Yusra Mardini and Jesse Owens

Why did Yusra Mardini have to leave Syria?

• She left because there was a war and it was dangerous.

• She left because she wanted to travel the world.

• She left because she needed to help steer a boat across the Aegan Sea.

• She left to train and compete for Syria in the Olympics.

The text about Yusra Mardini says that the boat's engine broke down. What evidence from the text best explains why this may have happened?

• "The three girls dragged the boat across the sea for hours."

• "Syria was in the middle of a war and it became dangerous for people to live there."

• "This boat was only supposed to hold six people. However, twenty passengers were on the boat."

• "The three swimmers wanted to keep everyone alive, and they knew what they needed to do."

After the boat's engine broke down, Yusra Mardini and two other passengers pulled the boat across the Aegan Sea. How can their actions best be described?

• confusing

• selfish

• soothing

• brave

What is the central idea of the text on Yusra Mardini?

• Yusra Mardini is a refugee who escaped war in Syria and sought safety in Greece.

• Yusra Mardini escaped war in Syria and helped others on her way to becoming an Olympic athlete.

• Yusra Mardini trained for the Olympics by pulling a boat with 20 people in it across the Aegan Sea.

Read the following sentences from the text.

She was going to swim in the Olympics for Syria, but then she had to flee from her home country in 2015. Syria was in the middle of a war, and it became dangerous for people to live there.

As used in the passage, what does the word flee mean?

• free

• a small insect that jumps

• train or exercise

• escape or run away

Jesse Owens was a successful athlete. What evidence from the text supports this conclusion?

• Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics.

• Jesse Owens often got sick as a child.

• Jesse Owens liked to run with his friends after school.

• Jesse Owens' family had a comfortable and easy life.

African Americans were discriminated against during the time Jesse Owens was an athlete. What evidence from the text supports this conclusion?

• President Franklin Roosevelt did not congratulate Jesse Owens on his successes.

• Jesse Owen participated in the 1936 Olympic Games of Berlin, Germany.

• Eighty years later, President Obama held a ceremony for Jesse Owens' family.

• All Americans congratulated Jesse Owens when he returned from the Olympics.

What is the main idea of the text?

• Jesse Owens was an African American man who had a difficult life because he was a sharecropper in Alabama and struggled to bring food to the table.

• Jesse Owens was celebrated as a skilled athlete by the President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, when he returned from the 1936 Olympics.

• Jesse Owens as an African American man who had a difficult childhood but grew up to take over his family's cotton farm and became very successful.

• Jesse Owens was a record-breaking African American Olympian who had a challenging childhood and faced discrimination throughout his life.

"Today, Jesse Owens is recognized properly as the incredible athlete he was." In this sentence, what does the phrase, "recognized properly" most closely mean?

• forgotten

• honored

• greeted

• allowed

Which two sentences should be included in a summary of Jesse Owens?

• Sharecroppers are people who rented small areas of land from a landowner. On these plots of land, the sharecroppers would plant and harvest crops such as cotton.

• African Americans were discriminated against in many ways, so Owen's successes were not celebrated as they should have been.

• Jesse Owens was born on September 12, 1913, in Oakville, Alabma.

• In the 1936 Olympic Games of Berlin, Germany, Jesse Owens won... four gold medals for the United States!