Medical Reading Lexile Assessment

1. What happened to Mt. Pelee on May 8, 1902?

2. How many people died when the town of Saint-Pierre was destroyed by the volcanic eruption?

3. What is the main idea of this text?

4. According to the text, people living near Mt. Pelee had ignored the signals that it was still active. Based on the timeline of the eruption, identify two signals that could have warned people nearby that the volcano might erupt.

1. According to the text, what is one molecule that is responsible for fruit ripening?

• caffeine
• ethylene
• Chlorine
• Nitrogen

2. The text contrasts climacteric fruits and non-climacteric fruits. What is a major difference between these two kinds of fruits?

• Non-climacteric fruits do not ripen after harvesting and produce little ethylene while climacteric fruits continue to ripen after they are picked and produce a lot of ethylene.
• Non-climacteric fruits ripen quickly and are harvested quickly while climacteric fruits never ripen because they fall off of the plant at too early of a stage.
• Non-climacteric fruits must be picked right when they ripen orelse people can’t eat them while climacteric fruits must be harvested in order to ripen and won’t ripen on their own
• Non-climacteric fruits are the only types of fruits people eat while climacteric fruits don’t produce any ethylene because they are not meant to be eaten.

3. Read the following sentences from the text. “When fruit ripening genes are activated, proteins called enzymes dissolve the polysaccharides in the fruit’s cell walls. This causes the fruit to get softer. These genes also activate the breakdown of starch, a carbohydrate. Starch is a large, complex molecule formed by many small sugar molecules. It breaks down into simple carbohydrates—sucrose, glucose, and fructose—which make the fruit sweeter. Fruit colors also change once ripening genes are activated. Chloroplasts are plant organelles (structures in a cell) that contain chlorophyll, the pigment that makes plants green and helps with photosynthesis. When the ripening process starts, chloroplasts convert to chromoplasts, different plant organelles that also produce and store pigments. Chromoplast pigments range from yellow to red.” What conclusion can you draw from this evidence?

• The only way to know whether fruit has ripened is to taste how sweet it is.
• Chemical processes during ripening cause fruit to get softer, sweeter, and change color.
• Bananas are the only fruit that change their color to yellow when they ripen
• When fruits ripen, their chlorophyll increases and makes them a darker green.