HN22 - Unit 9 - review
Ten numbers, one unit
Last bet, settled
Yesterday (January 6): Congress finished certifying the count at about 3:40 a.m. on January 7 — the same night.
Read the passage and study the figures. Pick the best answer for 1–5 (one letter each). Write 2–3 sentences for 6.
You have made ten bets this unit. Each one was a number, and each number was standing in for an argument. The Wall stood 28 years and came down in a night — the argument was that closed systems fail suddenly. A president cut the top tax rate from 70% to 28% — the argument was about who the economy is for. Zero senators of his own party voted to convict — the argument was that loyalty had replaced judgment. Five hundred thirty-seven votes decided a presidency, and the two halves of the country watched it on two different channels. Thirty-three thousand people were pulled off rooftops by the one agency that didn’t wait to be asked. A bank owed six hundred billion dollars, eight million families lost their homes, and nobody went to prison. And then two crowds formed, furious about the same thing, pointing in opposite directions. The table lists the numbers. The exam will ask you what they mean.
Figure 1
Unit 9 in ten numbers. Every one was a bet you made.
| The bet | The number | What it measured |
|---|---|---|
| Years the Wall stood | 28 | 1961 to 1989 |
| Hostages, days held | 444 | Iran, 1979–81 |
| Top tax rate, 1980 → 1988 | 70% → 28% | the Reagan tax cuts |
| Senators of his own party voting guilty | 0 | the 1998 impeachment |
| Votes that decided Florida | 537 | the 2000 election |
| Coast Guard rescues after Katrina | 33,000+ | the one agency that moved |
| Lehman’s debt | $600 billion | the largest bankruptcy ever |
| Families who lost homes, 2007–12 | 8 million | the human cost |
| CEO pay vs. a typical worker | 290 to 1 | the wealth gap, today |
| House seats that flipped, 2010 | 63 | the two crowds, one went inside |
Make your bet
One more number for the road. The Berlin Wall fell in November 1989. The Soviet Union itself dissolved in December 1991. Bet: how many separate countries did the USSR break into?
Questions 1–5
1. According to the passage, the numbers in this unit are best understood as:
A. random trivia.
B. stand-ins for arguments about how the country works.
C. test scores.
D. dates to memorize.
2. The passage says the fall of the Wall showed that “closed systems fail suddenly.” Which OTHER row in Figure 1 best fits the same idea?
A. Coast Guard rescues
B. House seats that flipped
C. Top tax rate
D. Lehman’s debt
3. The author connects “537 votes” to “two different channels” in order to:
A. link the culture war to the split media.
B. explain how the votes were counted.
C. argue the election was stolen.
D. show that Florida is small.
4. According to Figure 1, which two rows together describe the 2008 crash and its human cost?
A. Years the Wall stood; Hostages
B. Top tax rate; CEO pay
C. Lehman’s debt; Families who lost homes
D. Votes that decided Florida; House seats
5. Based on Figure 1, which statement is supported?
A. CEO pay fell after 2008.
B. The Wall stood for fifty years.
C. The Coast Guard waited for orders.
D. The 1998 impeachment split along party lines.
Question 6
6. Go deeper. Pick the ONE number in the table you think matters most for the country you are going to live in. Say why — and what a person who picked a different number would say back to you.