hidden figures vocab

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics wanted to develop the most powerful and efficient airplanes in the world.

Put these events in order of steps taken to achieve this goal.

• The American aircraft industry makes three times more airplanes than Germany.

• Langley Laboratory advertises for female mathematicians during the war.

• Computers are needed to turn raw data into something useful.

• President Roosevelt wants more airplanes produced.

Why do you think the author included the details about the lunch room sign and the character that repeatedly stole it? (what was the author trying to hint at or show us)

Fill in the circles before the two highlighted phrases from paragraph 18 that best support the answer to Part A.

• For the black women, the experience of working at a laboratory offered the chance to do interesting work

• that would help support the war effort.

• Walking into an unfamiliar environment wasn’t easy for the women of the new West Area Computing Office,

• but each of them was eager for the opportunity to help their country and prove that they, too, could be excellent mathematicians.

Festival-goers stampede after '_______ substance' is sprayed over crowd leaving them vomiting and in tears

• bigot
• noxious
• kindle
• placid

Read the sentence from paragraph 11.

Today we think of computers as machines, but in the 1940s, a computer was just someone whose job it was to do computations. . . .

What is the effect of the author’s use of we in the sentence?

• It encourages the reader to view the past with nostalgia.

• It reminds the reader of the power of modern computers.

• It creates an informal tone that includes the reader in the narrative.

•               It creates a formal tone that explains how computers were used by women.

Read the dictionary entry for the word disturbance.

disturbance \di-stur´bәns\ n 1. an interruption of flow 2. an altering of order or position 3. an upset of natural balance 4. a destruction of tranquility or calm

Which definition most closely matches the way the word disturbance is used in paragraph 6? 

• Definition 4

• Definition 2

• Definition 3

• Definition 1

Read paragraph 15. Which word best describes the working conditions at Langley Laboratories?

• Segregated

• Hostile

• Crowded

• Casual

Which of the following did Dorothy NOT do to save money or help her kids?

• Wear her shoes until they wore out

• Sewed clothes for her family

• Let them eat all the food first

• Babysat in the evenings

The organization of paragraphs 1–8 contributes to the author’s main idea by — 

• highlighting special achievements

• explaining what computing is

• providing background information

• focusing on different employees  

Hurricanes _______ Builder Confidence

• Abhor
• Hamper
• Noxious
• Enfranchise