WorksheetsReading Comprehension: Strawberries Passage
Total questions: 40
Worksheet time: 20mins
Farmers around us grew a lot of strawberries and frequently hired kids to pick for them. My siblings and I would ride our bikes a long way to Crandall’s farm to pick berries to earn spending money. A dime for every 80 quart we picked.
first person narrator describing the experience of picking strawberries as it happens.
first person narrator describing events from the past that influenced her beliefs about gifts.
third person narrator describing how each member of a family feels about gifts of nature.
third person narrator describing a young girl’s thoughts about the importance of strawberries in her family’s celebrations.
Based on the passage, the word they in line 7 refers to:
the fields of the narrator’s childhood.
people who present the narrator with gifts.
wild strawberries.
the narrator’s parents.
The main purpose of the second paragraph (lines 10–21) is to:
explain why the narrator’s father encouraged his children to give strawberries as gifts.
describe what the first strawberries looked like to the narrator’s ancestors.
provide a cultural context for the significance of strawberries to the narrator’s family.
emphasize the importance of plants in traditional Potawatomi stories.
Based on the passage, which action was part of the narrator’s attempt to “give back to the strawberries”?
She refrained from picking strawberries before they were ready.
She weeded out patches of ground where the plants would take root.
She made the strawberries into a gift for her father.
She honored the legend of Skywoman by continuing to tell the story.
It can most reasonably be inferred from the passage that the narrator learned about the growth cycle of strawberries by:
observing the runners and roots of the plants.
listening to her father talk about berry seasons.
planting berries with her siblings to earn money.
reading about how to help strawberries grow
The quotation in line 6 is most likely included to:
demonstrate what the narrator typically says to a person giving her a gift.
represent the narrator’s surprise and gratitude when finding strawberries.
clarify how the narrator believes a person should react when given a gift.
explain what the narrator’s father often said when given strawberries.
As it is used in line 20, the word recognize most nearly means:
diagnose.
concede.
notice.
acknowledge.
In the passage, the narrator states that as a child, she experienced her world as a:
gift economy based on gifts from the earth.
wage economy in which her family struggled.
playground she visited on rare but wonderful occasions.
classroom filled with friends and neighbors.
According to the passage, picking the strawberries for their father’s shortcake took the narrator and her siblings a long time because:
they kept eating the strawberries they picked.
the strawberry patches had many bugs.
their father expected only the ripest strawberries.
they could gather the strawberries only on Saturdays.
According to the passage, runners appeared on berry plants in the field when:
the Strawberry Moon first appeared.
a patch of ground was cleared for them.
berry season was over.
the berry plant was dying.
Which of the following details from the passage best supports the author's claim about the impact of paradigms on success?
Illustrations of the Henson Aerial Steam Carriage were first published in the early 1840s.
The Wrights' knowledge of bicycles made banking an airplane seem natural to them.
Alberto Santos-Dumont was the first to achieve heavier-than-air flight in Europe.
The first automobile was a European invention.
The passage can best be described as:
a critique of the solutions early aerial experimenters found to the problems they faced.
an overview of how various European inventions evolved.
an explanation of how Henson's paradigm helped to improve early aircraft design.
an analysis of how two different paradigms affected early aircraft design.
The main idea of the fourth paragraph (lines 21-30) is that Henson's illustrations:
were so popular that they appeared in newspapers and magazines for over half a century.
encouraged experimenters to imagine even more thrilling airplane designs than Henson had.
inspired experimenters and helped them build the first working airplanes more quickly.
motivated experimenters but hindered their ability to invent a successful airplane.
The main idea of the seventh paragraph (lines 43-52) is that Henson's vision led Europe's experimenters to:
debate whether upward-angled wings or vertical fabric panels more effectively balanced a plane.
find innovative solutions to make their planes as strong as horse-drawn carriages.
invent ways to prevent planes from tilting because the inventors were mistakenly fearful of banking the planes.
design airplanes to withstand any catastrophe that might occur.
The author most likely includes the example of Santos-Dumont's flights in 1906 to:
illustrate how an inaccurate paradigm can impede overall success.
praise Santos-Dumont for being the first to achieve heavier-than-air flights.
describe the plane that inspired the Wrights to shift their paradigm.
explain why controlling a plane was less vital than the Wrights believed.
According to the passage, compared to Europe's early experimenters, the Wrights were less inspired by Henson's vision because they were:
determined not to copy other designers' work.
unaware of Henson's work with hot-air balloons.
accustomed to a different mode of transportation.
more inspired by Santos-Dumont's vision.
As it is used in line 90, the phrase "stay on top of" most nearly means:
fly over.
pay attention to.
remain above.
keep learning about.
As presented in the passage, the idea that human flight was invented when the Montgolfiers successfully launched their hot-air balloons reflects the perspective of:
the passage author.
the Wrights.
Henson.
the French.
As it is used in line 19, the word sway most nearly means:
A. fluctuation.
B. influence.
C. regime.
D. grace.
The passage most strongly suggests that compared to early airplanes, horse-drawn vehicles:
required less continuous steering.
were less inherently stable.
could more safely tilt from side to side.
were more difficult to control.
In Passage A, the phrase "smoothly blended playing" (line 5) most nearly describes:
the quality that Ellington elicited from a group of dissimilar musicians.
a sound that band leaders Goodman, Shaw, and Lunceford demanded from their musicians.
a sound that Shaw achieved more successfully than did Lunceford and Goodman.
a specific goal Ellington set for his band but found hard to achieve.
Based on Passage A, which statement best expresses Teagarden's opinion of Ellington?
Teagarden viewed Ellington as his mentor.
Teagarden admired Ellington's piano playing but not his work as a band leader.
Teagarden found Ellington's work unappealing until he had a chance to play with the band.
Teagarden did not like anything about Ellington's band's music.
The author of Passage A indicates that Ellington based his decisions about whom to hire to join his band largely on:
input from the members of his band.
his desire to appeal to a modern audience.
his trust in his own ear.
his training as a pianist.
One of the main ideas of the second paragraph of Passage A (lines 30–48) is that in the process of achieving the sound he wanted from his band, Ellington:
accepted that the individual excellence of the players might occasionally be sacrificed.
elicited from his players performances that tapped their particular musical gifts.
invited each musician to articulate performance goals that he then helped them reach.
maintained a strict rehearsal schedule that some of the musicians rebelled against.
The point of view from which Passage B is told is best described as that of a:
first person narrator describing the personal sacrifices she made to succeed as a musician.
first person narrator comparing two styles of music as performed by the same band.
third person narrator who features the experiences and opinions of Pops and Mavis.
third person narrator who expresses opinions of Pops that contrast with those expressed by Mavis.
Which of the following statements about Pops’s childhood is best supported by Passage B?
He grew up in Mississippi with brothers and sisters who liked to sing together.
He started the Trumpet Jubilees with his siblings but quit by the time he was a teenager.
His musical career started in a small apartment where he taught himself to play guitar.
With his brothers, he was part of a singing group that gained Michael Jackson’s admiration.
According to Passage B, who had the deepest voice in the family’s singing group?
Pops
Mavis
Pervis
Cleotha
Compared to Passage A, Passage B presents events in an order that is:
chronologically opposite; it proceeds from describing present events to describing events consistently further back in time.
chronologically more vague; it gives no indication of how the events described relate to one another in time.
anchored more firmly in one stretch of time while making occasional references to events before and after that stretch of time.
very similar, as it initially presents the musician at the height of his fame and then examines the multiple steps that led to that fame.
Which of the following comparisons between one of the musicians mentioned in Passage A and Pops is best supported by the passages?
Like Hibbler, Pops was hired to join an established jazz band.
Like Ellington, Pops is compared to a painter putting different colors side by side on a canvas.
Like Strayhorn, Pops had a mentor he turned to throughout his life.
Like Goodman, Pops valued a sound that was precise.
Both passages make use of which of the following?
Lyrics from the musical compositions that Ellington or Pops made famous
References to professional music critics who followed the careers of Ellington or Pops
Excerpts from the memoirs of family members who have mixed opinions about Ellington or Pops
Quotations from people who observed up close the working styles of Ellington or Pops
The main idea of the passage is that the Messel Pit is significant primarily because it:
substantiates the theory that mammals appeared 200 million years ago.
features fossils of mammals and dinosaurs interacting.
contains fossils that reveal how warm-blooded animals evolved.
has fossils of dinosaurs that have not been found elsewhere.
The main purpose of the second paragraph (lines 7–16) is to discuss:
potential explanations for the large number of animal fossils in the lake.
conditions in the lake that led to the large number of dinosaur fossils.
the toxic prehistoric plants that grew in or near the lake.
feeding habits of mammals that lived near the lake.
The passage indicates that dinosaurs and mammals coexisted for approximately how many millions of years?
200
150
66
50
In the passage, Ailuravus macrurus most nearly serves as an example of a species that:
evolved into a modern-day animal, despite competition from similar animals.
adapted to its environment in ways scientists hadn’t seen previously.
developed physical traits that its modern-day descendants did not inherit.
left no descendants, despite its apparent resemblance to modern-day animals.
Based on the passage, which of the following scenarios most nearly represents an example of evolutionary convergence?
Several species of birds each evolving a different beak to take advantage of new food sources
One bird species becoming extinct because of competition from a similar species
Distinct species of birds developing wings that are nearly identical in structure
Many bird species moving to the same region because of food scarcity
According to the passage, the Messel Pit crater was formed by:
an impact from an asteroid.
erosion from a river.
steam erupting from underground.
a volcano spewing molten rock.
It can reasonably be inferred from the passage that fewer fossils would have been preserved in the Messel Pit if the lake they were in had contained:
oxygen circulating near the bottom.
layers of clay on the bottom.
abundant algae on the surface.
carbon dioxide that rose to the surface.
It can most reasonably be inferred from the passage that mammals survived the impact that killed the dinosaurs because mammals:
existed in such large numbers.
ate food that dinosaurs could not.
had the ability to reproduce rapidly.
were able to adapt to the change in climate.
According to the passage, by examining the contents of a prehistoric horse’s stomach, paleontologists determined that the horse ate:
more grass than modern horses eat.
many plants that modern horses eat.
food from the ground of forests.
food from a prehistoric open plain.
Based on the passage, which of the following pieces of evidence supports the conclusion that prehistoric horses had adopted herd behavior?
Specimens of pregnant mares were found near fossils of young foals.
Eight fossils of mares were found with the same kinds of plants in their digestive tracts.
Fossils of mare hoofprints that all pointed in the same direction were found.
Fossils of pregnant mares that each carried a single foal were found.
