MAP Reading Informational Texts: Main Ideas, Details, Inferences

Read the passage.

Many kinds of dogs live in the world. Some have been around for a long time. Mudis are a special kind of dog that like to stay busy. They enjoy having jobs to do, like herding animals or helping on a farm.

What do Mudis like?

• other dogs

• sleeping all day

• living in the city

• having work to do

Read the passage.

This is how you make lemonade. It is fun and easy. First, squeeze the juice from fresh lemons. Then, mix the juice with water and sugar. Stir well, and your lemonade is ready to drink!

What is this passage about?

• where to buy lemons

• how to make lemonade

• when to make lemonade

• what lemonade tastes like

Read the paragraph.

A hen lays about one egg a day. A chick takes three weeks to be born from an egg. As the chick grows inside the egg, it becomes strong enough to hatch. Right before hatching, the chick starts peeping. This peeping lets the mother hen know that the chick is ready to come out.

When do chicks start peeping?

• after one week

• after two weeks

• after three weeks

• after four weeks

Read the graph. What kind of weather happens most often?

• sunny

• cloudy

• rainy

• snowy

Read the paragraph.

Platinum is a silver-white metal that is even more

valuable than gold. It will not corrode or tarnish as

many metals do when exposed to air. It can be used as

a catalyst*

in processes that change harmful pollutants

into nonpollutants. Platinum is also valued by jewelers because it is strong and holds gemstones securely in place. Its bright, silver-white color makes gems stand out and shine. In addition, platinum’s resistance to tarnish helps jewelry stay beautiful for many years.

*catalyst: a substance that can speed up or bring about a

chemical reaction without being affected itself

According to the passage, why is platinum valued by

jewelers?

• It is rarer than gold.

• It is good for gem settings.

• It can be used as a catalyst.

• It is produced in many countries.

Read the passage.

Benjamin Franklin: More than a Writer

Many people today use bifocals, eyeglasses that aid

people’s vision for objects both near and far away. Some

people use cast-iron wood-burning stoves to heat their

homes. As you can see, Benjamin Franklin is more thank just a writer. He is also known for his famous kite-flying experiment, which helped prove that lightning is a form of electricity. He played an important role in writing the Declaration of Independence, shaping the future of the United States. But maybe most interestingly, Franklin was also an inventor who created many useful items. His wide range of inventions, like bifocals and the cast-iron stove, showed his creative thinking and desire to improve everyday life.

Which aspect of the passage best supports the idea

that Franklin was a creative visionary?

• the danger associated with Franklin’s famous

  kite-flying experiment

• the mention of Franklin’s role in writing the

  Declaration of Independence

• the example of the wide range of inventions

  that Franklin developed

• the similarities between today’s bifocals and the

  bifocals that Franklin invented

Read the passage.

We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end as well as a beginning--signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge--and more.

...

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

Which statement best expresses the main idea of the

passage?

• Well-equipped armies will fight to defend

  freedom.

• Global alliances are the key to freedom for all

  people.

• The responsibilities of freedom rest with the

  individual.

• The past generations have secured freedom for

  the future.

Read the passage.

The efficiency of a book is like that of a man, in one important respect: its attitude toward its subject is the first source of its power. A book may be full of good ideas well expressed, but if its writer views his subject from the wrong angle even his excellent advice may prove to be ineffective.

This book stands or falls by its authors' attitude toward its subject. If the best way to teach oneself or others to speak effectively in public is to fill the mind with rules, and to set up fixed standards for the interpretation of thought, the utterance of language, the making of gestures, and all the rest, then this book will be limited in value to such stray ideas throughout its pages as may prove helpful to the reader—as an effort to enforce a group of principles it must be reckoned a failure, because it is then untrue.

It is of some importance, therefore, to those who take up this volume with open mind that they should see clearly at the out-start what is the thought that at once underlies and is builded through this structure. In plain words it is this:

Training in public speaking is not a matter of externals—primarily; it is not a matter of imitation—fundamentally; it is not a matter of conformity to standards—at all. Public speaking is public utterance, public issuance, of the man himself; therefore the first thing both in time and in importance is that the man should be and think and feel things that are worthy of being given forth. Unless there be something of value within, no tricks of training can ever make of the talker anything more than a machine—albeit a highly perfected machine—for the delivery of other men's goods. So self-development is fundamental in our plan.

The second principle lies close to the first: The man must enthrone his will to rule over his thought, his feelings, and all his physical powers, so that the outer self may give perfect, unhampered expression to the inner. It is futile, we assert, to lay down systems of rules for voice culture, intonation, gesture, and what not, unless these two principles of having something to say and making the will sovereign have at least begun to make themselves felt in the life.

The third principle will, we surmise, arouse no dispute: No one can learn how to speak who does not first speak as best he can. That may seem like a vicious circle in statement, but it will bear examination.

Many teachers have begun with the how. Vain effort! It is an ancient truism that we learn to do by doing. The first thing for the beginner in public speaking is to speak—not to study voice and gesture and the rest. Once he has spoken he can improve himself by self-observation or according to the criticisms of those who hear.

But how shall he be able to criticise himself? Simply by finding out three things: What are the qualities which by common consent go to make up an effective speaker; by what means at least some of these qualities may be acquired; and what wrong habits of speech in himself work against his acquiring and using the qualities which he finds to be good.

Experience, then, is not only the best teacher, but the first and the last. But experience must be a dual thing—the experience of others must be used to supplement, correct and justify our own experience; in this way we shall become our own best critics only after we have trained ourselves in self-knowledge, the knowledge of what other minds think, and in the ability to judge ourselves by the standards we have come to believe are right. "If I ought," said Kant, "I can."

An examination of the contents of this volume will show how consistently these articles of faith have been declared, expounded, and illustrated. The student is urged to begin to speak at once of what he knows. Then he is given simple suggestions for self-control, with gradually increasing emphasis upon the power of the inner man over the outer. Next, the way to the rich storehouses of material is pointed out. And finally, all the while he is urged to speak, speak, SPEAK as he is applying to his own methods, in his own personal way, the principles he has gathered from his own experience and observation and the recorded experiences of others.

So now at the very first let it be as clear as light that methods are secondary matters; that the full mind, the warm heart, the dominant will are primary—and not only primary but paramount; for unless it be a full being that uses the methods it will be like dressing a wooden image in the clothes of a man.

(from The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg

Esenwein and Dale Carnegie)

Which conclusion about becoming an effective speaker can be drawn from the passage?

• Effective speaking is the result of study

  followed by earnest practice.

• Effective speaking requires training in and

  adherence to a specific set of rules.

• Effective speaking requires self-discipline

  and personal conviction about the topic.

• Effective speaking is the result of practicing

  the speeches and styles of noted speakers.