"The Mystery of the Whistling Building" RI 5.1

The whistling noise was disruptive to the people in South Beach, Staten Island. What evidence from the text best supports this statement?

• People had difficulty sleeping, and the noise could be heard more than a mile away

• At first no one knew where the whistling sound was coming from, and people were annoyed that they didn’t have an answer.

• The noise was not consistent and would sometimes change pitch

• Residents had many different descriptions for what the noise sounded like.

Read the following sentences: "When they figured out what was wrong, the New York City government, which was responsible for building the athletic center, quickly apologized to the residents of South Beach, Staten Island, for the annoying noise. They had not expected that the building would produce a whistling sound, and promised the problem would be quickly fixed when the building was completed and the acoustic baffles were protected from the wind."

How did the residents of South Beach likely feel about this "solution"?

• satisfied with the apology.

• reassured that the government was doing all they could.

• . annoyed that nothing could be done sooner.

• embarrassed that they had complained so much.

One effect of the loud whistling noise was that South Beach residents could not sleep. What was the cause of the loud whistling noise?

• wind blowing through parts of a building called "acoustic baffles."

• a large organ making music.

• a person recording the whistling sound with a device.

• wind blowing between skyscrapers in Manhattan.

Read the following sentences: "Some of this wind blew through parts of the building called 'acoustic baffles'-devices designed, ironically, to reduce sound produced inside the center. However, when the baffles were exposed to wind, they made a whistling sound."

The author uses the word "ironically" to refer to the baffles. Why is it ironic that the acoustic baffles were causing the whistling sound?

• because the residents found the noise created by the baffles humorous.

• because the baffles were made of iron and other metals.

• because the baffles were fulfilling the purpose for which they were created.

• because the baffles were designed to reduce noise but were creating noise instead.

Which of the following statements best supports the inference that not all people were aggravated by the whistling sound?

• "In the fall of 2012, the government of New York City began receiving unusual complaints from the residents of a small strip of land in the borough of Staten Island."

• "There’s one man who’s been here six months. He was ill-tempered, angry at everyone, until that whistling started. Now he’s pleasant as can be."

• "One resident told a local paper, The Staten Island Advance, that it sounded like “100,000 people with unlimited air in their lungs blowing through Coke bottles.”

• When the wind was blowing especially hard at night, some residents even had difficulty sleeping.

Read this sentence again: Residents had many descriptions for the noise, which was decidedly eerie.

Make an inference as to the meaning of the word "eerie."

• strange; frightening

• thunderous

• pleasant

• peaceful