Reading exercises

Feathers and Gas
Your choices will show how well you understood the reading selections. You may reread all or part of the selections to help you answer correctly.
 

The BBC is reporting that Harry Potter is responsible for the dwindling number of wild owls in India. One of the reasons that owls are being trapped and sold as pets is that parents’ are buying them as gifts for their kids whoare fans of the fictional wizard. As you may already know, Harry has his own pet owl, Hedwig.

1. What does “dwindling” mean?

a. having feathers
b. becoming less
c. flying
d. appearing in movies

2. Many children in India want owls _______.

a. as pets
b. to become extinct
c. as a special food item
d. to use their feathers in hats

3. From the above selection, we can see that_______.

a. Everyone loves Harry Potter movies
b. Owls don’t taste as good as chickens
c. People want to wipe out owls
d. being popular can be harmful

Volvo is building a car that will use gasoline without burning it. CNet Car Tech reports that Volvo will use a fuel cell that converts the hydrogen in gasoline into electricity to run the vehicle’s electric motor when the battery is low. Theplug-in hybrid will go farther on the same amount of fuel because regular gasoline engines waste much of the fuel’s energy as heat.

4. To fill this car with fuel, _______.

a. you’ll have to find a station that sells hydrogen
b. you’ll be able to go to any regular gas station
c. you must plug it in overnight
d. you only need to add water

5. What does “converts” mean?

a. frightens
b.burns
c. loses
d. changes
Drawing Conclusions
Read the selection and then choose the statement that is most likely true.
 

1. Emir rarely rides to school each morning. He could take the school bus but prefers to walk the two miles from his home to school. He believes that the walk wakes him up and improves his learning throughout the day.

a. Emir always rides the bus home at the end of theschool day.
b. Emir never rides the bus to school.
c. Emir values learning.
d. Emir is usually late for school.

2. “Remember, Maria,” Mrs. Russo said, “you’re very allergic to chocolate. Please don’t eat any chocolate candy at the Halloween party!”

Three hours later, Maria was home from the party with a terrible stomach ache. “I promise you, Mom,” Maria groaned, “I’ll always do what yousay from now on.”

a. Maria got into a fight at the party.
b. Maria ate chocolate at the party.
c. Maria ate no chocolate at the party.
d. Maria embarrassed herself by singing at the party.

3. In another week, we’ll be turning our clocks back one hour. Then it will be almost dark by the time most of us get home from school. It will seem as if we suddenly have less daylight each day. Ofcourse, people aren’t actually changing the behavior of the sun or the earth by messing with their clocks.

a. Our planet has to spin faster when we reset our clocks.
b. It’s clear that turning our clocks back will help prevent global warming.
c. If according to our clocks, the sun sets an hour earlier, it will also rise an hour earlier.
d. The earth will actually rotate at a slower rate when weturn back the clocks.

4. Every time I give my cat a plate of tuna, he ignores it. Every time I give him a plate of salmon, he quickly eats it all. When I feed him beef, he eats a little bit of it, but doesn’t seem to love it.

a. Cats prefer salmon over tuna.
b. I give my cat more than one kind of food.
c. My cat likes tuna better than beef.
d. My cat won’t eat fish.
A Lucky Coin
Readthe article first without stopping to find the missing words. Then read it again and choose the correct missing word from the numbered choices below the article.

When does one penny equal 170 million pennies? In Time for Kids, Suzanne Zimbler __1__ that a 1943 U.S. penny that was made at the Denver Mint has sold for $ 1.7 million. That single coin is thought to be the __2__ copper coin made in...