7th Grade - Meaning of Words

7th Grade - Meaning of Words

Read Passage 1 then answer the question...

Scientists have found that bilinguals have many advantages over people who grow up hearing only one language at home. In a 2004 study, for example, bilingual participants performed better on certain mental puzzles than their monolingual counterparts. It is believed that people who are bilingual are so adept at problem solving because their brains have developed differently. These differences, revealed through brain scans and experiments, enhance their concentration, allowing them to complete some tasks with greater ease.

Passage continued

Bilingualism seems to influence the brain across the span of a person's life. Differences first present themselves during infancy. Studies have found that babies exposed to two languages from birth can acclimate to new situations quickly, responding to changes in their environment faster than those raised with only one language. Other studies have found that bilingualism provides advantages in old age as well. Bilingual adults tend to experience memory loss at a later age compared to monolingual adults.

Multiple Choice

What is the meaning of bilinguals as used in the passage?

• people who can read and write

• people who can speak two languages

• people who use both hands really well

• people who use both sides of their brain

Multiple Choice

Select the text from the paragraph that best helps you understand that bilinguals means people who can speak two languages.

• Scientists have found that bilinguals have many advantages over people who grow up hearing only one language at home.

• Scientists have found that bilinguals have many advantages over people who grow up hearing only one language at home.

• It is believed that people who are bilingual are so adept at problem solving because their brains have developed differently.

• These differences, revealed through brain scans and experiments, enhance their concentration, allowing them to complete some tasks with greater ease.

Scientists have found that bilinguals have many advantages over people who grow up hearing only one language at home. In a 2004 study, for example, bilingual participants performed better on certain mental puzzles than their monolingual counterparts. It is believed that people who are bilingual are so adept at problem solving because their brains have developed differently. These differences, revealed through brain scans and experiments, enhance their concentration, allowing them to complete some tasks with greater ease.

Bilingualism seems to influence the brain across the span of a person's life. Differences first present themselves during infancy. Studies have found that babies exposed to two languages from birth can acclimate to new situations quickly, responding to changes in their environment faster than those raised with only one language. Other studies have found that bilingualism provides advantages in old age as well. Bilingual adults tend to experience memory loss at a later age compared to monolingual adults.

Multiple Choice

What is the meaning of acclimate as used in the passage?

• contribute

• commit

• look forward

• adjust

Passage 2

Do human beings have the freedom to make their own choices, to act out of their own free will, or are all choices, in some sense, predetermined by prior causes and physical laws? In 2007, neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes sought to answer this question by conducting an experiment: volunteer subjects were seated in a brain scanner and were asked to press a button with their left or right index fingers whenever they felt the urge. Haynes's team scrutinized the subjects' brain activity in real time, carefully monitoring the results and searching for patterns.

The results were surprising. The team discovered that they could observe a pattern of brain activity that would allow them to predict a subject's decision to press a button up to seven seconds before the subject actually reported making his or her decision. This prediction process was accurate sixty percent of the time.

While some scientists have discounted this study for relying on an oversimplified decision-making process, these results have given other scientists hope. Perhaps, in the future, scientists will be able to accurately predict the results of even more complicated decision-making processes. In the meantime, the question looms: if our choices can be predicted before we even make them, then do we really have the freedom to choose?

Multiple Choice

What is the meaning of scrutinized as used in the passage?

• thought highly of

• looked at quickly

• made a guess about

• examined closely

Multiple Choice

Select the text from the paragraph that best helps you understand that scrutinized means examined closely.

• Do human beings have the freedom to make their own choices, to act out of their own free will, or are all choices, in some sense, predetermined by prior causes and physical laws?

• In 2007, neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes sought to answer this question by conducting an experiment:

• volunteer subjects were seated in a brain scanner and were asked to press a button with their left or right index fingers whenever they felt the urge

• Haynes's team scrutinized the subjects' brain activity in real time, carefully monitoring the results and searching for patterns.

Passage 3

Do human beings have the freedom to make their own choices, to act out of their own free will, or are all choices, in some sense, predetermined by prior causes and physical laws? In 2007, neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes sought to answer this question by conducting an experiment: volunteer subjects were seated in a brain scanner and were asked to press a button with their left or right index fingers whenever they felt the urge. Haynes's team scrutinized the subjects' brain activity in real time, carefully monitoring the results and searching for patterns.

The results were surprising. The team discovered that they could observe a pattern of brain activity that would allow them to predict a subject's decision to press a button up to seven seconds before the subject actually reported making his or her decision. This prediction process was accurate sixty percent of the time.

While some scientists have discounted this study for relying on an oversimplified decision-making process, these results have given other scientists hope. Perhaps, in the future, scientists will be able to accurately predict the results of even more complicated decision-making processes. In the meantime, the question looms: if our choices can be predicted before we even make them, then do we really have the freedom to choose?

Multiple Choice

What is the meaning of discounted as used in the passage?

• examined closely

• reduced the cost of

• rejected as invalid or unimportant

• confused for something else

Passage 4

Published in 1962, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring began a national debate that changed Americans' attitudes toward the environment. Carson, originally a marine biologist, had begun noticing the adverse effects of pesticides on various ecosystems. In her book, she documents the effects of DDT, a pesticide that was then popular for agricultural use. In the environment, Carson noted the collapse of food chains and the decline of bird, fish, and other animal populations; in humans, effects of DDT include a higher risk of cancer and other illnesses.

The book's central claim—that widespread pesticide use was the cause of significant harm to human health and to the environment—was highly controversial. Conservationists, taking the book's message to heart, succeeded in banning the use of DDT in the United States in 1972. Others, however, pushed back against Carson's claims. Proponents of DDT usage pointed to the pesticide as a cost-effective means of controlling mosquito populations in parts of the world with high malaria rates. Still, Silent Spring ushered in an era of greater awareness, leading people to start thinking more carefully about the environmental impact of chemical products.

Multiple Choice

What is the meaning of proponents as used in the passage?

• people who have strong feelings about something

• people who oppose something

• people who don't understand something

• people who argue for the value of something