Earth Day

R.C

                                                                                                                                                Name: _____________________________

Nonfiction Reading Test

Black Friday

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Refer to the text to check your answers when appropriate.

The day after Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday shopping season. Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday, so the day after is a Friday. This day has come to be known as Black Friday. It has been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005. Most stores offer great deals on Black Friday. They open their doors in the wee hours of the morning. They try to attract shoppers with big discounts. Some items like TVs are much cheaper than usual. Stores may even lose money on these items. They hope that shoppers will buy gifts for other people while they are in the store. Black Friday is a great time to get good deals. The problem is that there are not enough low-priced items to go around. Each store may only have a few. These items are in high demand. People stand in long lines to get such great deals. They may line up hours before a store opens. They may be hoping to get a low price on a TV or laptop, but not everyone who wants one will get one. Some people leave disappointed. The situation can be tense. Some Black Friday events have been violent. Large, eager crowds have trampled workers. Fights have broken out over toys or people cutting in line. People have shot one another over parking spots. But most Black Friday events are safe and fun. Still, if you plan on going, expect large crowds and a bit of shoving.

So where does the name "Black Friday" come from? It was first used in Philadelphia in the 1950s. The police called this day Black Friday because of the heavy traffic it drew. In the 1960s, stores tried to rename the day "Big Friday." It did not stick. The name "Black Friday" continued to spread across the country. It seems that it is here to stay. Now people all over the country take part in the event known as Black Friday. It is even spreading to other parts of the world. Stores have held Black Friday events in the U.K., Australia, and Brazil since 2012. In Costa Rica Black Friday is known as "Viernes Negro." And in Mexico, stores offer an annual weekend of discounts. They call it "El Buen Fin," which means "the good weekend" in Spanish. I guess the language of savings is universal.

 

1. According to the text, why do stores set prices so low on some items that they lose money?

a. They want people to enjoy the holidays.

b. They hope people will buy other gifts while they are in the store.

c. They are in a giving mood because the holiday season is just beginning.

d. They are trying to get rid of old items from last year to make room for new items.

B

2. Which is not true about Black Friday?

a. Black Friday is always the day after Thanksgiving.

b. Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year.

c. Black Friday is a national holiday.

d. Black Friday is the start of the holiday shopping season.

C

3. Where does the name Black Friday come from?

a. The police called this day Black Friday because there is a lot of traffic.

b. The stores called this day Black Friday because it is a serious shopping day.

c. The police called this day Black Friday to remember the victims of violence.

d. The stores called this day Black Friday because they make a lot of money.

A

4. Which best explains the main idea of the third paragraph?

a. People stand in long lines on Black Friday.

b. Black Friday is the best time of the year to get good deals.

c. Black Friday is a really disappointing time of the year.

d. Black Friday deals are limited and not everyone will get one.

D

5.  Which country does not participate in Black Friday?

a. France                                                                    b. Costa Rica

c. Brazil                                                                     d. United Kingdom

A

6. Which happened first?

a. Stores tried to rename the day after Thanksgiving "Big Friday."

b. Black Friday events began happening in Australia.

c. Police began calling the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday."

d. Black Friday became the busiest shopping day of the year.

C

7. Which title best expresses the author's purpose in writing this text?

a. Black Friday: Stories from the Parking Lot

b. Black Friday: Why You Should Go This Year

c. Black Friday: The Stuff That You Should Know

d. Black Friday: How to Save Money on the Big Day

C

8. Which best describes the overall structure of the fifth paragraph?

a. chronological order                                             b. problem and solution

c. compare and contrast                                          d. order of importance

A

9. Which was not cited as one of the downsides of Black Friday?

a. Stores run out of high demand items quickly.

b. Nobody really saves any money on Black Friday.

c. There are large crowds and lots of shoving.

d. Sometimes violence occurs at Black Friday events.

B

10. Which best explains why Costa Ricans call Black Friday "Viernes Negro"?

a. Costa Rican stores don't want the shopping day associated with American violence.

b. Viernes Negro sounds more exotic and exciting than Black Friday.

c. Costa Ricans want to establish their own shopping tradition.

d. This is how you say "Black Friday" in Spanish, the language of Costa Rica.

D

 

R.C

                                                                                                                                                Name: _____________________________

Nonfiction Reading Test

Carnivorous Plants

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Refer to the text to check your answers when appropriate.

Imagine that you're a fly. You're just zipping around the sky, looking for a place to rest, when you see nice pink leaf. That looks like a nice place to land. You think to yourself in your fly head. As you rest your feet on the leaf, you notice something strange. This leaf is hairy. You begin to make your move, but you trigger the plant's reflex. Snap! In one-tenth of a second, you are caught in the Venus flytrap. You will be digested in five to twelve days. Welcome to the world of carnivorous plants! There are over a quarter of a millions plant species. Only small number of plants are carnivorous. We call them this because they attract, trap, and eat bugs. Like other plants, they get energy from the sun. But unlike other plants, they get their nutrients from their prey. Carnivorous plants live in bogs and places where the soil lacks nutrients. Most plants get nutrients from the soil. Carnivorous plants have turned to other sources. The snap of the Venus flytrap is not the only way that plants eat bugs. Pitcher plants trick their prey into landing on them. They offer nectar bribes to the foolish insects that would take them. True to their name, pitcher plants have deep chambers. Their landing surface is slippery. They have inward pointing hairs, making it hard to escape. The fly lands on the pitcher plant to eat, but slips into a pit filled with digestive fluids and is eaten. Then there're sundews. We call them sundews because they sparkle in the sun as if covered in morning dew. Of course, that sparkle is from something much more treacherous. It is a sweet goo called mucilage that bugs can't resist. Sundews create mucilage to attract bugs. As they fly in to eat, bugs become trapped in the very object of their desire. They soon exhaust themselves by trying to escape the mucilage. Or the sundew's tentacles, which respond to prey by curling around them, smother them. Bugs usually die in about 15 minutes. Then the plant dissolves its prey in enzymes and absorbs the nutrients.

Have you ever walked into trouble and found that you couldn't get out? So has every insect that has ever wandered into a corkscrew plant. Bugs love to investigate plants for nectar and food. Corkscrew plants have inviting stems. Curved hairs line the inside of these stems. These hairs allow insects to go up the stems, but not back. Going forward leads a chamber filled with digestive fluid, the plant's stomach. Bugs who wander into the corkscrew plant find that they are unable to escape. They must march to their own demise. And then there are the bladderworts. They're about as nice as they sound. They live in water and float near the surface. Their traps are like small bladders hidden beneath the water. Only their flowers are visible from the surface. When bugs swim into the trigger hairs, the plant reacts. A trapdoor in the bladder opens up. The bladder sucks up the prey and the water surrounding it.  A tenth of a second later, the bladder shuts again. The plant has trapped the prey. It releases digestive fluids. The prey will be digested within hours. Carnivorous plants might sound tough, but they are difficult to keep at home. They are built to survive in places that other plants cannot. This specialization comes at a cost. They have a hard time adapting to other environments. Their strengths become weaknesses in rich soil. They depend on the harsh yet delicate environments in which they thrive. They are not so hardy after all. Still, there's something to be said about the power of life when one finds a plant that can survive in barren soil.

 

1. Which statement would the author most likely agree with?

a. There are too many species of carnivorous plants.

b. There are a lot of plant species in the world.

c. Only a small number of plants are carnivorous.

d. A majority of plants are carnivorous.

C

2. Which plant traps bugs in its stem and forces them to walk forward?

a. Corkscrew plants                                                     b. Sundews

c. Bladderworts                                                          d. Pitcher plants

A

3. Which of the following statements is false?

a. Carnivorous plants get their energy from eating bugs.

b. Carnivorous plants do not get nutrients from the soil.

c. Carnivorous plants get their energy from the sun.

d. Carnivorous plants get their nutrients from eating bugs.

A

4. Which event happens last when a sundew eats a meal?

a. The sundew creates mucilage.

b. The sundew's tentacles curl in response to the prey.

c. The bug is attracted to the mucilage.

d. The sundew releases enzymes.

D

5. Which best expresses the main idea of the third paragraph?

a. There are more types of carnivorous plants than the Venus fly trap.

b. The pitcher plant tricks bugs into falling into its stomach.

c. The Venus flytrap kills its prey in a various ways.

d. Some plants attract bugs by offering them nectar.

B

6. Which best defines the word treacherous as it is used in the fourth paragraph?

a. Something that provides nutrients.

b. Something that is very bright.

c. Something that tastes delicious.

d. Something that has a hidden danger.

D

7. Which best describes the overall text structure of the second paragraph?

a. Chronological order                                    b. Compare and contrast

c. Sequential order                                                      d. Spatial

B

8. Which statement would the author most likely disagree with?

a. Carnivorous plants cannot thrive in rich soil.

b. Bladderworts react quickly when their trigger hairs are bumped.

c. Carnivorous plants are tough and can live in any environment.

d. Bladderworts hide their traps just below the surface of the water.

C

9. Which best expresses the main idea of the last paragraph?

a. Carnivorous plants are not hard to take care of because they feed themselves.

b. Carnivorous plants are delicate because they need certain conditions to survive.

c. Carnivorous plants are difficult to keep at home, but you should keep trying.

d. Carnivorous plants are inspirational and they are interesting to watch and own.

B

10. Which title best expresses the author's main purpose in writing this text?

a. Watch Out! How To Avoid Being Eaten by Carnivorous Plants

b. At Risk: How You Can Help to Preserve Carnivorous Plants

c. Venus Flytrap: Nature's Most Beautiful and Dangerous Plant

d. Fatal Flowers: Plants That Kill Insects

D

Reading comprehension

                                                                                                                                                Name: _____________________________

Nonfiction Reading Test

Asian Carp

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Refer to the text to check your answers when appropriate.

The United States has a lengthy history of going to war. It is a nation born from war. Pick any year since 1776, and the odds of America being involved in at least one war is over 90%.  Every US President has faced war. Still, it may surprise you to hear that the US government is at war with a fish. Asian carp were introduced to American waters during the 1970s. Southern fish farmers began importing them to help clean their ponds. Asian carp are phenomenal cleaners. Unfortunately, it didn't take too long for them to escape from these ponds, perhaps from flooding, and get into the Mississippi River. From there they have followed their natural tendency to swim upstream. This tendency may lead them into the Great Lakes and Canada, a nightmare scenario for fisherman. Asian carp are large fish. One species, the silver carp, can grow to be 100 pounds. But despite their size, they feed from the bottom of the food chain. That means that they eat plankton and algae. A one hundred pound fish can eat an awful lot of sea scum, and some of it is toxic. The carp are resistant to the toxins, but we aren't. Some Asian carp are hazardous to eat because they have so many algal toxins in their systems. They also have lots of tiny bones in their meat, which makes them difficult to prepare. Asian carp is not a popular delicacy. Introducing the Asian carp into waters that have not known them can be devastating. Beneath the surface of the water is a unique ecosystem. This system rests delicately on a balance that has evolved over millions of years. Then along come these big, hungry bottom feeders to mess up everything. They breed rapidly and densely populate the waters. Worse still, they compete with the native bottom feeders. The native bottom feeders are smaller. Larger, tastier fish like salmon eat them. The native bottom feeders are an important part of the ecosystem. When the Asian carp outperform them, the whole food chain suffers, all the way up to the people.

Not only do Asian carp mess up the food chain, they mess up people. Seriously. An Asian carp will bust you in head. Remember that silver carp can be 100 pounds. There is a reason why they are also known as "flying carp." This particular species of Asian carp has a tendency to jump when frightened. They can jump up to ten feet in the air, and the sound of boat motors frightens them. Watch out watersportists! In 2003 a woman jetskier collided with one and broke her nose and a vertebra. She almost drowned. In 2008 a teenager broke his jaw on one while tubing. Many others have been injured by these flying logs. Asian carp pose a serious threat to water skiers and boaters. In 2007 the U.S. Department of the Interior declared all silver carp to be an injurious species. In 2010, the State of Michigan passed the $30 million CARPACT. In 2012 Congress approved the "Stop Invasive Species" act, legislation written solely to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp. The government has been on the offensive against these large-bellied invaders. But Asian carp are difficult to catch. Since they eat from the bottom, they do not go for lures or baits like most large fish. The best way to stop them is to keep them out. The Great Lakes are connected to the Mississippi River through the 28-mile Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. For Chicagoans, it is the final point of resistance. A series of multimillion-dollar electrical barriers have been built along the canal. The barriers are effective at keeping adult carp at bay, but some fear that baby carp may pass through. The United States Army Corps of Engineers has been deployed along with EPA. In 2009 they poisoned the entire canal with rotenone, a chemical that kills fish. The $3 million operation netted over 90 tons of dead fish, and a single carp. Some think that Great Lakes must be cut off from the Mississippi River. The Michigan Attorney General sued to have the canal closed. The Ontario government and some Great Lake states have also taken legal action. But the courts have been persuaded by the value of the canal as a shipping conduit thus far. In the meantime, the barriers continue to hold, but how long can they? The carp have the Great Lakes under siege. Is this a war that we are destined to lose?

 

1. Which statement best expresses the main idea of the second paragraph?

a. Asian carp were brought to America during the 1970s to assist Southern fish farmers.

b. Asian carp are remarkable cleaners, which makes them highly desirable fish to have.

c. Asian carp were supposed to clean ponds but they escaped and are headed north.

d. Asian carp are excellent at swimming upstream and cleaning up plankton.

C

2. Which is not a reason why Asian carp is an unpopular menu item?

a. It is hard to prepare because of all the little bones.

b. They are a very fattening fish.

c. Some of them are toxic and unsafe to eat.

d. They are bottom feeders.

B

3. Which statement would the author most likely disagree with?

a. Asian carp outperform many native bottom feeders.

b. Asian carp could disrupt the ecosystem in Lake Michigan.

c. One species of Asian carp is the silver carp.

d. Asian carp are disliked because they eat salmon.

D

4. Which best describes the text structure of the fourth paragraph?

a. Chronological order                                                b. Cause and effect

c. Compare and contrast                                             d. Problem and solution

B

5. Which person would be most threatened by silver carp in a local water source?

a. A waterskier                                                            b. A chicken farmer

c. A bungee jumper                                                     d. A beachgoer

A

6. Which best describes the word resistant as it is used in the third paragraph?

a. To be allergic to something

b. To be unaware of something

c. To be unaffected by something

d. To be attracted or drawn to something

C

7. According to information in the article, which event happened last?

a. Asian carp escaped from southern fish farms.

b. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was poisoned with rotenone.

c. A teenager broke his jaw on a silver carp while tubing.

d. Congress approved the "Stop Invasive Species" act.

D

8. Which of the following statements is false?

a. Silver carp have been declared an "injurious species" by the government.

b. Silver carp are also known as "flying carp."

c. Silver carp can grow to be 100 lbs.

d. Silver carp can jump up to twenty feet in the air.

D

9. Which statement would the author most likely agree with?

a. It would be best for the fishing industry if the canal were closed permanently.

b. The electric barriers will keep the Asian carp out of the Great Lakes forever.

c. The Great Lake states agree fully on a solution to the Asian carp problem.

d. Closing the Chicago Sanitary and Ship canal would have little economic impact.

A

10. Which title best represents the author's main purpose in writing this text?

a. America: A Nation at War

b. Asian Carp: Threatening the Great Lakes

c. Asian Carp: A Beautiful and Powerful Fish

d. Misunderstood: Protect and Defend the Asian Carp

B