Vocabulary in Context

¹Geoff rushed toward the brick entrance as his mother and father struggled to keep up with him. Geoff had been waiting for a long time to visit the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. As he got close to the door, he couldn’t believe the time had finally arrived.

In the passage, close means...

• near

• pull

• send

• shut

¹Recently, humans have become more aware of how their actions impact Earth. Governments, organizations, and individuals try to improve the quality of Earth’s air and water by changing the way they do things. One area in which great improvements for the environment have been made is building and construction. This process, often called green building, is taking off in our country and around the world. The word green is used describe things that are good for nature because green plants can be a symbol of nature.

What does the word environment mean?

• air

• water

• community

• surroundings

One of the biggest impacts a building has on Earth is the energy it uses. Currently, most of the world’s energy comes from burning fossil fuels. These fuels are dirty and when they are burned they pollute the air and water. One way to burn fewer fossil fuels is to reduce the amount of electricity a building has to use. Passive solar heating, which uses heat from the sun, reduces the amount of fossil fuel used to heat buildings. Passive solar heating requires a south-facing wall made of glass. When sunlight shines through the wall, it is collected and used to warm the building. Another way green buildings reduce their electricity use is to install other energy sources. For example, some green buildings use panels that turn energy from the sun into usable electricity.

According to the passage, the word pollute means

• to use

• to dirty

• to renew

• to reduse

What is the best meaning for hallowed as used in the paragraph below?

⁵It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

• swampy

• sacred

• destroyed

• a deep hole

Which word is a synonym for the word exile as used in the paragraph below?

³ But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

• host

• comic

• resucer

• cast out

What's the best meaning for captivity as used below?

² Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

• a long journey

• a decaying portion

• freedom to move about

• confinement or slavery

What is the best meaning for tranquilizing?

⁵It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

• calming or sedating

• energizing or refreshing

• exchanging or taking back

• threatening or endangering

⁴ In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

What does unalienable mean?

• obvious

• promised

• concerned

• unable to be taken away

Excerpt from Battling Cancer: One Woman's Journey

Tracy Wilson

...debilitating. For several days after each of the six treatments, Julianne was unable to get out of bed. The physical pain coupled with the extreme bouts of nausea and vomiting were more than she thought she could bear. While her hair became thin and brittle during the treatments, she did not lose it entirely.

What type of context clues does the author provide for a reader to determine the meaning of the word debilitating?

• contrast

• examples

• synonyms

• repetition

Excerpt from Clearly Amazing

Clark Benson

Though this explains how glass forms, you might still be wondering how this takes place in nature. Lighting is one way that glass can form in a natural setting. When a bolt of lightning hits a sandy patch of soil, it can create natural pieces of glass called fulgurites. This occurs in much the same way as we create glass synthetically. In this case, though, the bolt of lightning creates the extreme heat needed to form glass.

What does synthetically mean in this passage?

• artificially

• disinterestedly

• heartlessly

• simply