Summer School Practice

The best recipes for clam chowder all include onions and a bay leaf. The onions add a sharpness and zest to the blandness of the clams, and also help remove their slimy texture. The bay leaf complements the onion’s strong flavor.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

• onions were once thought to be poisonous.

• bay leaves are essential in many soups

• . clam chowder is very nutritious.

• onions and bay leaves go well with clams.

Critical reading is a demanding process. To read critically, you must slow down your reading and, with pencil in hand, perform specific operations on the text. Mark up the text with your reactions, conclusions, and questions. When you read, become an active participant.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

• critical reading is a slow, dull, but essential process.

• the best critical reading happens at critical times in a person’s life.

• readers should get in the habit of questioning the truth of what they read.

• critical reading requires thoughtful and careful attention

One New York publisher has estimated that 50,000 to 60,000 people in the United States want an anthology that includes the complete works of William Shakespeare. And what accounts for this renewed interest in Shakespeare? As scholars point out, the psychological insights he portrays in both male and female characters are amazing even today.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

• Shakespeare’s characters are more interesting than fictional characters today.

• people today are interested in Shakespeare’s work because of the characters.

• academic scholars are putting together an anthology of Shakespeare’s work.

• New Yorkers have a renewed interested in the work of Shakespeare.

There are no effective boundaries when it comes to pollutants. Studies have shown that toxic insecticides that have been banned in many countries are riding the wind from countries where they remain legal. Compounds such as DDT and toxaphene have been found in remote places like the Yukon and other Arctic regions.

. This paragraph best supports the statement that

• toxic insecticides such as DDT have not been banned throughout the world.

• more pollutants find their way into polar climates than they do into warmer areas.

• studies have proven that many countries have ignored their own anti-pollution laws.

• even a worldwide ban on toxic insecticides would not stop the spread of DDT pollution

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures. No search of a person’s home or personal effects may be conducted without a written search warrant issued on probable cause. This means that a neutral judge must approve the factual basis justifying a search before it can be conducted.

This paragraph best supports the statement that the police cannot search a person’s home or private papers unless they have:

• legal authorization.

• direct evidence of a crime

• read the person his or her constitutional rights

• a reasonable belief that a crime has occurred.

Mathematics allows us to expand our consciousness. Mathematics tells us about economic trends, patterns of disease, and the growth of populations. Math is good at exposing the truth, but it can also perpetuate misunderstandings and untruths. Figures have the power to mislead people.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

• words are more truthful than figures.

• the study of mathematics is more important than other disciplines.

• the power of numbers is that they cannot lie

• figures are sometimes used to deceive people.

Black-and-white camera film, in the old days of film photography, was very sensitive to blue light but not to red light. Blue skies would often show very little detail, because the film couldn’t record all that it was seeing. To compensate, photographers would put a red filter on the lens, darkening the sky enough that the film could record its fluffy clouds.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

• red filters were very popular in the old days of photography. .

• infrared rays are invisible to the naked eye

• black-and-white photography used to be very popular.

• red filters cut out some blue light on black and white film.

Today’s postal service is more efficient than ever. Mail that once took months to move by horse and foot now moves around the country in days or hours by truck, train, and plane. If your letter or package is urgent, the U.S. Postal Service offers Priority Mail and Express Mail services. Priority Mail is guaranteed to go anywhere in the United States in two days or less. Express Mail will get your package there overnight.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

• more people use the post office for urgent deliveries than any other delivery service.

• Express Mail is a good way to send urgent mail.

• Priority Mail usually takes two days or less.

• mail service today is more effective and dependable.

Reality TV shows will have an adverse effect on traditional dramas and comedies. As reality TV increases in popularity, network executives will begin canceling more traditional programs and replacing them with the latest in reality TV. This paragraph best supports the statement that

• reality TV is low quality.

• reality TV shows get the highest ratings.

• more and more people love to watch and participate in reality TV.

• as reality TV gets more popular, more traditional television shows may be threatened.

When winding an old clock, it is important not to overwind it. Overwinding occurs when the mainspring is almost fully wound, but the operator continues to turn the winding key. This causes the main spring to coil too tightly, and might even break it.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

• clocks have changed over the years.

• old-fashioned clocks become fragile with age

• old-fashioned clocks were operated by an internal spring.

• overwinding clocks used to be a common mistake.