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End-of-Grade 6 (EOG6) Reading

Last updated 6 months ago
46 questions

Elijah McCoy

by Fred M. B. Amram

1
Elijah McCoy was a true genius, the inventor of 50 patented ideas. Most of all, McCoy's name stood for quality. Even now when people want top quality, they say "I want the real McCoy."

2
McCoy lived at a time when railroads were changing the nation. Tracks were laid from east to west and from north to south. The North American West was built by the railroads, which made transporting people and goods possible.

3
McCoy was born in Canada, into a community of escaped slaves. As a young man, he went to Scotland to apprentice as a mechanical engineer. When he returned to North America, he ended up in Michigan, at the home of the Michigan Central Railroad.

Puts Skills to Use

Although he was trained as an engineer, the best job he could get was as a stoker, the worker who kept the fire burning on steam-powered locomotives. McCoy soon put his engineering skills to use to resolve a common problem faced by the railroad.

5
Locomotive engines have many moving parts that rub against each other. If you rub your hands together quickly and for a long time they will become hot. In the same way, a steam engine's parts overheated when they rubbed together too long. The heat could cause damage to the engine parts and could even start fires. The only way to prevent overheating was to frequently oil, or lubricate, the engine's parts.

As a stoker for the Michigan Central Railroad, part of McCoy's job was to lubricate the engine by hand. The train had to be stopped each time he oiled the engine's parts. The stops caused great delays in the train's schedules, and even with careful oiling, engine parts overheated often. Then the parts had to be repaired or replaced, causing even greater delays.

McCoy knew there had to be a better way to lubricate the engines. He applied his engineering training to this important problem.

Invents Lubricator

First, in 1872, McCoy invented a lubricator that did not require a worker to do the job by hand. The train had to stand still while the lubricator was in use, but this method was safer and worked better and faster than the old method. The railroad was pleased with McCoy's work and encouraged him to improve his invention. Ten years later, McCoy patented a lubricator that worked while a train or ship was moving. The lubricator automatically dripped oil on moving parts as needed.

The Real McCoy

9
McCoy invented many versions of the lubricator. Some were used with engines in motion. Others were used with engines standing still in factories. The automatic lubricator was so popular that other engineers started to design their own versions. However, none were as good. When customers bought a lubricator they asked, "Is this the real McCoy?"


McCoy did not stay with the railroad. He became a teacher, instructing others about the use of his lubricator and about other workings of engines. And he never stopped inventing.
Required
1

Based on paragraphs 1 and 9, why do people still use the saying, “I want the real McCoy”?

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1

What can be inferred from the information in paragraph 2?

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1

What does the author mean when he says that the North American West "was built by the railroads" in paragraph 2?

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What does apprentice mean, as used in paragraph 3?

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How does paragraph 5 contribute to the idea that McCoy saw a need for improvement in lubricating engine parts?

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What inference can be made about Elijah McCoy’s second lubricator as compared to the first?

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What does the phrase “the real McCoy” mean, based on paragraph 9?

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Which quote supports the idea that Elijah McCoy liked to share his talents with others?

The Top 10 Reasons Students Cannot Cite or Rely On Wikipedia

by Mark E. Moran

1
Wikipedia provides Internet users with millions of articles on a broad range of topics and commonly ranks first in search engines. But its reliability and credibility fall well short of the standards for a school paper. According to Wikipedia itself, "[While some articles are of the highest quality of scholarship, others are admittedly complete rubbish. . . . use [Wikipedia] with an informed understanding of what it is and what it isn't."

To help you develop such an understanding, we present 10 reasons you can't rely on information in Wikipedia.

10. You must never fully rely on any one source for important information.

3
Everyone makes mistakes. All scholarly journals and newspapers contain "corrections" sections in which they acknowledge errors in their prior work. And even the most neutral writer is sometimes guilty of not being fully objective. Thus, you must take a skeptical approach to everything you read.

The focus of your search should be on finding accurate information and forming a full picture of an issue, rather than believing the first thing you read. This is particularly true on the Internet, where anyone can publish, cheaply and quickly. Always verify important information by confirming it with multiple sources.

9. You especially can't rely on something when you don't even know who wrote it.

Very few Wikipedia editors and contributors use their real name or provide any information about who they are. In order to properly evaluate information on the Internet, there are three questions you must always ask; the first two are "Who wrote this?" and "Why did they write it?" On sites with anonymous authors like Wikipedia, you can't find this information.

8. The contributor with an agenda often prevails.

In theory, the intellectual sparring at the heart of Wikipedia's group editing process results in a consensus that removes unreliable contributions and edits. But often the contributor who "wins" is not the one with the soundest information, but rather the one with the strongest agenda.

In March 2009, Irish student Shane Fitzgerald, who was conducting research on the Internet and globalization of information, posted a fake quotation on the Wikipedia article about recently deceased French composer Maurice Jarre. Due to the fact that the quote was not attributed to a reliable source, it was removed several times by editors, but Fitzgerald continued reposting it until it was allowed to remain.

8
Fitzgerald was startled to learn that several major newspapers picked up the quote and published it in obituaries, confirming his suspicions of the questionable ways in which journalists use Web sites, and Wikipedia, as a reliable source. Fitzgerald e-mailed the newspapers, letting them know that the quote was fabricated; he believes that otherwise, they might never have found out.

7. Individuals with agendas sometimes have significant editing authority.

9
Administrators on Wikipedia have the power to delete or disallow comments or articles they disagree with and support the viewpoints they approve. For example, beginning in 2003, UK scientist William Connolley became a Web site administrator and subsequently wrote or rewrote more than 5,000 Wikipedia articles supporting the concept of climate change and global warming. More importantly, he used his authority to ban more than 2,000 contributors with opposing viewpoints from making further contributions.

According to The Financial Post, when Connolley was through editing, "The Medieval Warm Period disappeared, as did criticism of the global warming orthodoxy." Connolley has since been stripped of authority at Wikipedia, but one blogger believes he continues to post.

Furthermore, in 2007, a new program called WikiScanner uncovered individuals with a clear conflict of interest that had written or edited some Wikipedia entries. Employees from organizations such as the CIA, the Democratic National Party, and Diebold were editing Wikipedia entries in their employers' favor.

6. Sometimes "vandals" create malicious entries that go uncorrected for months.

Due to the fact that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone with an Internet connection, users can falsify entries. Though in many instances reviewers quickly delete this "vandalism," occasionally false information can remain on Wikipedia for extended periods of time.

For example, John Seigenthaler, a former assistant to Robert Kennedy, was falsely implicated in the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers on his Wikipedia biography for a period of more than 100 days without his knowledge.

5. There is little diversity among editors.

According to a 2009 survey by the Wikimedia Foundation, 87 percent of Wikipedia editors are male, with an average age of 26.8 years. According to executive director Sue Gardner, they hail mostly from Europe and North America, and many of them are in graduate school.

Although most of these editors are undoubtedly intelligent and passionate about enhancing the accuracy of Wikipedia, the site falls far short of its ideals of providing "the sum of all human knowledge" without the broad perspectives that a more diversified pool of editors would bring.

4. The number of active Wikipedia editors has flatlined.

The number of active Wikipedia editors (those who make at least five edits a month) has stopped growing. It remains to be seen whether the current number of active editors can maintain and continue updating Wikipedia.

3. It has become harder for casual participants to contribute.

17
According to the Palo Alto Research Center, the contributions of casual and new contributors are being reversed at a much greater rate than several years ago. The result is that a steady group of high-level editors has more control over Wikipedia than ever.

18
A group of editors known as "deletionists" are said to "edit first and ask questions later," making it harder for new contributors to participate, and making it harder for Wikipedia-which, again, aspires to provide "the sum of all human knowledge"-to overcome the issue that it is controlled by a stagnant pool of editors from a limited demographic.

2. Accurate contributors can be silenced.

Deletionists on Wikipedia often rely on the argument that a contribution comes from an "unreliable source," with the editor deciding what is reliable. An incident last year showed the degree to which editors at the very top of Wikipedia were willing to rely on this crutch when it suits their purpose.

When the Taliban kidnapped New York Times reporter David Rohde in Afghanistan, the paper convinced 40 media organizations plus Wikipedia not to report on it out of concerns that it would compromise Rohde's safety. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales told the Times, once Rohde was free, that "We were really helped by the fact that it (postings on Rohde) hadn't appeared in a place we would regard as a reliable source." Thus, Wales and other senior Wikipedia editors showed they were willing to rely on the "unreliable source" canard to delete information they had been told by a very reliable source was true, even when a more noble reason-Rohde's safety-would have justified it.

And finally, the number one reason you can't cite or rely on Wikipedia:

1. It says so on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia says, "We do not expect you to trust us." It adds that it is "not a primary source" and that "because some articles may contain errors," you should "not use Wikipedia to make critical decisions."

Furthermore, as Wikipedia notes in its "About" section, "Users should be aware that not all articles are of encyclopedic quality from the start: they may contain false or debatable information."

Reference: Using Wikipedia

Wikipedia can actually be a constructive tool in the classroom if understood and used correctly. To learn more, read FindingDulcinea's Web Guide to Wikipedia in the Classroom.

North Carolina State University Libraries has a short video that explains what Wikipedia is and how information is entered into it. Take a tour of the "article," "discussion," "edit this page," and "history" tabs to go "beneath the surface" of Wikipedia.

Stephen Colbert* takes a satirical view of Wikipedia in a segment on his show and on his own user-generated encyclopedia, Wikiality. Though intended for laughs, it captures, in an entertaining fashion, why Wikipedia can't be relied upon as a sole source of information.

*Stephen Colbert: comedian and television show host
Required
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What is the central idea the author is conveying in the text?

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What was the author trying to convey by quoting Wikipedia’s own statement that some of its content was “complete rubbish” in paragraph 1?

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What does the word skeptical mean in paragraph 3?

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Why is it important to confirm information through multiple resources?

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What does the word fabricated mean in paragraph 8?

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How does paragraph 9 explain one of the major problems with Wikipedia’s articles?

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According to paragraphs 17 and 18, what are deletionists?

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Why does Wikipedia state that their articles are not “primary sources”?

Concrete Source: MIT Scientists Turn the Concrete Jungle Green

by Ian Hardy

The word "concrete" is not much fun to say out loud. It actually sounds like a cold, hard, grey word....

Let's face it-concrete is boring. Most of us recognize it instantly, when we see hideous flats* and offices from the 1960s and 1970s, that for a brief moment were the cutting edge of architecture.

So, with our expectations completely lowered, it's time to visit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known better as MIT.

Concrete age

Here concrete is treated with an admiration more often reserved for diamonds or gold, especially by Franz-Josef Ulm, one of the top professors in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

"Concrete is maybe one of the oldest man-made materials on earth," he says.

"Some people say it was used by the Egyptians for the second layer of the pyramids. Modern cement came about in the late nineteenth, early twentieth century."

When you meet the researchers, their passion for concrete becomes infectious. It has, after all, had an immeasurable impact on mankind.

It has allowed us to cross rivers easily, live on top of one another in relative comfort and drive vehicles for hundreds of miles without becoming stuck in the mud.

Hamlin Jennings, the executive director of MIT's Concrete Sustainability Hub, a collection of academics from various departments brought together to examine concrete in detail, says it is a fascinating substance.

"Concrete is relatively inexpensive. It's a forgiving material-it can be mixed by ordinary laborers, and used in climates ranging from the South Pole to the tropical mid part of the Earth. It can also get hard under water."

Environmental impact

But all that comes at a price to the environment. Thirty billion tons of concrete are manufactured globally each year.

The way that concrete is mixed is very simple says Professor Ulm.

"It's made out of cement. Cement is basically limestone and clay. Cement is then mixed with water to form this ubiquitous material which shapes our landscapes and cities."

This process of combining of water, cement paste, sand, and rock creates an awful lot of COz gases-which are linked by some scientists to global warming-about five to 10% of the world's total emissions.

MIT wanted to see whether this could be lowered. After all, it has a habit of making giant steps from the tiniest of changes-so tiny in this case, it was invisible to the human eye.

Despite its availability all over the world and its ease of use, the molecular structure of concrete had remained elusive for decades. In particular one part of it-calcium silicate hydrate-refused all attempts to be analyzed under an electron microscope or by nano-indentation.

"Calcium silicate hydrate does not reveal its secrets easily," says Professor Hamlin Jennings.

"It's partly amorphous; it contains a lot of water, which evaporates, and the structure changes. So what you see in an electron microscope, which requires a vacuum, is substantially different from what is naturally there."

So the scientists turned to their laptops, and using cutting-edge computational mathematics, modelled the concrete on the screen at a molecular level.

In 2009, after three years of almost constant hard-drive rotation, all the atoms fell into place in a nice colorful stable pattern on the monitor. ...

For the next two years one MIT academic in particular, Roland Pellenq, played what amounted to a really tedious video game. He moved, removed, changed, and added molecules to the traditional concrete model.

Then one day he made history. He re-invented concrete.

This version is stronger, more durable, and greener. They call it green concrete, not to be confused with the scores of other products already available labelled green concrete, that have mostly been transformed by marketing rather than molecular experts.

"Almost every civil-engineering department in the world, almost without exception, has a group of people who work on [the development of] concrete in one form or another," says Professor Jennings.

"They have beavered away trying this and trying that and the formulations have changed over the last 50 years, but not radically."

Test subject

... Optimistically, the first structures to use the new technology are five years away from construction. MIT's job is done, but that job is only to provide a "proof of concept."

It's up to the worldwide building industry to take the new concrete and pour it through its paces.

The compound will be pulled, pushed, squeezed, frozen, flattened, and smashed until it begs for mercy from government regulators and industry panels....

28
Their inventive phase will undoubtedly lead to a compelling innovative phase far from the Cambridge-based campus. But it's not hard to imagine all the possibilities, good and bad.

29
Fewer potholes on the roads? Fewer road works and traffic jams? Huge real-estate savings by companies and governments? And what will happen to the number of construction workers?

Longer-lasting buildings mean fewer workers, but higher buildings and longer bridges made with the new tougher cement paste might mean more jobs.

Nothing, as they say, is written in stone-or concrete.

*flats: a British term for apartment buildings
Required
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Which detail supports the central idea of the text?

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Which statement answers why MIT conducted the research study of concrete?

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Which quote from the text suggests the future of concrete?

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What is the meaning of the word innovative in the sentence below from paragraph 28?

“Their inventive phase will undoubtedly lead to a compelling innovative phase far from the Cambridge-based campus.”

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Which is a possible drawback of the use of green concrete?

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What is the impact of the author’s use of questions in paragraph 29?

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What was the author’s purpose for writing this text?

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Which statement summarizes this text?

A Chilling Thrill Or Was It A Thrilling Chill?

by Karen Dowicz Haas

My new school's ski trip seemed like a good idea to my mom, who was holding up the slick new ski jacket she'd just bought for me. Mom must have imagined me-her seventh-grade daughter, Carly-and my new rosy-cheeked friends sipping hot chocolate beside a roaring fire. Maybe she thought I'd spend the weekend dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh, bells jingling.

After all, she knew I couldn't ski.

3
"So? You'll learn," she said, conveniently forgetting that I was nearly ten before I could manage a two-wheeler.

"But I don't really know anybody...," I said, afraid to admit the whole truth. I'd been in school for months and still had no friends.

"And what better way to get acquainted?" she said.

Obviously I had no clue.

After hours on the bus with rival boom boxes blaring the entire length of the New York State Thruway, we finally arrived at the slopes. The wind chill made the temperature feel like ten below, so I distributed the tubes of lip balm my thoughtful mother had sent to prevent chapping.

After my classmates smeared on smudge-proof, all-day protection, I snapped photos, the proof Mom wanted that I was having fun. My best shot was of some guys on the football team.
Their lips had turned hot pink.

9
My ski lesson went well. I learned how to break skis. Bindings snapped off under my uncoordinated legs.

"It's OK," the instructor said. "That's supposed to happen. Sometimes it keeps you from getting hurt."

"Sometimes?"

He pointed to the plaster cast on his ankle. "Avoid the moguls," he said.

"Real estate moguls? Developers who turn mountains into ski resorts?"

"Nah," he said. "Moguls are mounds of snow. Bumps on the slope."

He repaired my skis and sent me toward a rope that was mysteriously moving up the mountain.

"Stick with the bunny slope," he said.

"Is the bunny named Godzilla?"

My pink-lipped classmates, who were either seasoned skiers or fearless fools, had deserted me and raced for the lift lines to Mounts Denali, Rushmore, and Vesuvius. I shuffled to Godzilla's leash, tucked in my lucky scarf, and grabbed on.

The icy rope slid through my mittens. My frostbitten fingers gripped tighter and harder but to no avail. Fidgety four-year-olds stiffened up behind me. As I turned to apologize, a knot reached my hands and dragged me up the hill with the force of a tidal wave.

It was only fitting that Beach Boys music started blasting out of the speakers in the lodge: "Surfin' U.S.A." Little kids in goofy hats surfed by me on snowboards. Slush swooshed into my face. My nose dripped into my lip balm.

Higher and higher I went up Mount Bunny until I reached the peak from which, theoretically, I would ski down.

22
I wiped my nose and surveyed the situation. I considered riding the rope back down, but the snickers from the snowboarders would be too humiliating. Peer pressure is a terrible thing, especially from kids half your age.

I reviewed what I'd learned. The instructor had said to point your ski tips together to stop. He called it "snowplowing." Where I'm from, we use a pickup truck with a giant blade in the front.

He kept saying to "slalom" down the mountain, a term I later realized means to zigzag. Frankly, I thought he'd said "salami." I figured they had a gourmet deli on the hill. All these people would need to eat.

25
With this wealth of knowledge, I slid off. I followed the tracks of the child who'd gone before me. Since her ski tips eventually plowed together, I stopped. No problem. Turning, however, took some maneuvering. I couldn't seem to do it.

Finally I squatted, figuring that the closer I was to the snow, the easier it would be to fall. Skis together, aimed directly at the ski-lodge door, I zipped down the hill.

The cold air suddenly turned fresh and exciting. I felt like an Olympic champion. At long last, the thrill of skiing! That my eyes were frozen shut only added zest.

I snowplowed to a stop and entered the lodge. My cheeks tingled from the warmth of the crowded room, and the biggest, most ridiculous smile took over my face.

"I'm still here," I said, practically bragging to the crowd. They didn't erupt with applause, but they didn't pelt me with snowballs either. Actually, nothing had changed. Just my attitude.

Without thinking twice, I went up to Marie, a girl from my math class. "Hi, I'm Carly," I said. Fracture anything yet?"

We'd been studying fractions all week, but she missed the common denominator of my joke.

Her face reddened. "They had to stop the ski lift so I could get on," she said. "I wanted to die."

"Aw, that's nothing," said a kid named Joey as he leaned in. He took off his cool sunglasses. "I had to change my name and put on a disguise after the Ski Patrol chased me for going too fast."

"Look what happened to me!" said a guy behind them. He wore a bike helmet, and the exposed hair that peeked out around his face was frozen into stiff, curly ringlets. Matt Hall. We rode the same bus every day but hadn't said so much as "Hi" before.

"I did a belly flop to avoid the tree that jumped into my way," he said with a smile.

Marie and I laughed. And to my surprise, I discovered that my mother was right. I'd forgotten that I was a social misfit. What better way to get acquainted?

Matt, Joey, Marie, and I hit the slopes again.

The ski slopes? No way! Instead, we went dashing through the snow. No horse, no sleigh. We were the kids tobogganing near the lodge on the back of our ski jackets.
Required
1

Which theme is found in this selection?

Required
1

What does paragraph 3 reveal about the relationship between the narrator and her mother?

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How does the author’s choice of words in paragraph 9 affect the meaning of the text?

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Which of the statements made by the narrator shows that she knows little about skiing?

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What is the effect of using the word humiliating instead of the word embarrassing in paragraph 22?

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What does the word maneuvering mean in paragraph 25?

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Which statement below is evidence that Carly was glad she went on the ski trip with her school?

It's a Chick, Not a Dog

by Jar al-Nabi al-Hiw
Translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth

We live in the big house, all of us-men and women, boys and girls, and my mother and me.

2
My mother captures all my attention. And she's ruled my heart too.

I watch my mother no matter where she is: for she's the one who brings the hammer and pounds the nail into the wall so she can hang up a picture of my father.

And she's the one who sends me off to buy half a kilo of cement and half a kilo of gypsum. Then she makes a paste. She closes up all the holes in the house and repairs all the cracks.

She makes the house the way it is, and keeps it nice, and gets the food ready, and sits on the roof among the chickens and roosters and rabbits and ducks.

All our lives we've had chickens and roosters and ducks.

But what really amazed me was this chick. A yellow chick, the down on his body silk-soft, with three tiny feathers on his right wing and three more on his left wing. The wings were very thin, but the chick flapped them and lifted himself a little way off the ground.

A lone, wondrous chick. I saw him one morning walking after my mother through the house, walking as if he were a little child, stumbling sometimes and once in a while hopping on one leg. Can you believe that once I imagined he was following my mother, hopping and whistling happily?

My mother knew he was walking after her. Almost certainly she knew. Do you want me to tell you why?

First, there wasn't a single time when my mother's foot stepped back and tread on the chick.

Second, I was watching her with my own eyes and I could see her eyes moving, noticing whether the chick was marching behind her or not!

Third, then she would sit down in some corner of the house and smile at the chick, who would suddenly fluff up and flutter his wings and start running, but then he would stumble and try to hop several times until at last he got it right and landed exactly in the middle of my mother's lap.

My mother sits so that the rays of the sun coming from the stairwell fall directly onto her. She shifts to the right, the sun is in her lap, and the chick tumbles over as she moves.

Once he flipped onto his back, got himself the right way up, and went to sleep in the patch of sun in my mother's lap.

Sitting there my mother closes her eyes, leans her head against the wall, and naps. I trace the features of her face: her eyelashes, closed over her eyes, her wide, shiny forehead. I notice a vague smile on her mouth. The feathery lash over her right eye trembles, and she settles into sleep so deep that 1 can barely hear her breathing. The chick is asleep in the sun of her lap.

The chick pecks at her. His beak is tiny. Smaller than the head of a match.

He pecks at my mother's finger, the big one that wears a ring with lots of tiny engraving I've never been able to understand. I imagined that my mother's name was written on the ring because I thought I could see the letter jim and other letters and lines all twisting and running into each other as if it was my mother's name.

I didn't try very hard to make friends with the chick or get him to walk after me, because honestly he never tried to walk after me. And anyway I had another friend, a fine-looking dog.

My fine dog always waits for me next to the door, in the little garden that is all around our house.

So I have a dog who walks after me.

Now all of you know, of course, that a dog is bigger than a chick. And my dog is my friend, so he walks beside me, or before me, in the narrow streets when the nights are very dark. He pushes fear away from me, runs after the other dogs, and barks. He runs after boys who are teasing and making trouble and barks. And he comes back to me, breathing hard.

On pretty nights when I walk and whistle a dance tune, I find him wagging his tail, he's so happy, and his black eyes look at me. So I clap to encourage him. He doesn't annoy or bother me, except he doesn't understand when I'm talking with my school friend, and he gets into the conversation, barking, excited, until I scold him. Then he pulls his tail in between his legs and looks at the ground as if he's searching for something.

The chick never tried to interfere with my mother, whatever she was doing. I don't know if this is a nice thing or not!

But I think he didn't feel happy or sad the way my dog does. I have tried a lot to get my dog to come sleep on my lap, but he gets bored and impatient; he won't sit still. It isn't long before I feel the nails on his paws as he jumps up and runs like a wild animal to pounce on a leaf falling from a tree. When he discovers that it is just a leaf he comes back and sits on his rear paws. He plays tricks in order to escape from my lap.

I built my dog a little house out of wood in a corner of our garden, so he could sleep in it, as I've seen in the pictures in story books. But he didn't want to have anything to do with his house.

Sometimes he has slept next to the little wooden house, but he prefers his spot beside our big front door and the entrance to the garden. There he has a good view, inside and out. Sometimes, but not very often, he growls, or he acts as if he wants to attack someone.

The strangest move I ever saw the chick make was when he once stood on my mother's shoulder, then folded his tiny legs, and went to sleep the minute his eyelids drooped!

When my mother picked him up, she put her puckered mouth to his tiny beak and gave him water to drink and fed him with grains of rice.

Studying at school and home took up my time. The chick grew into a rooster.

My mother was happy about the rooster. My father asked to eat him roasted. My brothers, though, wanted him baked in rice. My mother put him on the roof with the other fowl.

The rooster became one of them. He would stand on the wall, crow, and pounce on the food as soon as my mother took it up.

32
The rooster didn't remember my mother's special treatment or her good company. My mother complained often that he was jumping into her face, fanning out his feathers, and opening his claws to scratch her. In fact, my mother grew afraid of him, and because of that she let him get away with a lot.

33
I noticed that the birds and rabbits, all of them, would act as if they were about to pounce on my mother, and then they would pounce on the food and eat it. But my dog became gentler with people. When little children climbed onto his back it didn't upset him. Instead he wagged his tail. And he got into the habit of stretching out his front legs, resting his chin on them, and falling fast asleep.

34
One evening when it was very hot, I was lying on the mat, my head resting against my mother's thigh, her fingers playing gently with my hair. I asked her about the chick. Why had he become a fierce rooster?

35
My mother smiled. "That's the way life works," she said. "He knows to be afraid of those who might eat him."

I tiptoed out of the house. I wanted to go for a walk by myself. But my dog came and walked behind me, his tail wagging, and it seemed to me that he was whistling a happy song.
Required
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Which quote supports the theme of intelligence in animals?

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What does the narrator mean in paragraph 2?

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Which sentence contributes to the development of the setting?

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How do paragraphs 32–34 contribute to the plot?

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What is the mother indicating in paragraph 35?

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How does the mother's attitude change from the beginning to the end of the selection?

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Why did the dog respond differently to the family than the chick did?

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Which statement summarizes the selection?

The Two Friends

by Carolyn Wells

1
A Spider and a Centipede went out to take a walk;
The Centipede said frankly, “I will listen while you talk,
But I may appear distracted, or assume a vacant stare,
Because to keep my feet in step requires my constant care.”

2
Said the Spider: “I appreciate your most peculiar case,
And your feet must be quite handy when you want to run a race;
But though you gain in some ways, in some other ways you lose;
And, of course, my friend, you must be quite extravagant in shoes.”

3
“Ah! yes. Ah! yes,” a heavy sigh escaped the Centipede;
“And I have other trials, too;—my life is hard indeed!
Why, sometimes when I’m very tired, a long, long time it takes
To ascertain1 with certainty which foot it is that aches.

4
“And when I go to dancing-class on Saturdays at three,
I find the First Position very difficult for me.
Though I put my best foot foremost, and good time I try to keep,
To my chagrin,2 I often find a foot or two asleep.

5
Athletics I attempted, but, alas! I must admit
That every exercise I tried I put my foot in it.
I think I’ll join a foot-ball team,—as many friends suggest,—
Before I’ve one foot in the grave and gout in all the rest.

6
But now I’ll say good-morning; for, my friend, I have to stop
To get my boots blacked neatly at this little boot-black’s shop;
And, as you may imagine, it will keep me here some time,
But, what is worse, I’ll have to pay him many a hard-earned dime.”

7
The Spider said good-morning, and pursued his way alone,
And as he went he murmured, in a thoughtful undertone:
“I’m a happy little Spider, and I’m very glad indeed,
That I was born an octoped and not a centipede!”


1ascertain: to understand
2chagrin: a feeling of disappointment
Required
1

Which quote suggests a theme of contentment?

Required
1

Which quote suggests that the Centipede wants to benefit from having so many feet?

Required
1

What does the figurative language mean in the last line of stanza 5?

Required
1

How do the Spider’s words in the final stanza relate to the rest of the poem?

Required
1

How does the poet develop the point of view of the Spider?

Excerpt from “Be a Fit Kid”


There’s a lot of talk these days about fit kids. People who care (parents, doctors, teachers, and others) want to know how to help kids be more fit.

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Being fit is a way of saying a person eats well, gets a lot of physical activity (exercise), and has a healthy weight. If you’re fit, your body works well, feels good, and can do all the things you want to do, like run around with your friends.

Some parts of this are up to parents — such as serving healthy meals or deciding to take the family on a nature hike. But kids can take charge too when it comes to their health.

Here are five rules to live by, if you’re a kid who wants to be fit. The trick is to follow these rules most of the time, knowing that some days (like your birthday) might call for cake and ice cream.

1. Eat a Variety of Foods

You may have a favorite food, but the best choice is to eat a variety. If you eat different foods, you’re more likely to get the nutrients your body needs. Taste new foods and old ones you haven't tried for a while. Some foods, such as green veggies, may taste better the older you get. Shoot for at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day — two fruits and three vegetables.

The full article can be found at: https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/fit-kid.html
Required
2

Explain the effect of the phrase “eats well” in paragraph 2 on the meaning of the text. Use one example from the text to support your answer.

The Totem Pole Challenge

by The TaleWagger

One day last summer, a grandfather was sitting on a pier with his grandson fishing.

It was a warm, sunny day and several people were out and about, enjoying the fine weather, the scenery and relaxing. On a seat, near to the grandson, a young woman was reading a book and when she had finished she wandered away, leaving the book on the seat. After a while, the grandson, bored with not being able to catch a fish, strolled across to the seat and picked up the book.

He quickly flicked through the pages, decided that it was of no interest to him, and proceeded to tear out the pages, one by one. When he had sufficient, he went to the water’s edge. There he proceeded to screw them into balls and throw them into the water.

“Mike!” his grandfather shouted out. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Nothin’ Grandpa,” came the reply, “just playing with an old book someone left behind.”

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“Don’t be destructive,” scolded his grandfather, “someone will have to clear up your mess. More importantly though, you should realize that some author must have taken a lot of trouble to write that book.”

“But it was only an old book Grandpa,” replied Mike, “and anyway, anyone can write a book. It’s easy!”

The old man sighed, gave an old-fashioned look, and asked. “Have you heard the story of the Totem Pole Challenge?”

Mike shook his head.

“In that case, you’d better sit down and listen carefully.”

With the fishing forgotten for a while, Mike sat cross-legged on the ground and his grandfather began his tale.

“Many years ago, a small tribe lived deep in the wilderness of North America. One day the Chief met with his three sons and spoke.

‘I have decided that we should leave the story of our lives for others to see. When the snow melts, I will trade half of our pelts with the woodcarvers, for a totem pole.’

At first his sons could not believe what they had heard and looked at each other in amazement.

‘But father,’ they cried out as one, ‘if you do that, we will not have enough pelts to trade for food and we will surely die! We have tomahawks and there are many trees. We can make as many totem poles as you want!’

The Chief was not convinced but paused for a moment to consider. However, his sons were adamant.

‘Anybody can make a totem pole, it’s easy!’ they chanted.

‘Anybody can make a totem pole, it’s easy!’

Finally the Chief gave in and agreed that, come the springtime, they could each make a totem pole. The elders of the tribe would then select the best one and it would stand in the middle of their village and the history of the tribe would be carved upon it.

The first son spent the winter sheltering from the cold, stayed close to the settlement, and carried on doing the things that he had always done in the winter.

The second son spent most of his spare time making his tomahawk into the finest and sharpest one in the village, and thinking about where the most suitable tree might be growing.

The third son traveled afar, through the deep snow of the inhospitable countryside, to seek out the wigwams of the totem pole makers.

He spent the winter learning how they selected the trees, the tools they used and the history of totem pole making. Finally, on the way back to his village he visited the finest totem poles in the area.

When the first day of spring arrived, the three sons set about the task of carving their totem poles. By the end of the first week the third son had finished and everyone in the tribe agreed that he had carved a magnificent totem pole, fit to stand in the middle of any village. At the end of the first month, the second son had finished and the villagers agreed that he had done a neat job, but it looked more like a canoe than a totem pole!

By the end of spring, the first son had finished and the villagers were unanimous that, thanks to his efforts at carving, there would be enough firewood for many years to come!

You see Mike, everything done properly is never as ‘easy’ as it first seems!”
Required
2

Make an inference about the grandfather from the information in paragraph 6. Use one example from the selection to support your answer.