Reading instructions
To be discussed with students before the test.
1
In this test you are asked to read some passages and
answer questions about what you have read.
2
You must use a 2B or HB pencil to answer the questions.
3
Before you start the test your teacher will show you how to
answer the questions in the test.
4
In the test, you must read the whole passage carefully
BEFORE you start answering any questions.
5
Your teacher will tell you which 2 Bands you should try to
complete.
6
You should complete at least two bands, then continue until
the questions are too hard or you run out of time.
Good luck and do your best.
The Water Cycle
Water is exchanged between the Earth and its atmosphere in an endless cycle.
When the sun warms water in rivers, lakes and the oceans, some of this water
becomes water vapour and rises into the atmosphere. This process is called
evaporation. The rest of the moisture found in the atmosphere is given off by
plants, with water escaping through the surface of the leaves. This form of
evaporation is known as transpiration. Water vapour is invisible. When it cools,
water vapour becomes liquid water again. This is called condensation. (You
can see water vapour condensing when you boil a kettle. The air cools down the
water vapour and it forms tiny drops of liquid water which we see as steam.)
When the water vapour rises it cools to form clouds. Clouds are made up of
millions of tiny drops of water so light that they float in the air. Rain falls when
clouds become over-saturated, or too heavy to carry the moisture in them.
The water then returns to the Earth as rain, hail or snow. This is called
precipitation. Rain is the best known form of precipitation. Hail and snow
eventually melt, and join rainwater to form streams and rivers that flow back to
the oceans. All these processes are repeated over and over again.
This is known as the water cycle.
Evaporation
(ocean, land, lakes, rivers)
Sun
Snow
Rain, hail
Rain
Transpiration
Underground
Ground runwater
off
Plants
Lakes
Rivers
Oceans
Adapted from ‘Life on Earth’ by Rigby Heinemann
Read THE WATER CYCLE and answer these questions.
1
In the text the word exchanged means
warmed.
Shade one
bubble.
cooled.
moved.
condensed.
How is water vapour formed in the water cycle?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
3
Which process changes the water in the lakes, oceans, rivers and on
land into water vapour?
_____________________________________________________
4
1
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M
Clouds are formed when
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
5
1
0
M
1
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M
Transpiration is a process of giving off moisture by
rivers.
clouds.
plants.
oceans.
Literacy Practice Test 2005
1
0
M
Band 3
2
1
0
M
6
Number this information (1 - 4) in the same order as it is given in the
text.
Water returns to sea via rivers, streams and underground
channels.
Water falls from clouds as precipitation.
Water evaporates from sea, rivers and lakes.
Water condenses to form clouds.
7
What is the process called when water vapour becomes liquid water?
_____________________________________________________
8
1
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1
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M
This text is mainly about
how rain is formed.
how water is recycled.
how water becomes vapour.
9
Complete this sentence. Most ‘ground run-off’ water will eventually
evaporate from the
_____________________________________________________ .
Literacy Practice Test 2005
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1
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Band 3
how water evaporates.
10
Which processes must occur before precipitation?
Evaporation and transpiration.
Condensation and water vapour.
Water vapour and rain.
Band 3
Evaporation and condensation.
1
0
M
Literacy Practice Test 2005