Lesson-13: Main Idea and Details

Directions: Read each passage and ask yourself, "What is the author doing in this paragraph?" Write your answer in the summary box and then think of an appropriate title for the passage based on the main idea of the passage.

An appropriate title: _____________________________________

Before you put on that skeleton costume and rove door-to-door pandering for candy, take a minute to reflect on this tradition. Halloween is believed to have come from an ancient Celtic festival dating back some 2,000 years. November 1st was the Celtic New Year and marked the end of summer to the Celts. They celebrated on its eve by wearing costumes made of animal skins and dancing around bon fires. Over the next two millennia, this primitive celebration grew to be the candy fueled costume ball that we know today.

Question 2: Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be specific and clearly explain the main idea?

Lesson-13: Main Idea and Details

Directions: Read each passage and ask yourself, "What is the author doing in this paragraph?" Write your answer in the summary box and then think of an appropriate title for the passage based on the main idea of the passage.

An appropriate title: _____________________________________

When one hears the term "reality" applied to a show, one might expect that the events portrayed occurred naturally or, at the least, were not scripted. This is not always the case. Many reality shows occur in unreal environments, like rented mansions occupied by film crews. Such living environments do not reflect what most people understand to be "reality." Worse, there have been accusations that events not captured on film were later restaged by producers. Worse still, some involved in the production of "reality" television claim that the participants were urged to act out story lines premeditated by producers. With such accusations floating around, it's no wonder many people take reality TV to be about as real as the sitcom.

Question 3: Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be specific and clearly explain the main idea?

Lesson-13: Main Idea and Details

Directions: Read each passage and ask yourself, "What is the author doing in this paragraph?" Write your answer in the summary box and then think of an appropriate title for the passage based on the main idea of the passage.

An appropriate title: _____________________________________

It is estimated that over twenty million pounds of candy corn are sold in the US each year. Brach's, the top manufacturer, sells enough candy corn to circle the earth 4.25 times if each piece were laid end to end. That's a lot of candy corn, but that's nothing compared to the production of Tootsie Rolls. Over 64 million Tootsie Rolls are produced every day! But even Tootsie Rolls have got nothing on the candy industry's staple product: chocolate. Confectioners manufacture over twenty billion pounds of chocolate in the United States each year. Now that's a mouthful!

Question 4: Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be specific and clearly explain the main idea?

Lesson-13: Main Idea and Details

Directions: Read each passage and ask yourself, "What is the author doing in this paragraph?" Write your answer in the summary box and then think of an appropriate title for the passage based on the main idea of the passage.

An appropriate title: _____________________________________

Screech! When a driver pushes on the brake pedal, it initiates a process that causes the vehicle to stop in motion. We literally trust braking systems with our lives every time we get into a vehicle or cross at a busy intersection. How does this life-critical process work? It begins when the pedal is pushed. At this moment brake fluid is released into the braking mechanisms. As the fluid collects, this creates a leverage, which causes a friction to be applied. This friction will create a force that will cause the wheels to stop and allow you to reach your destination safely. Beep! Beep!

Question 5: Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be specific and clearly explain the main idea?

Lesson-13: Main Idea and Details

Directions: Read each passage and ask yourself, "What is the author doing in this paragraph?" Write your answer in the summary box and then think of an appropriate title for the passage based on the main idea of the passage.

An appropriate title: _____________________________________

There are many types of lethal venom in the animal kingdom, but perhaps no stranger carrier than the platypus. The platypus is one of few venomous mammals. Male platypus carry a venom cocktail in their ankle spurs. This venom incapacitates victims with excruciating pain. Stranger still, the platypus is the only mammal that uses electroreception. That means that the platypus uses its bill to sense the electricity produced by the muscular movements of its prey. Electroreception is a sixth sense different from seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling. Perhaps most odd, the platypus is the only mammal that lays eggs rather than giving birth to live young. What an odd creature indeed.

Question 6: Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be specific and clearly explain the main idea?

Lesson-13: Main Idea and Details

Directions: Read each passage and ask yourself, "What is the author doing in this paragraph?" Write your answer in the summary box and then think of an appropriate title for the passage based on the main idea of the passage.

An appropriate title: _____________________________________

Yellowstone National Park is mainly located in Wyoming, although three percent is located in the state of Montana. The Continental Divide of North America runs diagonally through the southwestern part of the park. The park sits on the Yellowstone Plateau, which is an average elevation of 8,000 feet above sea level. This plateau is bounded on nearly all sides by mountain ranges. There are 290 waterfalls that are at least fifteen feet in the park, the highest being the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, which falls 308 feet.

Question 7: Summarize this paragraph in one sentence. Be specific and clearly explain the main idea?

Lesson-14: Summarizing

Directions:Read each passage and Summarize Accordingly.

Picture this: a herd of elephants flies past you at sixty miles per hour, followed by a streak of tigers, a pride of lions, and a bunch of clowns. What do you see? It must be a circus train! One of the first uses of the circus train is credited to W.C. Coup. He partnered with P.T. Barnum in 1871 to expand the reach of their newly combined shows using locomotives. Before circus trains, these operators had to lug around all of their animals, performers, and equipment with a team of more than 600 horses. Since there were no highways, these voyages were rough and took a long time. Circuses would stop at many small towns between the large venues. Performing at many of these small towns was not very profitable. Because of these limitations, circuses could not grow as large as the imaginations of the operators. After they began using circus trains, Barnum and Coup only brought their show to large cities. These performances were much more profitable and the profits went toward creating an even bigger and better circus. Multiple rings were added and the show went on. Today, Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus still rely on the circus train to transport their astounding show, but now they use two.

Question 1: Summarize the passage and Main idea related title for the passage?

Lesson-14: Summarizing

Directions: Read each passage and Summarize Accordingly.

How do you say "Holy cow" in French? The fastest thing in France may just be the fastest ground transportation in the world. The TGV (Train � Grande Vitesse: French for very high speed) is France's national high speed rail service. On April 3^rd, 2007, a TGV test train set a record for the fastest wheeled train, reaching 357.2 miles per hour. In mid 2011, TGV trains operated at the highest speed in passenger train service in the world, regularly reaching 200 miles per hour. But what you may find most shocking is that TGV trains run on electric power not petrol. Now if you'll excuse me; I have a record to catch.

Question 2: Summarize the passage and Main idea related title for the passage?

Lesson-14: Summarizing

Directions: Read each passage and Summarize Accordingly.

Giddy-up, cowboys and girls! In the Southwest during early half of the 1800s, cows were only worth 2 or 3 dollars a piece. They roamed wild, grazed off of the open range, and were abundant. Midway through the century though, railroads were built and the nation was connected. People could suddenly ship cows in freight trains to the Northeast, where the Yankees had a growing taste for beef. Out of the blue, the same cows that were once worth a couple of bucks were now worth between twenty and forty dollars each, if you could get them to the train station. It became pretty lucrative to wrangle up a drove of cattle and herd them to the nearest train town, but it was at least as dangerous as it was profitable. Cowboys were threatened at every turn. They faced cattle rustlers, stampedes and extreme weather, but kept pushing those steers to the train station. By the turn of the century, barbed wire killed the open range and some may say the cowboy too, but it was the train that birthed him.

Question 3: Summarize the passage and Main idea related title for the passage?

Lesson-14: Summarizing

Directions: Read each passage and Summarize Accordingly.

Electric trolley cars or trams were once the chief mode of public transportation in the United States. Though they required tracks and electric cables to run, these trolley cars were clean and comfortable. In 1922, auto manufacturer General Motors created a special unit to replace electric trolleys with cars, trucks, and buses. Over the next decade, this group successfully lobbied for laws and regulations that made operating trams more difficult and less profitable. In 1936 General Motors created several front companies for the purpose of purchasing and dismantling the trolley car system. They received substantial investments from Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, Phillips Petroleum, and other parties invested in the automotive industry. Some people suspect that these parties wanted to replace trolley cars with buses to make public transportation less desirable, which would then increase automobile sales. The decline of the tram system in North America could be attributed to many things—labor strikes, the Great Depression, regulations that were unfavorable to operators—but perhaps the primary cause was having a group of powerful men from rival sectors of the auto industry working together to ensure its destruction. Fill it up, please.

Question 4: Summarize the passage and Main idea related title for the passage?

Lesson-14: Summarizing

Directions: Read each passage and Summarize Accordingly.

What's dressed in all black, practices stealth, and is a master of espionage, sabotage, and assassination? You guessed it: it's a ninja!

Perhaps the only thing more elusive than a ninja is the source of the word ninja. In China ninja are more often referred to as shinobi. The Chinese word shinobi, short for shinobi-no-mono, means "to steal away." The word shinobi appears in Chinese poems as far back as the eighth century. So how did this word become ninja? Some believe that during the Edo period in Japan, the word shinobi-no-mono was appropriated and transformed to the very similar word ninja. This probably happened because it was a lot quicker and easier to just say ninja. It is difficult to see how such a transformation could have occurred when we look at the words using our alphabet, but if you look at the kanji representing these words, it may make more sense to you. This is how you write shinobi-no-mono in Chinese: . And this is how you write ninja: . Now do you see the similarities?

Question 5: Summarize the passage and Main idea related title for the passage?

Lesson-14: Summarizing

Directions: Read each passage and Summarize Accordingly.

Invisibility, flight, the power to split into multiple bodies these superhuman abilities have long been associated with ninjas, but ninjas didn't really do all of that stuff. They were just regular people with exceptional abilities. So why do people think that ninjas had super powers? Well, one reason is that ninjas were very secretive and left behind few historical records of their activities. Since we do not know much about what they actually did, we are left to speculate. Another reason why people often think that ninjas had superhuman abilities is because of how ninjas are depicted in folklore (particularly during the Edo period in Japan). In such legends and works of art, ninjas were mysticized and romanticized. These romantic notions of ninjas as superhero are perpetuated in media today, but maybe that's just because these days people expect ninjas to have supernatural abilities. Ki-yah!

Question 6: Summarize the passage and Main idea related title for the passage?

Lesson-14: Summarizing

Directions: Read each passage and Summarize Accordingly.

The image of the ninja wearing all black is a popular one indeed, but there is really no evidence that ninjas ever wore such a costume. In fact, it is much more likely that ninjas dressed as regular civilians, which would have been far more effective camouflage in most situations than an all black suit. The use of disguises amongst ninja is common and well-documented. Ninja often dressed as monks, entertainers, fortune-tellers, merchants, or farmers. Each of these disguises carried advantages that dressing in all black did not. Dressed as monks, ninjas could conceal weapons in their robes. Dressed as entertainers, they could spy in enemy buildings without arousing suspicion. Dressed as fortune-tellers, they could extract information from unknowing targets. Dressed as merchants, they could travel freely across enemy borders. And while dressed as farmers, ninja carried simple gardening tools (such as sickles or trowels) and used them as deadly weaponry. In this way if a ninja were caught by authorities, he could claim that his deadly apparatus were tools, not weapons. Though they may not have been wearing all black stealth suits, ninjas were always well-disguised.

Question 7: Summarize the passage and Main idea related title for the passage?