Reading Inventory Practice Basic Set 2

It was almost dark when the last of the concrete had been poured and the works covered with straw, so that the concrete would harden slowly and well. As Plummey stood on the rimrock and watched the last truck depart empty, he heard in the distance the dinner horn his mother used to summon him in to eat. He was hungry. So absorbed had he been in watching the Major's operation, he had forgotten to eat lunch. He was _____ .

• preoccupied

• relaxed

• tired

• alert

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Beth came over to my house to study today, and Mom and Dad and both the kids like her! They even asked her to call and get permission to stay for dinner, and then Mom is going to take us downtown shopping since it's Thursday night and the stores are all open. I ran in to change clothes, and Beth ran over to grab her things. We'll pick her up on the way, but I just had to stop and jot the whole ecstatic experience down. It's just too tremendous and delightful and wonderful to keep all bottled-up inside. Beth received my family's _____ .

• approval

• heirlooms

• business

• sympathy

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.10

CCSS.RI.7.10

CCSS.RI.8.10

CCSS.RI.9-10.10

CCSS.RL. 11-12.9

He thought he was walking along a dusty road that showed white in the gathering darkness of a summer night. Whence and whither it led, and why he travelled it, he did not know, though all seemed simple and natural, as is the way in dreams; for in the Land Beyond the Bed surprises cease from troubling and the judgment is at rest. Soon he came to a parting of the ways; leading from the highway was a road less travelled, having the appearance, indeed, of having been long abandoned, because, he thought, it led to something evil; yet he turned into it without hesitation, impelled by some imperious necessity. Although the path was unfamiliar, he was _____ there.

• comfortable

• lost

• frightened

• followed

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Land ho! The unmistakable dark mass of mountains, barely to be seen, emerged through the veil of snow. I knew from experience that in large flat areas like this, distances could be deceiving, and it would no doubt be many hours before we made it to shore, but at least I could see it. We were closing in, and if I lost the trail now, we could aim for shore and not worry about ending up in Siberia. The sight was _____ .

• amazing

• encouraging

• strange

• frightening

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

People quickly learned about the properties of clay; malleable and easily worked by hand, this material became hard (but fragile) if subjected to intense heat. Thus people started to make the first simple terracotta containers, which were slowly improved by turning the clay on a potter's wheel. Clay becomes fairly hard even when dried only in the sun, especially if the mixture is made stronger by adding vegetable matter such as straw. Clay techniques have been _____ .

• forgotten

• taught

• refined

• illustrated

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Her professional friends helped Rachel secure two fellowship awards of money for writers. Rachel hoped to sell chapters of the book to magazines, but many magazines rejected the manuscript before the Yale Review bought one chapter. The article won an award as the best example of science writing for the year. The book itself won the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing from scientists and the National Book Award from publishers. Her writing was ____________.

• mediocre

• acclaimed

• lengthy

• fictional

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

I was among the youngest of the students who were in Hampton at that time. Most of the students were men and women—some as old as forty years of age. As I now recall the scene of my first year, I do not believe that one often has the opportunity of coming into contact with three or four hundred men and women who were so tremendously in earnest as these men and women were. Every hour was occupied in study or work. Nearly all had had enough actual contact with the world to teach them the need of education. Many of the older ones were, of course, too old to master the textbooks very thoroughly, and it was often sad to watch their struggles; but they made up in earnestness much of what they lacked in books. Many of them were as poor as I was, and, besides having to wrestle with their books, they had to struggle with a poverty which prevented their having the necessities of life. These students were as _____ as they were disadvantaged.

• dangerous

• determined

• disheveled

• dishonorable

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

The feeding on the guanacaste and raintree by animals such as monkeys, peccaries, and leaf-cutter ants does not always help the forest grow. For a tree to spread its seeds—for a tree to help make a forest—it needs consumers to transport its seeds. But by the time many of these forest animals are finished eating the fruit, there is nothing left of the seeds. Powerful teeth have crushed them to powder. Fortunately, cattle and free-ranging horses come to the rescue. These seed consumers sometimes swallow seeds whole, and then wander off to deposit them, undigested, some distance away from the parent tree. Certain animals are key to the _____ of the forest.

• justification

• expansion

• innovation

• condition

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Often toys, clothes, books, and even furniture are discarded before they are worn out. They are still good, but the owner doesn't want them anymore. These can be given to a resale shop or put into a garage sale—sometimes called a tag sale, yard sale, or rummage sale. The items can be _____ .

• reused

• wrapped

• inspected

• promoted

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

In the twelve years of the Willoughbys' married life, the tide of money had kept steadfastly on the flood. Nothing his hands touched seemed to fail him. He had his fingers in every kind of venture—mines and mills, foundries and furnaces, steam roads, trolley lines and public utilities; and to each and every one of these promotions, the name of Willoughby affixed the hall-mark of success. Now his dollars jingled in every state of the Union—and they jingled in his own home, too, almost as the only evidences that the home was his. Mr. Willoughby was _____ .

• prosperous

• petulant

• patient

• pompous

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4