Know the News: The Railroad That Changed America

1. Which is a central idea of the article?

• A. About 20,000 Chinese workers helped build the transcontinental railroad.
• B. Building the transcontinental railroad was backbreaking work.
• C. The U.S. government encouraged Americans to settle in the West.
• D. The transcontinental railroad, completed 150 years ago, had a huge impact on the nation.

2. Which detail best supports that central idea?

• A. The railroad boosted the nation’s economy and reduced the time it took to travel across the country.
• B. Many students in the 1860s attended class in one-room schoolhouses.
• C. The Central Pacific Railroad company began laying tracks in Sacramento, California.
• D. The transcontinental railroad was built by hand.

3. Which of these happened most recently?

• A. The Civil War ended.
• B. The transcontinental railroad was completed.
• C. Gold was discovered in California.
• D. The Irish potato famine began.

4. What does "marvel" mean in this sentence? “Now the U.S. was joined together, literally and symbolically, by a marvel of engineering and human labor—the transcontinental railroad.”

• A. collapse
• B. feat
• C. loss
• D. trouble

5. Which of these statements is an opinion?

• A. The transcontinental railroad helped link states in the East to those in the West.
• B. White settlers established new towns near the railroad tracks.
• C. The transcontinental railroad did more harm than good.
• D. Chinese workers were often paid less than white Californians.

6. Which detail would be least important to include in a summary of the article?

• A. Leland Stanford was the president of the Central Pacific Railroad.
• B. The transcontinental railroad made it easier to transport raw materials across the country.
• C. Before the transcontinental railroad, a cross-country trip was very dangerous and could take months.
• D. The transcontinental railroad helped destroy the Native American way of life.

7. Which word best describes the tone of the article’s first three paragraphs?

• A. angry
• B. calm
• C. celebratory
• D. pessimistic

8. Which phrase best illustrates that tone?

• A. “a collection of tents and makeshift workers’ shacks”
• B. “cheers erupt all around”
• C. “people in New York, Chicago, and other cities receive the news”
• D. “years of planning and work”

9. Information about specific skirmishes between Native American tribes and white settlers would best fit into which section of the article?

• A. “Moving West”
• B. “A Backbreaking Job for Workers”
• C. “Destroying a Way of Life”
• D. “A Nation Transformed”

10. What is the main purpose of the map on p. 21?

• A. to show where Indian Territory was in relation to Utah Territory
• B. to point out the distance between New York City and Buffalo
• C. to highlight the location of the Rocky Mountains Tk
• D. to help readers visualize how the trans-continental railroad connected the nation