Henry7LA3 (H7RDGVOCAB)
Name:_____________________________________________
Date:________________________
1.
Eric was very morose after getting the results of his algebra test, but Donovan was very pleased.
You can tell from the sentence that morose means
A. pleased.
B. irritated.
C. happy.
D. gloomy.
In this selection taken from the book Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders, Ellen McCabe has already had a morning
filled with amazing experiences. Read the passage to learn how her day ends, and then answer the questions that
follow.
from Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders
by Bill Brittain
That evening, Ellen McCabe sat with her mother in the kitchen of their little farmhouse at the edge of Coven
Tree. "It was ever so wonderful, Mama," Ellen said as she told for the fourth time about the marvels she'd seen
that morning. "With the dragon's egg and the wrestling and all."
"I expect it was," replied Mrs. McCabe. "Though your yarn about the boy making rain was a bit hard to
swallow. And as for your looking in a mirror and seeing yourself all togged out like a princess, why—"
"But it's all true," Ellen replied.
"Hogwash," snorted Mrs. McCabe. "A giddy girl like you could look at the bottom of a polished pot and see
anything she wanted to."
"Oh, pooh, Mama!"
Before Ellen could go on, there was a squawking of chickens from the henhouse. At the same time two of the
cows in the barn began bellowing.
"Something's not right out there," said Mrs. McCabe. "All the animals are restless. I don't know if it's a fox
trying to get in among the chicks or a snake in the cows' feed bin. I've been out there twice, but I can't find
anything. Ellen, you go take a look."
"You just don't want me talking about that mirror anymore," said Ellen. But she took up the lantern from the
kitchen shelf, lit it and walked out into the back yard.
In the barn she found that the cows had plenty of hay and there were no snakes about. She patted and soothed
them as best she could before heading for the henhouse.
The chickens all seemed safe and snug on their roosts. But they clucked and prattled more than they had any
right to. There's no figuring chickens, Ellen thought.
So as not to waste the trip outside, she decided to bring in a few sticks of stove wood from the shed next to the
barn. That way, she wouldn't have to do it in the morning.
She opened the shed's squeaky door and had just grasped a couple of sticks of wood when she heard a rustling
sound in the far corner. She wanted to run off, slamming the shed door tight behind her. Instead, she raised the
lantern high.
There in the gloom sat a boy about her own age. The shirt he wore was stained with sweat, and his pants had a
big rip in one knee. From the looks of him, he'd been crying.
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Henry7LA3 (H7RDGVOCAB)
2.
Which is an antonym for the word giddy in paragraph 4?
A. noisy
B. colorful
C. self-controlled
D. scatterbrained
3.
In paragraph 2, the phrase togged out means
A. lied about.
B. dressed up.
C. run down.
D. moved around.
4.
Which conclusion about the boy that Ellen discovers is most likely?
A. He is hiding from Mrs. McCabe.
B. He is a runaway.
C. He is scared of snakes.
D. He is trying to steal wood.
5.
Where and when does the action of this passage occur?
A. on a farm in the evening
B. on a farm in the morning
C. at a magical show in the evening
D. at a magical show in the morning
6.
Ellen was talking to her mother
A. at school.
B. in the barn.
C. in the kitchen.
D. at the carnival.
7.
In paragraph 4, the phrases giddy girl and polished pot are examples of
A. simile.
B. allusion.
C. metaphors.
D. alliteration.
8.
Why did Ellen believe her mother wanted her to go outside?
A. There was a fox in the hen house.
B. She needed a few sticks of stove wood.
C. There was a snake in the cows' feed bin.
D. She didn't want her talking about the mirror.
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9.
In paragraph 10, "There's no figuring chickens" is an example of
A. idiom.
B. metaphor.
C. onomatopoeia.
D. personification.
Meet Puerto Rico
from Puerto Rico: Its History and Culture
by Kal Wagenheim
Puerto Rico is a beautiful island. It is one of 7,000 islands in the Caribbean Sea. These islands were formed about
185 million years ago. A great land shift sank some parts of the earth and pushed other parts__the islands__upward.
Some of the islands are big, like Cuba. Many islands are smaller, like Saint Thomas, Aruba, Antigua, and the
Grenadines. Puerto Rico is small, too. It is about 100 miles long and 35 miles wide. Some even smaller islands belong
to Puerto Rico. Vieques, Culebra, and Mona are just a few of them.
Mountains and foothills cover more than half of Puerto Rico. No snow ever falls. The warm air is cooled by fresh
ocean breezes. The island gets a lot of rain. This also helps cool the air. It keeps plants green and healthy, too. Only a
few places do not get many showers. In these parts of the island, the land is very dry. The weather is not always
pleasant on the island, either. It can become hot and sticky. And sometimes Puerto Rico is in the path of terrible
hurricanes.
No one knows for sure who first lived in Puerto Rico. The first people we do know about are called the Archaic
Indians. Using simple rafts, these people floated across the Caribbean Sea, probably from Florida. The next group of
people to come to the island also came by boat, but from South America. They were the Igneris. These people were
very good at fishing, sailing, and making pottery. However, their Arawak language became their most lasting gift to
the island.
After many years, a third group of Indians, the Tainos, took over Puerto Rico. They kept the Arawak language.
But their way of living was very different from the people who had lived on the island before. The Tainos used more
tools. They planned their lives carefully. And they honored their gods seriously. It was these people who gave Puerto
Rico the first name that we know of. They called the island Boriquen, which means "Land of the Noble Lord."
10. Which is a compound word?
A. probably
B. Caribbean
C. sometimes
D. differently
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11. Which is a synonym for healthy?
A. sick
B. well
C. wealthy
D. unclean
12. Which sentence from the passage is an opinion?
A. No snow ever falls.
B. Puerto Rico is a beautiful island.
C. It is one of 7,000 islands in the Caribbean Sea.
D. Mountains and foothills cover more than half of Puerto Rico.
13. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the Igneris?
A. They called the island Boriquen.
B. They defeated the Tainos.
C. They spoke a language called Arawak.
D. They came to Puerto Rico from Florida.
14. Which of the following is a smaller island that belongs to Puerto Rico?
A. Cuba
B. Culebra
C. Antigua
D. Boriquen
15. According to the passage, how were the Tainos similar to other people who had lived on Puerto Rico?
A. They called the island Boriquen.
B. They spoke the Arawak language.
C. They honored their gods seriously.
D. They planned their lives carefully.
16. The author says the weather is not always pleasant on the island. Which detail does the author give to support this
opinion?
A. The island gets a lot of rain.
B. The island is about 100 miles long.
C. The air is cooled by ocean breezes.
D. The island is in the path of hurricanes.
17. Which was the first group we know about who lived in Puerto Rico?
A. Tainos
B. Africans
C. Europeans
D. Archaic Indians
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18. Which is the main idea of the last two paragraphs?
A. The climate in Puerto Rico remains relatively calm throughout the year.
B. All of the people who came to Puerto Rico and established its history came by boat.
C. Puerto Rico comes from the name Boriquen, which means, "Land of the Noble Lord."
D. Puerto Rico's history and culture have been influenced by many groups of people.
19.
Many schools are heterogeneous with students from different cultural, social, racial, ethnic, and economic
backgrounds.
The word heterogeneous means
A. differing in kind.
B. of the same kind.
C. high-achieving.
D. low-achieving.
20.
There are so many opportunities for free education in the United States today, and there is no reason for any
citizen to be illiterate.
The prefix il- means
A. all.
B. before.
C. not.
D. very.
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Moses was famous for leading the people of Israel out of slavery into freedom. Before the Civil War, enslaved
African Americans gave the nickname Moses to someone who was helping them escape to freedom in the North.
Read this article to learn about this mysterious figure, and then answer the questions that follow.
They Called Her Moses
by Ann Petry
Along the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in Dorchester County, in Caroline County, the masters kept hearing
whispers about the man named Moses, who was running off slaves. At first they did not believe in his existence.
The stories about him were fantastic, unbelievable. Yet they watched for him. They offered rewards for his
capture.
They never saw him. Now and then they heard whispered rumors to the effect that he was in the neighborhood.
The woods were searched. The roads were watched. There was never anything to indicate his whereabouts. But a
few days afterward, a goodly number of slaves would be gone from the plantation. Neither the master nor the
overseer had heard or seen anything unusual in the quarter. Sometimes one or the other would vaguely remember
having heard a whippoorwill call somewhere in the woods, close by, late at night. Though it was the wrong season
for whippoorwills.
Sometimes the masters thought they had heard the cry of a hoot owl, repeated, and would remember having
thought that the intervals between the low moaning cry were wrong, that it had been repeated four times in
succession instead of three. There was never anything more than that to suggest that all was not well in the quarter.
Yet when morning came, they invariably discovered that a group of the finest slaves had taken to their heels.
Unfortunately, the discovery was almost always made on a Sunday. Thus a whole day was lost before the
machinery of pursuit could be set in motion. The posters offering rewards for the fugitives could not be printed
until Monday. The men who made a living hunting for runaway slaves were out of reach, off in the woods with
their dogs and their guns in pursuit of four-footed game, or they were in camp meetings saying their prayers with
their wives and families beside them.
Harriet Tubman could have told them that there was far more involved in this matter of running off slaves than
signaling the would-be runaways by imitating the call of a whippoorwill, or a hoot owl, far more involved than a
matter of waiting for a clear night when the North Star was visible.
In December, 1851, when she started out with the band of fugitives that she planned to take to Canada, she had
been in the vicinity of the plantation for days, planning the trip, carefully selecting the slaves that she would take
with her.
She had announced her arrival in the quarter by singing the forbidden spiritual*—"Go down, Moses, way down
to Egypt land"—singing it softly outside the door of a slave cabin, late at night. The husky voice was beautiful
even when it was barely more than a murmur borne on the wind.
Once she had made her presence known, word of her coming spread from cabin to cabin. The slaves whispered
to each other, ear to mouth, mouth to ear, "Moses is here." "Moses has come." "Get ready. Moses is back again."
The ones who agreed to go to the North with her put ashcake and salt herring in an old bandanna, hastily tied it
into a bundle, and then waited patiently for the signal that meant it was time to start.
*
It was feared that songs about the Israelites' march to freedom would encourage slaves to rise up and escape.
21. In the last sentence of paragraph 3, the word invariably means
A. daily.
B. always.
C. happily.
D. wrongly.
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22. In paragraph 4, the word fugitives means
A. hunters.
B. masters.
C. prisoners.
D. runaways.
23. Which word best describes this passage?
A. myth
B. fiction
C. tall tale
D. nonfiction
24.
A graph shows the amount of rainfall in a particular area for each month of the year. The information in the graph
could be used to
A. compare the amount of rainfall with the previous year.
B. determine the exact amount of rainfall during the next year.
C. calculate the average daily rainfall for the previous three years.
D. find the difference between the greatest and least amounts of rainfall.
25.
Photographs are mainly used in science textbooks to
A. give readers a break from words.
B. add visual appeal to the page.
C. add further meaning to the text.
D. fill in extra space on the page.
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Answer Key
1. D) gloomy.
2. C) self-controlled
3. B) dressed up.
4. B) He is a runaway.
5. A) on a farm in the evening
6. C) in the kitchen.
7. D) alliteration.
8. D) She didn't want her talking about the mirror.
9. A) idiom.
10. C) sometimes
11. B) well
12. B) Puerto Rico is a beautiful island.
13. C) They spoke a language called Arawak.
14. B) Culebra
15. B) They spoke the Arawak language.
16. D) The island is in the path of hurricanes.
17. D) Archaic Indians
18. D) Puerto Rico's history and culture have been influenced by many groups of people.
19. A) differing in kind.
20. C) not.
21. B) always.
22. D) runaways.
23. D) nonfiction
24. D) find the difference between the greatest and least amounts of rainfall.
25. C) add further meaning to the text.
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