Amazing finds deep in an Egyptian desert confirm that, long before they took their first watery plunge, giant whales plodded the Earth on four legs. The remarkable Wadi Al-Hitan—Valley of the Whales—is an open-air museum in Egypt that contains hundreds of prehistoric whale fossils dispersed over a wide area.

What does plodded most likely mean

as it is used in paragraph 1?

• circle

• pushed

• moved

• trod

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

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Amazing finds deep in an Egyptian desert confirm that, long before they took their first watery plunge, giant whales plodded the Earth on four legs. The remarkable Wadi Al-Hitan—Valley of the Whales—is an open-air museum in Egypt that contains hundreds of prehistoric whale fossils dispersed over a wide area.

What is the meaning of dispersed as

it is used in paragraph 1?

• spread

• recorded

• produced

• found

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

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The impressive collection of skeletal remains belongs to a long-extinct suborder of whales, Archaeoceti (“ancient whales”). Paleontologists have ascertained that the creatures, early ancestors of the modern-day aquatic whale, had short hind legs, making the discovery a key piece of the evolutionary puzzle.

What is the meaning of ascertained

as it is used in paragraph 2?

• established

• imagined

• refelcted

• reproduced

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.4

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Wadi Al-Hitan is located about 90 miles southwest of Cairo. Until about 40 million years ago, the entire valley was submerged. The water gradually receded as shifts in tectonic plates pushed the land upward. The first whale fossils were discovered at the site in 1902, reposing under desert sands.

What does reposing most likely mean

as it is used in paragraph 3?

• multiplying

• lying

• connecting

• drowning

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

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It is feasible that new discoveries will yield even more fascinating clues about the early terrestrial whales and how they adapted from walking on land to swimming in the ocean.

Which word means the opposite

of feasible in paragraph 4?

• likely

• beneficial

• expected

• impossible

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

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an accomplishment; the act of achieving

• intimation

• attainment

• solace

• malevolent

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

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a hint, indirect suggestion

• intimation

• attainment

• solace

• malevolent

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

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spiteful, showing ill will

• intimation

• attainment

• solace

• malevolent

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.4

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comfort, relief; to comfort, console

• intimation

• attainment

• solace

• malevolent

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extremely poisonous; full of malice

• dearth

• scutinize

• virulent

• extirpate

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

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CCSS.RL.9-10.4