Reading Comprehension Practice 3

Identify the main idea of paragraph 1

• Computers can handle information with incredible speed

• Some forms of life adapt to change more readily than others

• The computer does the job

• One of the most far reaching inventions of the twentieth century is the computer.

A synonym for complicated is:

• simple

• easy

• difficult

• none of the above

A synonym for the word handle in line 2 is:

• use

• process

• produce

• calculate

Sentence 3 reads, "They are used in business, education, government, industry, and science." A good paraphrase for the following sentence is:

• They are utilized at work, school, in the political arena, technical fields and science.

• They are used in business, school, in government, technical fields and science.

• Computers are utilized in a variety of places

• none of the above

Some forms of life adapt to change more readily than others. Human beings, for example, can survive in many different kinds of environments; they exist in climates from the streaming tropics to the frigid Arctic. Human beings are "generalized"; their bodies allow them to adapt more easily to varying. Humans, of course, have the ability to make things, such as coats and houses, that aid them in adapting. But other living beings such as mosquitoes and bamboo plants are "specialized". They thrive only in a certain climate. If it is too cold, or dry they die.

What is the main idea of paragraph 2

• Human beings can survive in many different kinds of environments.

• It is is too cold or dry, they die.

• Some forms of life adapt to change more readily than others.

• none of the above

A synonym for readily is:

• frequently

• easily

• freely

• smoothly

"Frigid" is used in paragraph 2. Frigid means:

• frigid

• hot

• cold

• snow

As a food, the soybean has many uses. It is given as feed to hogs, chicken, and cattle. It is also given to other livestock. Because it has more protein than beef, more calcium than milk, and is rich in vitamins and minerals, the soybean is also used extensively as food for human beings. It forms the base for salad and cooking oils and is an ingredient in candy, bread, pancakes, soups, margarine, and even marshmallows.

The main idea of paragraph 3 is:

• As a food hogs, chicken and cattle has many uses.

• As a food, soybean has many uses.

• Beans form the base for salad and cooking oils and is an ingredient in candy.

• The soybean is used extensively as a food for human beings.

The word extensively means:

• extensively

• widely

• sometimes

• none of the above

Fossils have formed where a plant or animal died and fell into the sand or clay at the bottom of a lake or swamp long, long ago. The soft parts of this living thing decayed or were eaten or washed away, but the bones or other hard parts remained as the sand or clay was pressed around them under the weight of the earth. Or they were deposited on the sea bottom and covered with sediments. Over thousands of centuries, the sand, clay, or sediments has hardened, usually into rock into rock. But the remains of the plant or animal have also hardened. They appear exactly as they did many centuries before.

The main idea of paragraph 4 is:

• Over thousands of centuries, the sand, clay or sediments has hardened, usually into rock.

• How fossils form

• They appear exactly as they did many centuries before

• Fossils have formed where a plant or animal died and fell into the sand or clay at the bottom of a lake or swamp long long ago.