Weather reporters have to give out a lot of information. That's why they use pictures. The pictures help them tell us about the weather without using so many words. Weather reporters need to know where the cold air is. They need to know where the warm air is. They have to know where it is raining and what types of clouds are in the area. Their reports need to be correct, but they also need to be short. The pictures help weather reporters get the information out in a fast way.

Which sentence best describes the main idea of the paragraph?

Dolphins are regarded as the friendliest creatures in the sea and stories of them helping drowning sailors have been common since Roman times. The more we learn about dolphins, the more we realize that their society is more complex than people previously imagined. They look after other dolphins when they are ill, care for pregnant mothers and protect the weakest in the community, as we do. Some scientists have suggested that dolphins have a language but it is much more probable that they communicate with each other without needing words. Could any of these mammals be more intelligent than man? Certainly the most common argument in favor of man's superiority over them that we can kill them more easily than they can kill us is the least satisfactory. On the contrary, the more we discover about these remarkable creatures, the less we appear superior

It is clear from the passage that dolphins ----.

Naval architects never claim that a ship is unsinkable, but the sinking of the passenger-and-car ferry Estonia in the Baltic surely should have never have happened. It was well designed and carefully maintained. It carried the proper number of lifeboats. It had been thoroughly inspected the day of its fatal voyage. Yet hours later, the Estonia rolled over and sank in a cold, stormy night. It went down so quickly that most of those on board, caught in their dark, flooding cabins, had no chance to save themselves: Of those who managed to scramble overboard, only 139 survived. The rest died of hypothermia before the rescuers could pluck them from the cold sea. The final death toll amounted to 912 souls. However, there were an unpleasant number of questions about why the Estonia sank and why so many survivors were men in the prime of life, while most of the dead were women, children and the elderly.

One can understand from the reading that ---

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

Sometime in December of 1891, Dr. James Naismith was teaching gym at the YMCA College in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was raining, and Dr. Naismith was trying to keep his students active. He wanted them playing a rough game that would keep them moving. He didn't like a few ideas that were too rough. Then Naismith had his breakthrough. He wrote out the rules for a game with peach baskets fixed to ten-foot elevated tracks. Naismith's students played against one another, passing the ball around and shooting it into the peach baskets. Dribbling wasn't a part of the original game. Also it took a while to realize that the game would run more smoothly if the bottoms of the baskets were removed. But this game grew to be one of the most popular sports in America today. Can you guess which one?

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

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.

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

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.

IDENTIFY THE MAIN IDEA

Sir Isaac Newton was contemplating the universe in his garden one day in 1665 when he noticed an apple fall from a tree. Newton wondered to himself, “Why should the apple always fall to the ground? Why does it not go sideways or upwards but directly toward the Earth’s center?” After much contemplation Newton concluded that objects are pulled to the Earth through a force that he called gravity, which means heaviness in Latin. On July 5th, 1687 Newton formally expressed his law of universal gravitation in series of books called The Principia.

Cardamom is not as widely used as a spice in the United States as it is in other parts of the world. This fruit of the ginger plant provides an oil that basically has been used solely as a stimulant in American and English medicines. Other cultures as have recognized the multipurpose benefits of this aromatic fruit. In Asia it is used to season sauces such as curry; in middle Eastern countries it is steeped to prepare a flavorful golden-colored tea; in parts of Northern Europe it is used as a spice in various types of pastry.

The word "solely" in line 3 could best be replaced by?

Cardamom is not as widely used as a spice in the United States as it is in other parts of the world. This fruit of the ginger plant provides an oil that basically has been used solely as a stimulant in American and English medicines. Other cultures as have recognized the multipurpose benefits of this aromatic fruit. In Asia it is used to season sauces such as curry; in middle Eastern countries it is steeped to prepare a flavorful golden-colored tea; in parts of Northern Europe it is used as a spice in various types of pastry.

The word "multipurpose" in line 4 could best be replaced by?

Cardamom is not as widely used as a spice in the United States as it is in other parts of the world. This fruit of the ginger plant provides an oil that basically has been used solely as a stimulant in American and English medicines. Other cultures as have recognized the multipurpose benefits of this aromatic fruit. In Asia it is used to season sauces such as curry; in middle Eastern countries it is steeped to prepare a flavorful golden-colored tea; in parts of Northern Europe it is used as a spice in various types of pastry.

Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "season" in line 5?

Cardamom is not as widely used as a spice in the United States as it is in other parts of the world. This fruit of the ginger plant provides an oil that basically has been used solely as a stimulant in American and English medicines. Other cultures as have recognized the multipurpose benefits of this aromatic fruit. In Asia it is used to season sauces such as curry; in middle Eastern countries it is steeped to prepare a flavorful golden-colored tea; in parts of Northern Europe it is used as a spice in various types of pastry.

"Curry" in line 6 is

Cardamom is not as widely used as a spice in the United States as it is in other parts of the world. This fruit of the ginger plant provides an oil that basically has been used solely as a stimulant in American and English medicines. Other cultures as have recognized the multipurpose benefits of this aromatic fruit. In Asia it is used to season sauces such as curry; in middle Eastern countries it is steeped to prepare a flavorful golden-colored tea; in parts of Northern Europe it is used as a spice in various types of pastry.

The word "steeped" in line 6 could best be replaced by?

Ring Lardner himself was born into a wealthy, educated, and cultured family. For the bulk of his career, he worked as a reporter for newspapers in South Bend, Boston, St. Louis and Chicago. However, it is for his short stories of lower middle class Americans that Ring Lardner is perhaps best known. In these stories, Lardner vividly creates the language and the ambiance of this lower class, often using the misspelled words, grammatical errors and incorrect diction that typified the language of the lower middle class.

The word "vividly" in line 5 is closest in meaning to.......

Ring Lardner himself was born into a wealthy, educated, and cultured family. For the bulk of his career, he worked as a reporter for newspapers in South Bend, Boston, St. Louis and Chicago. However, it is for his short stories of lower middle class Americans that Ring Lardner is perhaps best known. In these stories, Lardner vividly creates the language and the ambiance of this lower class, often using the misspelled words, grammatical errors and incorrect diction that typified the language of the lower middle class.

The word "misspelled" in line 7 is closest in meaning to.......

Ring Lardner himself was born into a wealthy, educated, and cultured family. For the bulk of his career, he worked as a reporter for newspapers in South Bend, Boston, St. Louis and Chicago. However, it is for his short stories of lower middle class Americans that Ring Lardner is perhaps best known. In these stories, Lardner vividly creates the language and the ambiance of this lower class, often using the misspelled words, grammatical errors and incorrect diction that typified the language of the lower middle class.

The word "diction" in line 7 is closest in meaning to.......