s ac

ross

Tim

e.Ec

kels

’s m

ind

whi

rled

.It

coul

dn’t

chan

ge

thin

gs.K

illin

g on

e bu

tter

fly c

ould

n’t b

e th

atim

port

ant!

Cou

ld it

?

His

face

was

col

d.H

is m

outh

tre

mbl

ed,a

skin

g:“W

ho—

who

won

the

pres

iden

tial

ele

ctio

n ye

ster

day?

”

The

man

beh

ind

the

desk

laug

hed.

“You

joki

ng? Y

ou k

now

very

wel

l.D

euts

cher

,of

cour

se! W

ho e

lse?

Not

that

fool

wea

klin

g

Kei

th.W

e go

t an

iron

man

now

,a m

an w

ith

guts

!”T

he o

ffic

ial

stop

ped.

“Wha

t’s w

rong

?”

Ecke

ls m

oane

d.H

e dr

oppe

d to

his

kne

es.H

e sc

rabb

led

at

the

gold

en b

utte

rfly

wit

h sh

akin

g fin

gers

.“C

an’t

we,”

he p

lead

ed

to th

e w

orld

,to

him

self,

to th

e of

ficia

ls,t

o th

e M

achi

ne,“

can’

t

we

take

it b

ack,

can’

t we

mak

eit

aliv

e ag

ain?

Can

’t w

e st

art o

ver?

Can

’t w

e—”

He

did

not m

ove.

Eyes

shu

t,he

wai

ted,

shiv

erin

g.H

e he

ard

Trav

is b

reat

he lo

ud in

the

room

;he

hear

d Tr

avis

shi

ft h

is r

ifle,

clic

k th

e sa

fety

cat

ch,a

nd r

aise

the

wea

pon.

The

re w

as a

sou

nd o

fth

unde

r.

450

460

470


236

Colle

ctio

n 8:

Eval

uati

ng S

tyle

Part

1

Co

mp

are

this

sig

n w

ith

th

eo

ne

at t

he

beg

inn

ing

of

the

sto

ry. H

ow

are

th

ey t

he

sam

eo

r d

iffe

ren

t?

Pau

se a

t lin

e 46

2. W

hat

was

the

mai

n e

ffec

to

f Ec

kels

’ski

llin

g o

f th

e b

utt

erfl

y?

Wh

at is

th

e “s

ou

nd

of

thu

n-

der

” in

lin

e 47

1?

Tyme S

efari,

Inc.

Sefa

ris tu

any

yee

r en

the

past

.

Yu n

aim

the

anim

all.

Wee

taek

yuth

air.

Yu s

hoot

itt.

Pete

r B

olli

ng

er.

The

mes

sag

e is

th

e

sam

e, b

ut

the

spel

ling

is v

ery

dif

fere

nt.

The

killi

ng

set

off

a

chai

n r

eact

ion

th

at

end

ed in

th

e el

ecti

on

of

Deu

tsch

er a

s p

resi

-

den

t.

It is

a r

ifle

sh

ot.

Tra

vis

has

kill

ed E

ckel

s fo

r

chan

gin

g t

he

wo

rld

as

he

knew

it.



A S

ound

of

Thun

der

2

39

Skill

s Re

view

Skill

s Re

view A

Soun

d of

Thu

nder

ann

ihila

te

exp

end

able

dep

ress

ion

par

ado

x

del

iriu

m

resi

lien

t

rem

it

revo

ke

pri

mev

al

sub

limin

al

Wor

d Bo

xW

ord

Box

I hav

e b

een

wan

tin

g t

o g

o t

o t

he

(1)

fore

st,

the

old

est

pla

ce o

pen

to

tim

e tr

avel

ers.

I h

ave

mo

ney

to

pay

th

e h

efty

fee

,

tho

ug

h t

he

wo

rld

is in

an

eco

no

mic

(2)

. B

esid

es,

His

tori

c Tr

avel

s, In

c., w

ill (

3)

my

fee

if t

he

auth

ori

-

ties

(4)

th

e co

mp

any'

s lic

ense

an

d c

ance

l th

e tr

ip.

The

Tim

e Tr

avel

er p

acke

d li

gh

t, b

rin

gin

g n

oth

ing

th

at w

as n

ot

(5)

and

co

uld

be

left

beh

ind

if s

om

eth

ing

wen

t

wro

ng

. Bu

t n

oth

ing

co

uld

go

wro

ng

, co

uld

it?


Voca

bula

rySkills

Use

pre

fixe

s to

defi

ne w

ords

.U

se w

ords

inco

ntex

t.

DIR

ECTI

ON

S:R

ead

eac

h s

ente

nce

car

efu

lly. T

hen

, wri

te t

he

def

init

ion

of

each

bo

ldfa

ce w

ord

on

th

e lin

e b

elo

w. R

efer

to

th

e ch

art

abo

ve f

or

hel

p.

Pref

ixes

3.Th

e d

ino

sau

r se

emed

imm

ort

al,l

ike

ate

rrif

yin

g p

agan

go

d.

4.A

fter

th

eir

adve

ntu

re, t

he

trav

eler

sh

ad n

o d

esir

e to

rev

isit

the

pas

t.

1.Ec

kels

to

ok

an e

xtra

ord

inar

yjo

urn

eyin

to t

he

pas

t.

2.To

kee

p t

he

wo

rld

un

chan

ged

,th

eyw

ere

ord

ered

to

sta

y o

n t

he

Path

.

in-,

im-,

or

un

-, m

ean

ing

“n

ot”

ex-,

mea

nin

g “

ou

t”ex

tra-

, mea

nin

g “

ou

tsid

e; b

eyo

nd

”

re-,

mea

nin

g “

bac

k; a

gai

n”

sub

-, m

ean

ing

“b

elo

w”

pre

-, m

ean

ing

“ca

me

bef

ore

”

Pre

fix

es

an

d M

ea

nin

gs

Voca

bula

ry i

n Co

ntex

tD

IREC

TIO

NS:

Co

mp

lete

th

e p

arag

rap

h b

elo

w b

y w

riti

ng

a w

ord

fro

m t

he

wo

rd b

ox

to f

itea

ch n

um

ber

ed b

lan

k. N

ot

all w

ord

s fr

om

th

e b

ox

will

be

use

d.

“bey

on

d o

rdin

ary”

“no

t ch

ang

ed”

“no

t m

ort

al”

“vis

it a

gai

n”

pri

mev

al

dep

ress

ion

rem

it

revo

ke

exp

end

able

Co

mp

lete

th

e sa

mp

le t

est

item

bel

ow

. Th

en, c

hec

k yo

ur

answ

er, a

nd

rea

d t

he

exp

lan

atio

n t

hat

ap

pea

rs in

th

e ri

gh

t-h

and

bo

x.

A So

und

of T

hund

er

Skill

s Re

view

Skill

s Re

view

238

Colle

ctio

n 8:

Eval

uati

ng S

tyle

Part

1

Ex

pla

na

tio

n o

f th

e C

orr

ect

An

swe

r

The

corr

ect

answ

er is

A.

The

wo

rd e

xcep

tte

lls y

ou

th

at t

he

cor-

rect

an

swer

is t

he

on

e th

at d

oes

no

tfi

t.Th

e st

ory

do

es n

ot

incl

ud

e an

y ch

arac

-te

rs w

ho

sp

eak

in a

reg

ion

al d

iale

ct.

Ban

d C

are

no

t co

rrec

t b

ecau

se w

ord

cho

ice

and

sen

ten

ce le

ng

th a

re e

le-

men

ts o

f st

yle.

Dis

wro

ng

bec

ause

th

isst

ory

is f

ull

of

fig

ura

tive

lan

gu

age,

ano

ther

co

mp

on

ent

of

styl

e.

Sa

mp

le T

est

Ite

m

In “

A S

ou

nd

of

Thu

nd

er,”

Bra

db

ury

’sst

yle

is c

reat

ed b

y al

l th

e fo

llow

ing

el

emen

ts e

xcep

t—

Are

gio

nal

dia

lect

Bd

icti

on

, or

wo

rd c

ho

ice

Cse

nte

nce

len

gth

an

d p

atte

rn

Dfi

gu

rati

ve la

ng

uag

e

3.

Ove

rall,

Bra

db

ury

's s

tyle

can

bes

tb

ed

escr

ibed

as —

Ah

um

oro

us

Bm

atte

r-o

f-fa

ct

C

spar

se

D

rich

ly d

escr

ipti

ve

4.

Wh

ich

of

the

follo

win

g w

ord

s b

est

des

crib

es t

he

mo

od

of

“A S

ou

nd

of

Thu

nd

er”?

F re

laxe

d

G

qu

iet

Hte

rrif

yin

g

Jev

il

1.

Wh

ich

pas

sag

e fr

om

th

e st

ory

co

n-

tain

s a

fig

ure

of

spee

ch?

A

“Sta

y o

n t

he

Path

.”

B

“Th

ey w

ere

read

y to

leav

e th

eM

ach

ine.

”

C“T

hat

'd b

e a

par

ado

x.”

D“E

ach

low

er le

g w

as a

pis

ton

. . .

”

2.In

th

is s

tory

, Bra

db

ury

's d

icti

on

,or

wo

rd c

ho

ice,

can

bes

tb

e d

escr

ibed

as

—

Ffl

at

Gvi

vid

Hev

eryd

ay

Jte

chn

ical

DIR

ECTI

ON

S:C

ircl

e th

e le

tter

of

each

co

rrec

t an

swer

.


Lit

erar

y Skills

Ana

lyze

elem

ents

of

styl

e, in

clud

ing

figu

rati

vela

ngua

ge a

ndm

ood.


Graphic Organizers 219

Co

pyr

igh

t ©

by

Ho

lt, R

ineh

art

and

Win

sto

n. A

ll ri

gh

ts r

eser

ved

.

Name Date

Selection Title

Style Chart

Style is the distinctive way a writer uses language. It is created through diction (wordchoice), sentence length and pattern, and the images and figurative language the authoruses. These elements also shape the story’s mood. The chart below lists some elements ofstyle. Give examples of each from the selection you have just read. Then, describe theireffects on the selection. Finally, describe the mood of the selection.

Element of Style Example Effect

Diction

Figures of Speech

Images

Sentence Structure

Mood: __________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

a sound of thunder by ray bradbury · pdf filea sound of thunder by ray bradbury ... check for...

Documents