The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B. Part A According to the author of “To Fly,” why can people fly faster than the speed of sound but not faster than the speed of light?

The laws of physics prevent breaking the light barrier

The speed of light is simply too fast.

The speed of sound is difficult enough to beat.

The sound barrier is far easier to test with modern technology.

Part B Which of these passages from “To Fly” best supports the answer to Part A?

Actually, the real problem is not the moat that separates these two speeds but the laws of physics that prevent any object from ever achieving the speed of light, no matter how inventive your technology

Any limits to breaking the sound barrier were purely psychological and technological.

Although other craft routinely travel many times faster than the speed of sound, none can travel faster than the speed of light.

Credit the Apollo astronauts who went to the Moon with attaining the highest speeds at which humans have ever flown: about seven miles per second at the end of the rocket burn that lifted their craft beyond low Earth orbit

The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B. Part A In “To Fly,” what is the most likely reason for the lunar module’s name, Eagle?

As America’s national bird, the name “Eagle” best represents our power in being the first nation to the moon.

Eagles can fly farther than all other birds

The people who named the module were making a joke.

Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first plane was named “Kitty Hawk.”

Part B Which of these passages from “To Fly” best supports the answer to Part A?

The United States even adopted a flying predator as a symbol of its strength: the bald eagle, which appears on the back of the dollar bill, the quarter, the Kennedy half dollar, the Eisenhower dollar, and the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

Previously, people had flown in balloon gondolas and in gliders and had executed controlled descents from the sides of cliffs, but none of those efforts would have made a bird jealous

Never mind that Apollo astronauts landed on the airless Moon, where wings are completely useless, in a lunar module named after a bird.

A mere sixty-five years, seven months, three days, five hours, and forty- three minutes after Orville left the ground, Neil Armstrong gave his first statement from the Moon’s surface: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

What key point is the author supporting in “To Fly” with his allusions to eagles, Superman, angels, Cupid, and Peter Pan?

Humans idolize creatures that fly

Some wings work better than others.

Flying can give people superpowers.

According to this magazine piece excerpted in “To Fly,” what would be the main effect of building a space station? In the hands of the West a space station, permanently established beyond the atmosphere, would be the greatest hope for peace the world has ever known. No nation could undertake preparations for war without the certain knowledge that it was being observed by the ever- watching eyes aboard the“sentinel in space.” It would be the end of the Iron Curtains wherever they might be.

It would ensure that no country could make plans for war unseen.

It would watch for the establishment of new Iron Curtains.

It would put space firmly in the control of Western powers

It would persuade people around the world to work for peace.

According to this passage from “To Fly,” what is one way in which the Wright brothers’ flight differed from earlier flights? Wilbur and Orville Wright were the first to fly a heavier-than-air, engine-powered vehicle that carried a human being—Orville, in this case—and that did not land at a lower elevation than its takeoff point. Previously, people had flown in balloon gondolas and in gliders and had executed controlled descents from the sides of cliffs, but none of those efforts would have made a bird jealous

The flight did not land downhill.

The flight did not need an engine

The flight was entirely man-made.

The underlined word has the base word thought. Given your understanding of that base word and the meaning of the prefix fore-, choose the most likely meaning of forethought. The Maxwells put a great deal of forethought into their plans for the house.

thought that takes place ahead of time

thought that is dedicated toward a goal

thinking that concerns the front of something

thinking that uses the creative part of the brain

In which sentence are proper nouns correctly capitalized?

The Arecibo Observatory is on the island of Puerto Rico.

How do scientists observe the rings of saturn from earth?

The telescope was designed by scientists from Cornell university

A laboratory run by the U.S. air force assisted in the design of Arecibo

Part B Which capitalization rule explains the need to capitalize the answer to Part A?

Capitalize the first word in a quotation.

Capitalize names of organizations.

Grade 8 Quiz (To Fly) Quiz

1.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

According to physicist Lord Kelvin as cited in “To Fly,” a chapter from Space Chronicles, why would human flight be impossible?

Humans would not be able to breathe at altitudes necessary for flight.

Powerful air currents would cause any flying vehicle to crash.

It is impossible to design artificial wings.

Things heavier than air cannot fly.

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2.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

. In “To Fly,” how does the author respond to Kelvin’s assertion about flight?

He suggests that technological ingenuity can solve all problems.

He points out that birds are heavier than air, yet they fly.

He reminds the reader that Kelvin was not an inventor.

He reveals plans for a self-propelled airplane.

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3.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

In “To Fly,” why does the author present information about the speed of sound?

to show that the laws of physics were made to be broken

to reveal the difference between physics and other sciences

to indicate how rapidly humans have overcome the laws of physics

to prove that anything not prohibited by the laws of physics is possible

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4.

MULTIPLE SELECT QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

According to the author of “To Fly,” what made the German V-2 missile a significant invention? Choose two options.

It was like a sentinel in space.

It used gravity to power its flight.

It could hold more than one person.

It could be launched far from its target

It landed at elevations lower than its launch point

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5.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

. According to the author of “To Fly,” what is the greatest achievement in flight so far?

the launch of Voyager 2

the Apollo 11 lunar landing

the Wright Brothers’ aeroplane

the breaking of the sound barrier

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6.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

If a vacationer has foresight, which of the following is most likely to be true? Base your answer on the meaning of foresight.

She is willing to try many varieties of new foods.

She stays close to her guide in museums and cathedrals

She packs clothing for all potential changes in the weather.

She chooses the passport photo that makes her look happiest

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7.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

Which of the following situations best illustrates the meaning of naivete?

Isaac always passes the ball to the more talented players on the team

Jocelyn does not understand why they are laughing at the crude joke.

Hiroshi is conducting his own orchestral composition at the concert in June

Lela is interested in taking a cooking class if one is available after school.

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8.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

Which fact about an author best illustrates the meaning of prescient?

Jane Austen’s 1817 novel Persuasion is partly set in Bath, England.

In The Sleeper Awakes, written in 1899, H. G. Wells describes aerial warfare before it was invented

George Eliot wrote Romola in 1862–1863 and set it in fifteenth-century Florence.

David Copperfield, published in 1850, is the most autobiographical of Charles Dickens’s books.

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9.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

Read the following passage from “To Fly.”
For millennia, the idea of being able to fly occupied human dreams and fantasies. Waddling around on Earth’s surface as majestic birds flew overhead, perhaps we developed a form of wing envy. One might even call it wing worship.
What is the author saying about humans?

They want the powers that they observe in other creatures

They sometimes pray to birds because birds are magnificent

They should give up on the notion that they will ever outfly birds.

They live in a world of fantasy instead of keeping their feet on the ground

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10.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

Read the following passage from “To Fly.”
We did, however, ultimately learn to fly because of the technological ingenuity afforded by our human brains. And of course, while birds can fly, they are nonetheless stuck with bird brains. But this self-aggrandizing line of reasoning is somewhat flawed, because it ignores all the millennia that we were technologically flightless.
What does the author mean when he says that this line of reasoning is flawed?

We may be smarter than birds, yet we failed to fly until very recently.

Bird brains may be just what is needed in order to fly successfully

We cannot logically compare the brains of two different species.

We humans typically exaggerate our accomplishments.

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Grade 8 Quiz (To Fly)

23 questions

According to physicist Lord Kelvin as cited in “To Fly,” a chapter from Space Chronicles, why would human flight be impossible?

. In “To Fly,” how does the author respond to Kelvin’s assertion about flight?

In “To Fly,” why does the author present information about the speed of sound?

According to the author of “To Fly,” what made the German V-2 missile a significant invention? Choose two options.

. According to the author of “To Fly,” what is the greatest achievement in flight so far?

If a vacationer has foresight, which of the following is most likely to be true? Base your answer on the meaning of foresight.

Which of the following situations best illustrates the meaning of naivete?

Which fact about an author best illustrates the meaning of prescient?

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