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DIRECTIONS
Read each selection. Then read each question that follows that selection. Decide which is the best answer to each question. Mark the space for the answer you have chosen.


Greta and the Cat
    

St. Martin's Day is a holiday in a country named Holland. The "St." in St. Martin stands for the word saint. St. Martin was a man who did kind things for many people in need. He was a soldier who spent his life helping others. The people of Holland remember him every year on November 11.

  
  
   1    Greta rode her bicycle down the path with her classmates. In Holland this was the way most children traveled back and forth to school. They pedaled past the rivers and meadows of their little town. One by one, the children parted as they came to their houses.
   2    "See you later!" Greta called to her friends. She turned into her yard. As she parked her bike, she heard a noise in the grass. She jumped back suddenly, dropping her books. At her feet was a small gray cat.
   3    "That old cat keeps scaring me!" she complained as she walked in the door.
   4    "It doesn't mean any harm," said her father.
   5    "Why doesn't it just go home and stay out of our yard?" she grumbled. She frowned but could not stay angry for long. It was St. Martin's Day.
   6    "We must eat before we celebrate," Mother said. She placed steaming bowls of stew called hutspot on the table.
   7    Greta's younger brother Peter joined them. He was singing happily, "St. Martin walking home one day, St. Martin with his cape of gray." Then he stopped. "Who was St. Martin anyway?"
   8    Greta laughed. "St. Martin was a man who lived long ago," she explained. "One chilly winter day he was walking home. He wore a cape to keep warm and had a small piece of bread to eat."
   9    "Yes," said Mother. "Then he saw a stranger on the side of the road. The man sat on the ground, hugging his knees to keep warm. He was hungry and had no home."
   10    Father finished the story. "St. Martin took his sword and cut his cape in two. He gave the man half of his warm cape. Then he gave the man half of his bread."
   11    "So we celebrate St. Martin's Day," said Peter, "because he was kind to the man who didn't have anything?"
   12    "Yes," answered Mother. "St. Martin had great sympathy for others, and we should be concerned about others, too."
   13    As always on St. Martin's Day, Greta and her family enjoyed their dinner. Then they carried a lantern out into the dark night. Other families carrying lanterns joined them. Together they knocked on neighbors' doors. The visitors sang and were given sweet breads.
   14    At the end of the evening, Greta's family walked back home. Just inside her yard, Greta heard a noise again. She dropped her bag of sweets as a gray shadow leaped across her feet.
   15    "You wait a minute!" she called as she chased after the cat. She caught it and picked it up. "Why are you always frightening me?"
   16    She noticed the cat's dirty paws and matted fur. The cat had probably never been brushed, and it didn't have a collar. "I don't think this cat has a home," Greta said.
   17    Peter reached up and petted the cat gently. "I know what St. Martin would do," he said.
   18    Greta looked at the cat that had frightened her. Suddenly it didn't look so scary. It didn't even struggle as she held it in her arms. She opened her bag of treats. Taking out a sweet roll, she offered half to the cat. The cat hungrily ate the roll.
   19    "May we make a box for it to sleep in?" Greta asked her mother.
   20    "I can tear my sweater in half to keep the cat warm," offered Peter.
   21    Mother smiled. "I think an old towel would be better," she said.
   22    They fixed up a box and put it in a safe place. Peter returned with a bowl of milk. The cat lapped it up. "Tomorrow I'll see whether it belongs to anyone," said Greta.
     

children helping cat

   23    "If not, may we keep it?" asked Peter.
   24    Mother and Father looked at each other. "We'll see," they said.
   25    As everyone returned to the warm house, Greta stayed with the cat. She rearranged the towel. It was cold and dark outdoors, but Greta felt content.
   26    "Good night, Martin," she said, suddenly deciding on the cat's name.
   27    The little cat purred.

1  Why is it important that the story takes place on St. Martin's Day?
Greta gives the cat to a neighbor as a present.
Greta lends her brother a sweater to wear.
Greta remembers that she should help others.
Greta and her mother make sweet treats.

2  Which word best describes St. Martin?
Strong
Worried
Caring
Upset

3  How can Greta tell that the cat probably doesn't have a home?
It is not wearing a collar.
It looks sleepy.
It keeps frightening her.
It purrs softly.

4  What does Peter give the cat?
A bowl of milk
Half of his sweater
An old cape
Half of a sweet roll

5  Read the chart below. It shows the order of events in the story. Then answer the question that follows.

event order

  Which of these events belongs in the empty box?
Peter sang a song about St. Martin.
St. Martin saw a man who needed help.
The people of Holland celebrate St. Martin's Day.
St. Martin was a man who lived long ago.

6  Why did the author probably write this story?
To explain why some children ride bicycles to school
To give reasons why people should have holidays
To show how cats can sometimes scare people
To tell how a girl learned a lesson and helped a cat

7  In paragraph 16, the word matted means —
curled
long
tangled
soft

8  How does Greta get to school?
She walks to school.
She rides on a bus.
She is driven in a car.
She rides her bicycle.

9  Read the four signs below. Then answer the question that follows.

signs

  Which sign will Greta most likely make the next day?
Sign 1
Sign 2
Sign 3
Sign 4

10  Paragraph 13 mainly tells about —
how many houses are in the neighborhood
what kinds of treats people receive
how families celebrate St. Martin's Day
which songs Greta's family sings

11  What will Greta probably do the next time she sees the cat?
Jump suddenly
Chase it away
Call her mother
Hold it in her arms

12  How are Greta and St. Martin alike?
Both are helpful.
Both wear a long cape.
Both like cold weather.
Both find a lost cat.

13  How do Greta's feelings about the cat change by the end of the story?
She thinks it is scary.
She feels sorry for it.
She thinks it is a bother.
She wants to sell it.

D Tools for Animals and Insects

 

DTools for Animals and Insects
     copyright

14  Look at the diagram below and answer the next question.

tools diagram

  Which of the following belongs in the empty box?
Leaves
Shells
Clams
Eggs

15  Which word from paragraph 8 means about the same thing as the word damp?
unusual
leaves
wet
clean

16  What are paragraphs 3 and 4 mainly about?
How eggs are broken
Using stones as tools
How birds use tools
Using stones to open clams

17  The reader can tell that more discoveries about animal tools will probably be made because —
scientists are still learning how animals use tools
animals must use tools to find food
animals need help building their homes
scientists know that some animals use leaves in a number of ways

18  A woodpecker finch uses sticks and thorns to —
scratch itself when it itches
break open small insects
get insects out of cracks in tree bark
dig in the dirt until it finds insects

19  Which is the best summary of this article?
Several kinds of animals use tools found in nature. Some use tools such as twigs to find food. Others use leaves to carry food.
Animals such as the sea otter use tools found in nature to open shells. The shells are too hard for otters to open. They use stones to crack the shells so that they can reach the meat inside.
Scientists have learned that several kinds of animals use things found in nature as tools. Animals use these tools to get food, stay clean, or scratch themselves.
The Egyptian vulture is one animal that uses stones as tools. Stones are also used by other animals, such as sea otters.

20  The section called "Mealtime Helpers" is mostly about —
using stones to build animal homes
how animals use tools to get food
using stones to open things
how animals clean themselves before eating

21  One reason ants put pieces of fruit on leaves is that —
it is easier to squeeze fruit juice out of leaves
the leaves soak up the fruit juices
they use the leaves to build nests
the leaves keep other ants away

22  Which sentence from the article shows that sea otters use tools to eat certain foods?
However, it would be difficult for sea otters to eat clams without the help of stones.
First a sea otter dives into the water for a clam.
Then it dives again for a stone.
Finally the otter digs out the meat inside with its paws and eats it.

23  The author probably wrote this article to —
explain to readers how to use tools
tell readers about the history of tools
describe how some animals use tools
tell readers an interesting story about elephants

Fossil Find

   1    The rain had finally slowed down. "It's about time," Clay Reyna thought. This place was not like sunny California at all. He had lived on this ranch for only a few weeks, but already he didn't like it. He hadn't made any friends at school. All it seemed to do here was rain.   
   2    It was Saturday afternoon, and Clay was bored. When the rain finally stopped, he decided to go outside and walk around. It had rained so hard for so long. Clay could see that water had washed away a layer of dirt. Rocks that had been covered with dirt now poked out. The top part of the ground had been washed away.
   3    As Clay walked along, he saw a rock with an unusual shape. He carefully dug the rock out of the ground. He had to use both hands to pick it up. It was shaped like a cone. "This looks like a shell or a giant snail," Clay thought, "except that it's rock." Puzzled, he decided to take it to school on Monday. His teacher Miss Shaw could probably tell him more about it.
   4    "Where did you find this?" Miss Shaw asked excitedly when Clay showed her the rock at school. When he told her where he had found it, Miss Shaw's face lit up. "May I keep this for a day or two?" she asked. "I promise to give it back." Clay agreed.
   5    That night at home, the phone rang. After a few minutes Clay's mother came into his room.
   6    "That was Miss Shaw. She wanted to know whether we would let her bring your class to our ranch on Friday," Clay's mother said.
   7    "Really?" Clay asked, a little excited. It would be neat to have a field trip at his house.
   8    "Miss Shaw said she took your rock to the college in town. She found out that the rock is really a fossil of a shell. She wants your class to look for more fossils. I told her we would love to have your class here," Clay's mother said.
   9    The next day at school, Miss Shaw announced to the class, "I'm going to change our science lessons for this week. We're going on a fossil hunt. Clay's parents are going to let us look around their ranch. We're going to look for fossils like the one Clay found. I asked the principal, and she has approved our field trip for this Friday. But before we go, I want all of you to learn more about fossils."
   10    On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Clay and his classmates studied fossils. They learned that fossils are signs of life from long ago. Fossils can be a deep print of a leaf, branch, or an animal's foot in a rock. Fossils can also be bones or shells that have turned into rock over the years. By studying fossils, people can learn about the plants and animals that once lived on Earth. They also can learn about the changes that have occurred in weather, water, and land. These changes have taken place over many years.
     

   11    Finally it was Friday morning. Clay's class, Miss Shaw, and several parents rode a school bus to the Reynas' ranch. Miss Shaw picked up a stone as soon as she got off the bus. "This might have been a clam once," she said, holding up a fat heart-shaped rock.
   12    Several students gathered around her to look at the rock. Knowing what to look for, they found three more just like it. All the students started talking and walking around together. After about an hour of searching, Clay found a piece of flat, smooth stone with what looked like a leaf printed on it. One of the other students found a gray stone with the perfect fan shape of a seashell on it.
   13    Miss Shaw finally announced it was time to go. Disappointed, the students got back onto the bus. A few students approached Clay when they arrived back at school.
   14    "Do you think it would be O.K. if we came back to your ranch tomorrow?" one of the girls from Clay's class asked. "We could look for more fossils."
   15    Clay thought that it would be great. He nodded his head thoughtfully. Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all.

24  The Reynas' ranch is important to this story because —
there is now water on the family's land
Clay is not allowed to go to the creek alone
it is a place Miss Shaw likes to visit
it is where Clay finds the fossil

25  Clay takes the rock he found to school because —
his teacher has started a rock collection
he wants to learn more about it
his teacher asked him to bring it
he wants it to be a gift for Miss Shaw

26  Clay can see the tops of the rocks because —
the rain washed away the dirt
the plants had grown taller
he dug them out of the ground
they have unusual shapes

27  Miss Shaw probably wants the class to learn about fossils before they go on the field trip because she wants them to —
find fossils in their own backyard first
be rewarded for their hard work
show the teachers from the college what they have learned
know what to look for when they go

28  Paragraph 10 is mainly about —
what the class learns about fossils
which plants and animals can be found as fossils
where plants and animals once lived on Earth
why changes in weather, water, and land take place

29  What kind of fossil does Miss Shaw think she has found at the ranch?
Fish
Leaf
Clam
Snail

30  The students were probably disappointed about getting back on the school bus after the field trip because they —
did not find what they were looking for
wanted to learn more about fossils from Miss Shaw
wanted to keep looking for fossils
didn't have any new fossils for their class collection

31  The word approved in paragraph 9 means —
made a change
looked for something
allowed to do
moved to another place

32  What happens before Clay finds the fossil?
Clay's class goes to the ranch.
Rain washes some ground away.
The class studies fossils.
Miss Shaw calls Clay's parents.

33  Which words from paragraph 2 help the reader know what layer means?
top part of the ground
for so long
decided to go
the rain finally stopped

34  When Miss Shaw asks to keep Clay's fossil, the reader can tell that Miss Shaw is —
curious about where Clay lives
interested in what Clay found
upset that Clay dug it out of the ground
worried about where Clay found it

35  The day after the field trip, Clay will most likely —
throw away the fossil he found
tell his friends not to come to the ranch anymore
learn how water uncovers fossils
look for more fossils with his friends

36  The reader can tell that this story —
could really happen
could only be make-believe
came from a newspaper
was written long ago

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